The 2012 IndyCar Series thread

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 11 May 2012, 15:52

Faustus wrote:My dear CoopsII, if you truly believed that I might consider selling you these magic beans that I've got.

I dont need magic beans, I have faith (in Alesi).

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 12 May 2012, 11:13

There are 34 cars entered. 30 of those cars have a T car entered, so a last minute ride buyer could come in and run the race. As far as I know, all but the second car for Ed Carpenter have drivers.

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 12 May 2012, 11:21

Cynon wrote:There are 34 cars entered. 30 of those cars have a T car entered, so a last minute ride buyer could come in and run the race. As far as I know, all but the second car for Ed Carpenter have drivers.

It is strange that there is still a unfilled seat this close to the race.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 12 May 2012, 23:04

eurobrun wrote:
Cynon wrote:There are 34 cars entered. 30 of those cars have a T car entered, so a last minute ride buyer could come in and run the race. As far as I know, all but the second car for Ed Carpenter have drivers.

It is strange that there is still a unfilled seat this close to the race.

Give it to Pippa Mann. NOW. :twisted:

F1000X · Post by **F1000X** » 13 May 2012, 01:17

dr-baker wrote:
eurobrun wrote:
Cynon wrote:There are 34 cars entered. 30 of those cars have a T car entered, so a last minute ride buyer could come in and run the race. As far as I know, all but the second car for Ed Carpenter have drivers.

It is strange that there is still a unfilled seat this close to the race.

Give it to Sam Hornish. NOW.

Fixed. Stop bathplug around Sam, you suck in stock cars. Come back while you still have a chance.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 13 May 2012, 01:37

the dollar general livery fits him. Ed carpenter do it now! talk to Sam Hornish!

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 13 May 2012, 01:39

The only thing Sam Hornish has acheived in NASCAR is making Danica RAEG.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 13 May 2012, 03:39

If the first day of practice is anything to go by, Lotus might as well bugger off back to wherever the hell it is they came from

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 13 May 2012, 03:52

Wizzie wrote:Lotus might as well bugger off back to wherever the hell it is they came from

Fixed

Ferrarist · Post by **Ferrarist** » 13 May 2012, 11:59

dr-baker wrote:Give it to Felipe Massa. WHEN HE IS LET GO BY FERRARI.

FIXED

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 13 May 2012, 14:00

dr-baker wrote:
eurobrun wrote:
Cynon wrote:There are 34 cars entered. 30 of those cars have a T car entered, so a last minute ride buyer could come in and run the race. As far as I know, all but the second car for Ed Carpenter have drivers.

It is strange that there is still a unfilled seat this close to the race.

Give it to Pippa Mann. NOW.

This. If only because Pippa is one of the best personalities there is.

Sam Hornish needs to come back for Indy only, but I'd much rather see Pippa in that car.

...

...unfortunately, the only name I've heard linked to the #21 car is Buddy Rice... :[

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 14 May 2012, 18:19

Curses! Only 32 cars in practice so far and Alesi isn't last. Interesting the speed chasm between the Lotus-engined cars and everyone else.

Post by **mario** » 14 May 2012, 18:51

Faustus wrote:Curses! Only 32 cars in practice so far and Alesi isn't last. Interesting the speed chasm between the Lotus-engined cars and everyone else.

I thought that there were 33 cars on track in the latest practise session? And poor Simona de Silvestro is really struggling for speed, isn't she (even compared to Alesi)? I almost wonder whether she has some sort of defect with her car. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99616
And yes, the Lotus powered teams are quite a long way off the pace (even allowing for the inexperience of Alesi) - mind you, the Lotus engine is rumoured to be quite underpowered compared to their rivals (a power deficit of 50bhp has been suggested ) so that is hardly surprising.

Waris · Post by **Waris** » 14 May 2012, 20:32

Alesi is headed for a big fat DNQ from the looks of it. I bet he will be saved by there being fewer than 34 cars, but this makes me wonder if they should introduce the 107% rule in IndyCar...

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 14 May 2012, 20:36

Waris wrote:Alesi is headed for a big fat DNQ from the looks of it. I bet he will be saved by there being fewer than 34 cars, but this makes me wonder if they should introduce the 107% rule in IndyCar...

But the American motorsport fraternity wouldn't want any fewer than 33 cars starting their precious race! They're already up in arms that Bump Day is meaningless this year so Christ knows what would happen if a few fewer cars started!

