[VRR][B-SPEC] 2017 Straight Talk IndyCar Series Season

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What Sponsor Would You Want For 2018-2020?

  • Total voters
    30
  • Poll closed .
Apex Racing
Ford
Cost-effective rebadged engines.
TBA

Car 97: Ronald Walker (NZL)
Primary Scheme: elf
Secondary Scheme: Total
Tertiary Scheme: Rip Curl
Associate Sponsors: Coca-Cola, Red Bull, Monster Energy, Quiksilver
 
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LITTLEBLACKO
Tyrrell Racing Team
Ford
Cost-effective rebadged engines.
Do I create another driver or do have to get one of free agents to have more than one car?

Car 97: Ronald Walker (NZL)
Primary Scheme: elf
Secondary Scheme: Total
Tertiary Scheme: Rip Curl
Associate Sponsors: Coca-Cola, Red Bull, Monster Energy, Quiksilver
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Can't use the Tyrrell name due to it's real life counterpart. Also, you can only use one driver at a time in this series so extra cars would need to be filled by other GTP members.
 
Eva
Can't use the Tyrrell name due to it's real life counterpart. Also, you can only use one driver at a time in this series so extra cars would need to be filled by other GTP members.
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Also, wouldn't Coca-Cola & Red Bull have to go because they're both Secondary/Tertiary sponsors for other teams?
 
Kingofweasles
Also, wouldn't Coca-Cola & Red Bull have to go because they're both Secondary/Tertiary sponsors for other teams?
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No. Under 2018 sponsorship rules, he can have them as associates. He just can't have them as main sponsors for any of his schemes.
 
Manor Praises Performance Over Podium

Mid-Ohio saw William Manor take his debut podium in the VRR Indycar Series, however it was the race performance itself which has got Manor feeling bullish about the remainder of the 2017 season. Speaking after the race, Manor praised the 3rd place itself but said the job is not yet over.

"Perhaps a podium or two in our first season was the target, so it is nice to have one already. I'm celebrating this result today, but tomorrow the work begins as we look to go even further.

"I kept it clean during the opening exchanges and avoided all of the chaos around me. It was tempting to boldly react to the second safety car like so many did, but we had a plan and we knew to stick to it. Today was about keeping it composed.

"We did well to come out from the pitstops in a net second, but there was nothing I could do on cold tyres to stop Liechti passing immediately. After that, I just maintained the leaders pace and hoped something might happen ahead to gift me an even greater result.

"It would have been easy to relax into the 10 second gap behind me and secure the points, but I wanted to prove something to everyone today. We finished within 3 seconds of the race winner and should be under no illusion that we can now realistically fight for a race win in 2017."

(OOC: Apologies this is posted so long after the race itself, I only just watched it yesterday!)
 
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I will be posting an update on the 2018 roster this weekend. A lot of open slots.
 
ukfan758
Is the Shanghai race happening between now and the 500?
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Shanghai happened earlier in the season, but the video for it did't go up because of technical reasons. Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure that the race vid that was supposed to happen after Mid-Ohio hasn't even been posted yet...
 
ukfan758
Is the Shanghai race happening between now and the 500?
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Kingofweasles
Shanghai happened earlier in the season, but the video for it did't go up because of technical reasons. Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure that the race vid that was supposed to happen after Mid-Ohio hasn't even been posted yet...
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Shanghai was supposed to come before Homestead. But I didn't get it to the commentary crew to record. So I have to upload it before the Indy 500. Kentucky is the next race, but it has also been plagued by delays.
 
Impulse Racing team principal Asumi Matsuo spoke on the team's progress for its 2018 lineup. "Our full time drivers have been signed. We are finalizing 2018 sponsorship arrangements and hope to have our part time entry figured out soon as well."
 