I appreciate that IndyCar is a unique and very good series, but they need to make some fundamental changes if they want it anything like as decent as it was pre-split. At the moment, it's all a bit amateurish and misty-eyed for the past in my opinion.

MikeH · Post by **MikeH** » 14 May 2012, 21:42

mario wrote:And poor Simona de Silvestro is really struggling for speed, isn't she (even compared to Alesi)? I almost wonder whether she has some sort of defect with her car.

She does - it's the "Lotus" badged Judd bolted into the car that produces about as much power and torque as a 1986 Lada Niva. I can't believe Indycar haven't thrown that bunch of scammers out and just stumped up the necessary to get a couple of extra Honda & Chevy powerplants up and running for the teams who were unfortunate enough to believe the Shannon/Andrea Moda like rubbish Behar and his group of fraudsters came up with.

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 14 May 2012, 22:27

AndreaModa wrote:But the American motorsport fraternity wouldn't want any fewer than 33 cars starting their precious race! They're already up in arms that Bump Day is meaningless this year so Christ knows what would happen if a few fewer cars started!

He, anyone willing to screw Lotus and Dallara over to get that 33rd spot on the grid and send Luca Badoer to the Indy 500? :lol:

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 15 May 2012, 01:54

mario wrote:
Faustus wrote:Curses! Only 32 cars in practice so far and Alesi isn't last. Interesting the speed chasm between the Lotus-engined cars and everyone else.

I thought that there were 33 cars on track in the latest practise session? And poor Simona de Silvestro is really struggling for speed, isn't she (even compared to Alesi)? I almost wonder whether she has some sort of defect with her car. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99616
And yes, the Lotus powered teams are quite a long way off the pace (even allowing for the inexperience of Alesi) - mind you, the Lotus engine is rumoured to be quite underpowered compared to their rivals (a power deficit of 50bhp has been suggested ) so that is hardly surprising.

This proves that Lotus engines are given Reject of the Year already in Indycars

Sublime_FA11C · Post by **Sublime_FA11C** » 15 May 2012, 03:39

MikeH wrote:
mario wrote:And poor Simona de Silvestro is really struggling for speed, isn't she (even compared to Alesi)? I almost wonder whether she has some sort of defect with her car.

She does - it's the "Lotus" badged Judd bolted into the car that produces about as much power and torque as a 1986 Lada Niva. I can't believe Indycar haven't thrown that bunch of scammers out and just stumped up the necessary to get a couple of extra Honda & Chevy powerplants up and running for the teams who were unfortunate enough to believe the Shannon/Andrea Moda like rubbish Behar and his group of fraudsters came up with.

You are dissin' the Lada Niva there. It's a good car. Not pretty or fast but good. And more respectable too...

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 15 May 2012, 08:51

golic_2004 wrote:This proves that Lotus engines are given Reject of the Year already in Indycars

They'll still win the 500 with Alesi sat in front of one!

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 15 May 2012, 08:56

We've established that after three days, Lotus are at least consistent... consistently slow, that is :lol:

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 15 May 2012, 10:23

Wizzie wrote:We've established that after three days, Lotus are at least consistent... consistently slow, that is

Seriously, if it wasn't that crap on the back of Alesi's car, he could be much higher...

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 15 May 2012, 10:24

DanielPT wrote:
Wizzie wrote:We've established that after three days, Lotus are at least consistent... consistently slow, that is

Seriously, if it wasn't that crap on the back of Alesi's car, he could be much higher...

Yeah. Two seconds off the pace on a 41 second lap is simply embarrassing even by HRT standards. Anyone want to calculate how far away from the top times Lotus are? :lol:

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 15 May 2012, 11:50

DanielPT wrote:
Wizzie wrote:We've established that after three days, Lotus are at least consistent... consistently slow, that is

Seriously, if it wasn't that crap on the back of Alesi's car, he could be much higher...

I think you're right, Alesi would be faster, although not necessarily at the speed of the regular drivers.

Post by **mario** » 15 May 2012, 14:18

MikeH wrote:
mario wrote:And poor Simona de Silvestro is really struggling for speed, isn't she (even compared to Alesi)? I almost wonder whether she has some sort of defect with her car.

She does - it's the "Lotus" badged Judd bolted into the car that produces about as much power and torque as a 1986 Lada Niva. I can't believe Indycar haven't thrown that bunch of scammers out and just stumped up the necessary to get a couple of extra Honda & Chevy powerplants up and running for the teams who were unfortunate enough to believe the Shannon/Andrea Moda like rubbish Behar and his group of fraudsters came up with.