Current 2018 VRR IndyCar Roster Outlook​
Apex Racing-Cosworth (Ford)
#97: Ronald Walker (R) (NZL)/Elf/Total/Rip Curl
Big Blue Motorsports-Chevrolet
#90: Mark Santos (USA)/Bud Light/TBD/TBD
Black Rose Racing-Ferrari
#7: Patrick Marcelli (ITA)/GoDaddy/Jack Daniel's/Coca-Cola
#8: Andrew Draco (USA)/Apple/In N Out Burger/Coca-Cola
#9: Michael White (USA)/Bambi/Duracell/Coca-Cola
#23: E.C. Gadget (R) (ENG)/British Airways
#81: Nicole Liechti (SUI)/TE Connectivity/Tide/Coca-Cola
Cat Devil Racing-Ferrari
#15: TBD (TBD)/Pepsi
#16: TBD (TBD)/Okuma/Arby's/Wrigley's
#17: TBD (TBD)/GoPro/Mountain Dew/Oakley
#18: Kunimitsu Kino****a (JPN)/Sony/Okuma/Nikon
#19: Camyron Jackson (USA)/GameStop/Sony/Pepsi
Cherokee GP-Alpine
#33: Behrris Windross (USA)/TBD/TBD/TBD
#96: Ronald Hahn (R) (DEU)/Gulf Oil/NOS Energy/Allianz
Ecurie Ecosse-Ford
#10: Gary Slater (SCO)/Johnnie Walker/Turn 10 Studios/twitch.tv
Eiffel Tower Racing-Alpine
#67: Jamie Ngaire-Jardine (NZL)/Boost Mobile/Pirtek/Fujitsu
#80: Astrid Krane (R) (NOR)/Bass Pro Shops/Red Bull/Old Spice
TBD: TBD (TBD)/TBD/TBD/TBD
Equipa Chama Transatlantica-Chevrolet
#30: Matheus Michelin (BRA)/Superchips/TBD/TBD
#76: Nico Costa-Monteiro (POR)/Burger King/
Perl Speed GP-Ferrari
#55: Ryan Perlstein (USA)/Amazon/Sabaton/Novitec
Rainbow Road Racing-Honda
#64: Kevin Ritter (AUS)/Mobil 1/TBD/TBD
TBD: TBD (TBD)/TBD/TBD/TBD
TBD: TBD (TBD)/TBD/TBD/TBD
Scuderia Rabia Furiosa-Chevrolet
#11: Alex Rivera (LUX)/Target/T-Mobile/K&N
TBD: TBD (TBD)/TBD/TBD/TBD
Starion Motorsports-Ford
#43: Ray Taylor (CAN)/Lego/National Geographic/Folger's
#79: B.K. Glover (USA)/The Y/Dublin Bottling Works/Lenovo
Striker Motorsports-Chevrolet
#22: Jacob Descoteau (USA)/TBD/TBD/TBD
#84: Stephanie Porter-Kelley (BIH)/Alienware/Subway/Bethesda Softworks
TBD: TBD (TBD)/TBD/TBD/TBD
TBD: TBD (TBD)/TBD/TBD/TBD
Vodafone Racing Team Impulse-Alpine
#2: TBA (TBA)/Vodafone/Panasonic/Castrol Edge
#3: Sakura Ishibashi (JPN)/Vodafone/Samsung/Dairy Queen
#6: Tyler Parker (R) (USA)/Vodafone/TAG Heuer/Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals
#12: TBA (TBA)/Vodafone/Deutsche Post/Shell-Pennzoil
#24: TBD (TBD)/Vodafone
 
Eva
Cherokee GP-Alpine
#33: Behrris Windross (USA)/TBD/TBD/TBD
#96: Ronald Hahn (R) (DEU)/Gulf Oil/NOS Energy/Allianz
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This should be fun to watch.

Eva
Black Rose Racing-Ferrari
#7: Patrick Marcelli (ITA)/GoDaddy/Jack Daniel's/Coca-Cola
#8: Andrew Draco (USA)/Apple/In N Out Burger/Coca-Cola
#9: Michael White (USA)/Bambi/Duracell/Coca-Cola
#23: E.C. Gadget (R) (ENG)/British Airways
#81: Nicole Liechti (SUI)/TE Connectivity/Tide/Coca-Cola
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Oh...OH 🤬!!! This may well be the juggernaut team of 2018!
 