Which was why I made the comparison to Alesi given he has the only other Lotus engined car in the field - the Lotus engine would be better off as scrap right now, but even compared to Alesi her times were fairly poor (nearly 0.7s behind his best time).
As for why IndyCar allowed the Lotus engine in, I guess that on paper the deal looked reasonably solid given that Engine Developments Ltd. (aka Judd) were heavily involved in the developing the engine. Whilst Group Lotus's reputation may have been tarnished somewhat by Bahar, Judd are still a pretty serious concern and have a fairly good reputation for their engines in Endurance Racing, so you would be forgiven for assuming that they could have come up with a reasonably competitive engine.

F1000X · Post by **F1000X** » 16 May 2012, 04:21

Nice to see these cars are starting to match the speeds of the crapwagon. I still think they need about 30-50 more HP, but I can accept qualifying times above 223.

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 16 May 2012, 11:40

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99634

Alesi didn't run and Simona was ridiculously slow.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 16 May 2012, 23:48

Lotus trash reminds me of Honda in 1994 or Toyota pre-1999. Horrendously slow and uncompetitive. They might be better off with only one or two cars, but they'd be best with Servia driving instead of de Silvestro, whose future may not look so great with that POS Lotus.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 17 May 2012, 02:25

F1000X wrote:
dr-baker wrote:
eurobrun wrote:It is strange that there is still a unfilled seat this close to the race.

Give it to AJ Allmendinger. NOW.

Fixed.

Now it's fixed.

nome66 · Post by **nome66** » 17 May 2012, 02:35

nah, AJ has been assimilated into the NASCAR borg. every time i hear his name in my head i hear it in jeff hammond's voice.

anyways, let Pastrana have a go! he's always up for new stuff. he'll be going more than twice as fast as his rallycar for sure.

or JPM. the obvious choice. i mean why not? hell, maybe Smoke.

F1000X · Post by **F1000X** » 17 May 2012, 03:47

nome66 wrote:let Pastrana have a go! he's always up for new stuff. he'll be going more than twice as fast as his rallycar for sure.

I'm pretty sure you were trolling, but if you weren't.
bathplug THAT

Tired of that guy.

I'm trying to think of people it would be interesting to see do a one off. Andretti wouldn't, Vasser wouldn't, Unser is too old and too drunk, I really think Hornish would be the most interesting choice. I wonder if Adrian Sutil would be any good on ovals?

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 17 May 2012, 10:57

The writing's on the wall for Lotus now. Alesi thinks 205's as fast as the engines will allow them to go

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 17 May 2012, 11:48

Wizzie wrote:The writing's on the wall for Lotus now. Alesi thinks 205's as fast as the engines will allow them to go

I think it is a crying shame for Alesi. The way he is been beating De Silvestro (who while not really fast is an established driver), he clearly deserved to have better machinery at his disposal...

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 17 May 2012, 11:53

And, as an interesting comparison, there were cars in 1982 that went faster than what the Lotuses are achieving right now :lol:

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 17 May 2012, 12:08

Wizzie wrote:The writing's on the wall for Lotus now. Alesi thinks 205's as fast as the engines will allow them to go

IdeFan · Post by **IdeFan** » 17 May 2012, 17:21

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99656

I hope we'll get to hear from the drivers just how the Lotus compares to the seemingly dominant Chevy.

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 17 May 2012, 21:42

IdeFan wrote:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99656

I hope we'll get to hear from the drivers just how the Lotus compares to the seemingly dominant Chevy.

Will this be accompanied by a change of livery, I wonder?

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 17 May 2012, 21:46

This Slowtus engine is just going to be incredibly rejectful in the race.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 17 May 2012, 23:36

Wizzie wrote:And, as an interesting comparison, there were cars in 1982 that went faster than what the Lotuses are achieving right now

Interesting comparison there is that both in 1982 and today, those cars hitting 205 were concerned about speed! Today, Lotus Indycars are worried about being so slow that they become turn 5, and the cars in 1982 were worried about crashing at high speed due to Gordon Smiley's unfortunate crash.

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 17 May 2012, 23:54

Cynon wrote:
Wizzie wrote:And, as an interesting comparison, there were cars in 1982 that went faster than what the Lotuses are achieving right now

Interesting comparison there is that both in 1982 and today, those cars hitting 205 were concerned about speed! Today, Lotus Indycars are worried about being so slow that they become turn 5, and the cars in 1982 were worried about crashing at high speed due to Gordon Smiley's unfortunate crash.

Yeah, but those CART machines were really flimsy, weren't they?