Eva
Current 2018 VRR IndyCar Roster Outlook​
Apex Racing-Cosworth (Ford)
#97: Ronald Walker (R) (NZL)/Elf/Total/Rip Curl
Big Blue Motorsports-Chevrolet
#90: Mark Santos (USA)/Bud Light/TBD/TBD
Black Rose Racing-Ferrari
#7: Patrick Marcelli (ITA)/GoDaddy/Jack Daniel's/Coca-Cola
#8: Andrew Draco (USA)/Apple/In N Out Burger/Coca-Cola
#9: Michael White (USA)/Bambi/Duracell/Coca-Cola
#23: E.C. Gadget (R) (ENG)/British Airways
#81: Nicole Liechti (SUI)/TE Connectivity/Tide/Coca-Cola
Cat Devil Racing-Ferrari
#15: TBD (TBD)/Pepsi
#16: TBD (TBD)/Okuma/Arby's/Wrigley's
#17: TBD (TBD)/GoPro/Mountain Dew/Oakley
#18: Kunimitsu Kino****a (JPN)/Sony/Okuma/Nikon
#19: Camyron Jackson (USA)/GameStop/Sony/Pepsi
Cherokee GP-Alpine
#33: Behrris Windross (USA)/TBD/TBD/TBD
#96: Ronald Hahn (R) (DEU)/Gulf Oil/NOS Energy/Allianz
Ecurie Ecosse-Ford
#10: Gary Slater (SCO)/Johnnie Walker/Turn 10 Studios/twitch.tv
Eiffel Tower Racing-Alpine
#67: Jamie Ngaire-Jardine (NZL)/Boost Mobile/Pirtek/Fujitsu
#80: Astrid Krane (R) (NOR)/Bass Pro Shops/Red Bull/Old Spice
TBD: TBD (TBD)/TBD/TBD/TBD
Equipa Chama Transatlantica-Chevrolet
#30: Matheus Michelin (BRA)/Superchips/TBD/TBD
#76: Nico Costa-Monteiro (POR)/Burger King/
Perl Speed GP-Ferrari
#55: Ryan Perlstein (USA)/Amazon/Sabaton/Novitec
Rainbow Road Racing-Honda
#64: Kevin Ritter (AUS)/Mobil 1/TBD/TBD
TBD: TBD (TBD)/TBD/TBD/TBD
TBD: TBD (TBD)/TBD/TBD/TBD
Scuderia Rabia Furiosa-Chevrolet
#11: Alex Rivera (LUX)/Target/T-Mobile/K&N
TBD: TBD (TBD)/TBD/TBD/TBD
Starion Motorsports-Ford
#43: Ray Taylor (CAN)/Lego/National Geographic/Folger's
#79: B.K. Glover (USA)/The Y/Dublin Bottling Works/Lenovo
Striker Motorsports-Chevrolet
#22: Jacob Descoteau (USA)/TBD/TBD/TBD
#84: Stephanie Porter-Kelley (BIH)/Alienware/Subway/Bethesda Softworks
TBD: TBD (TBD)/TBD/TBD/TBD
TBD: TBD (TBD)/TBD/TBD/TBD
Vodafone Racing Team Impulse-Alpine
#2: TBA (TBA)/Vodafone/Panasonic/Castrol Edge
#3: Sakura Ishibashi (JPN)/Vodafone/Samsung/Dairy Queen
#6: Tyler Parker (R) (USA)/Vodafone/TAG Heuer/Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals
#12: TBA (TBA)/Vodafone/Deutsche Post/Shell-Pennzoil
#24: TBD (TBD)/Vodafone
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So Windross, Mark Santos, Ray Taylor, Michael White & E.C. Gadget all find rides and Big Blue Motorsports stays in business for at least another season... But that leaves around 17 free agents for 2018 with no word on the status of Team Kate Upton or Sovereign Motorsports.
 
Kingofweasles
So Windross, Mark Santos, Ray Taylor, Michael White & E.C. Gadget all find rides and Big Blue Motorsports stays in business for at least another season... But that leaves around 17 free agents for 2018 with no word on the status of Team Kate Upton or Sovereign Motorsports.
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Indeed. A lot of people don't live here like others (read: Me), so some may not know what's going on right now. It's also end-of-year/semester time so many are pre-occupied with that.
 
Kingofweasles
So Windross, Mark Santos, Ray Taylor, Michael White & E.C. Gadget all find rides and Big Blue Motorsports stays in business for at least another season... But that leaves around 17 free agents for 2018 with no word on the status of Team Kate Upton or Sovereign Motorsports.
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I'm also only posting what I'm allowed to post. Impulse Racing is almost full except for their part time entry, but I can't divulge their other two drivers until Sakura does. CDR also has their lineup nearly set. So we're actually only looking at 13 free agents.
 
Kaylee Zappa in 2018 will be a full time driver with Cat Devil Racing, according to team owner Kunimitsu Kino****a. Kino****a has found Zappa's performance in her races in 2017 as being satisfactory, with Zappa being the highest placed driver in two of her four races so far with Indianapolis next on her plate. Kino****a is remaining tight lipped on what her complete sponsorship entails, but confirmed that GoPro, Mountain Dew, and Oakley would be scheme sponsors for the #17 that Zappa will fill in 2018.
 
Beginning in 2018, the teams in the VRR IndyCar World Series will have a spending cap affecting the personnel they hire and chassis upgrades they purchase from Dallara. Here is a rundown of how the system will work, beginning with the costs of chassis upgrades.
Chassis upgrade points can be purchased from Dallara before the beginning of the new season. The chassis can be maxed out at 100 chassis points. Chassis points affects the resiliancy and ability to better repair damaged cars during races, as well as allow better service with tuning the car for more specific needs per track. Dallara has developed a tiered system below:
1-10: $100,000
11-20: $200,000
21-30: $300,000
31-40: $400,000
41-50: $500,000
51-75: $750,000
76-100: $1,000,000
In the event that the series switches to a new chassis, each team gets to keep a fourth of their chassis points for the new chassis in competition. Furthermore, in the event that teams merge, the new unified team will have chassis points equal to the higher number between the two former teams.
How noticeable will the chassis upgrades be? Regarding pace, 10 upgrade points are equal to 0.10-0.15 seconds pace per lap at Indianapolis, whereas the same number of upgrade points are equal to up to a quarter of a second at Sonoma Raceway. During the race, cars with substancial upgrade points will be more resilient in accidents, and are quicker to repair on pit lane. These upgrade points do not have an affect on engine strength or reliability, and damage to the engine, transmission, or other parts of the power unit circumvent the chassis upgrades.
Moving onto personnel, teams will be able to hire race engineers for their drivers based on the salary requested and the benefit they will provide for their drivers. Each car is to be assigned one engineer, and a team can decide to not have race engineers at all, or only allow certain entries to have engineers. A full list of available and taken engineers will be made available on July 1st.
VRR has imposed a USD$7,000,000 cap on all teams, effective June 1st, 2017. Teams that spend over the alloted amount will be fined an additional $500,000 as well as lose any immunities from pre-qualifying that they may receive that year. The cap is not intended to be permanent, but is intended to allow all of the teams security from being pushed to liquidation. The spending cap will affect the team's engine supplier selection, engineers they hire, and chassis upgrades.
The qualifying procedures for the series will change dramatically in 2018 almost across the board aside from Indianapolis and pre-qualifying. Short ovals a mile in length and under will see an increase in laps for a qualifying run increase from 4 to 10. For the intermediate speedways, a 15 minute group qualifying session will be used, and the fastest six from that session will each run a solo 4 lap session to determine the starting grid. Superspeedways over 2 miles in length will see a single 30 minute group session. Again, this will not apply to Indianapolis. Road courses, however, see the largest changes. All 33 cars will have an initial 30 minute session to set the fastest laps they can. The fastest 18 from the first session will advance to a second qualifying session that will be 20 minutes in length. The fastest six cars from the second session advance to a third and final shootout session, 10 minutes in length, to set the best possible times for pole position. For the double header events, the result of qualifying will be completely inverted for the second race of the double header.
Beginning in 2018, the Indy Lights Champion from the previous year will be guaranteed an automatic entry for the Indianapolis 500 as well as Michigan and Pocono, regardless of who created the driver. In the event that a GTPlanet member created the champion, the creator can negotiate what team fields that driver, as well as fills out an stat form for the driver. In the case that the champion is not from a GTPlanet member, the driver's Indy Lights team will field a limited entry for the driver for those races. It should be noted that GTPlanet members with drivers in Indy Lights as well as a driver in IndyCar cannot field their Indy Lights driver on the same team they are in IndyCar with. Furthermore, IndyCar team limits are still in effect, meaning teams with four full time entries and a partial season entry cannot field another entry. In the instance that the creator of the Indy Lights champion does not fill out a stat sheet for the driver, a VRR official will do so instead using a randomly assorted list.
 
Impulse Racing has scheduled an open to the public test at Sonoma Raceway for mid-July according to Sonoma officials. This will likely be the first showcase of the 2018 sounds and tires. Admission will be $2 with concessions $1 per item per Impulse Racing's request. The team have planned to announce their lineup before the test occurs.
 
One of Ferrari's new teams in 2018 will begin testing. Cat Devil Racing has acquired access to test their 2018 VRR IndyCars at the Fiorano Circuit. The team is expected to be at the test circuit twice during the month of June, with Kino****a, Camyron Jackson, Nii Aryeetey, and Kaylee Zappa to attend both tests. Kino****a seemed hopeful of the 2018 Ferrari package, having already seen the dyno test data Black Rose Racing gathered last month. "There definitely is more power in the Ferrari than I had expected. Aerodynamically, the Ferrari kit looks very put together. I refuse to say Ferrari is the class of the field yet, but I think that we made the right decision by moving to Ferrari."
 
I've been going back and forth with Ford on the new engine design. We've been busy with simulations and models and as of yet I'm not happy. We've talked with the NASCAR builders, Ford's engine designers, but were having issues with cooling and overall reliability. If we do get to a point where we can put the engine in a car, it'll be August at the earliest.

We've also been evaluating where we want our cars to be, and the crews for them...In short, we 'aint got much goin' right now.
 
Series Update: Kentucky and Shanghai will be out within the next couple of weeks. Editing for Indy is stalled right now as I try to figure out Vegas software but once Indy is finished, expect races to come out in bunches until we are caught up.
 
Eva
Series Update: Kentucky and Shanghai will be out within the next couple of weeks. Editing for Indy is stalled right now as I try to figure out Vegas software but once Indy is finished, expect races to come out in bunches until we are caught up.
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And I was just about to ask where and when the races would be posted...
 
Ahead of Ecurie Ecosse's planned switch to Ford power in the 2018 VRR STICS season, the team has offered to help works outfit Starion Motorsports to get a reliable engine running.

Team Principal Steven McTavish stated, "Having heard about Starion's concerns about the reliability of it's 2018 engines, we wish to extend a hand to try and help the team pin down their cooling issues. If Ecurie Ecosse is to remain competitive by the time we become a Mercedes works team in 2019, we'll need a reliable, competitive powerplant and we are willing to work together with Starion to come to a solution ahead of the season."
 
Making another big announcement. Beginning with this year's VRR IndyCar World Champion and Indy 500 Champion, the winners of each will get an IndyCar die-cast of their choice based on sizes yet to be determined.
 
Eva
Making another big announcement. Beginning with this year's VRR IndyCar World Champion and Indy 500 Champion, the winners of each will get an IndyCar die-cast of their choice based on sizes yet to be determined.
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For real? Okay I love what you do to make your series as good as possible but that's a bit over the top. We love you too but my thought would be premium here is enough if money is to be spent.
 

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