CART 1996 - Pre Season Tests

[Samster]

Although I will continue with A1 Grand Prix, I also want to try something more current. This will be an alternate American openwheel series in which although the spilt will still happen, this time it will be CART that wins while the Indy Racing League will be the one to wither away and die. The main difference being that CART has managed to hold onto the flagship Indy 500 event on the condition that the IRL are given ten guaranteed spots on the 33 car grid regardless of their pace.

Calender
1. March 3 - Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Florida - 32 cars
2. March 17 - Autódromo de Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 30 cars
3. March 31 - Phoenix International Raceway, Phoenix, Arizona - 28 cars
4. April 14 - Long Beach, California - 28 cars
5. April 28 - Nazareth Speedway, Pennsylvania - 26 cars
6. May 26 - Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis, Indiana - 33 cars
7. June 2 - Milwaukee Mile, Wisconsin - 26 cars
8. June 9 - Belle Isle Park, Detroit, Michigan - 28 cars
9. June 23 - Portland International Raceway, Portland, Oregon - 26 cars
10. June 30 - Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland, Ohio - 28 cars
11. July 14 - Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario - 26 cars
12. July 28 - Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan - 32 cars
13. August 11 - Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio - 28 cars
14. August 18 - Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin - 32 cars
15. September 1 - Vancouver, British Columbia - 26 cars
16. September 8 - Laguna Seca Raceway, Monterey, California - 28 cars
17. September 22 - California Speedway, Fontana, California - 32 cars
18. October 13 - Suzuka Circuit, Japan - 32 cars
19. October 20 - Surfers Paradise, Australia - 30 cars
20. November 10 - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City, Mexico - 30 cars

Teams

From 1996 teams will be restricted to a maximum of two entries.

Team Penske - $6,100,000
Manager - Wizzie
Initial Budget - $15,000,000
Chassis - Penske Tier 1
Engine - Cosworth
Tires - Goodyear
Driver #2 - Jos Verstappen
Driver #3 - Christian Fittipaldi
Sponsor #2 - Marlboro/Food 4 Less
Sponsor #3 - Marlboro/Food 4 Less
+8,500,000 - Sponsors
-10,000,000 - Chassis Design
-4,000,000 - Chassis Builds
+2,400,000 - Chassis Sales
-3,000,000 - Cosworth
-1,000,000 - Goodyear
-1,800,000 - Drivers

Newman-Haas Racing - $6,800,000
Manager - Reject Dom
Initial Budget - $15,000,000
Chassis - Newman-Haas Tier 1
Engine - Honda
Tires - Goodyear
Driver #6 - Alessandro Zanardi
Driver #11 - Greg Moore
Sponsor #6 - Texaco/Havoline
Sponsor #11 - Budweiser
+10,500,000 - Sponsors
-10,000,000 - Chassis Design
-5,000,000 - Chassis Builds
-3,000,000 - Honda
-1,000,000 - Goodyear
+2,950,000 - Chassis Sales
-2,650,000 - Drivers

Chip Ganassi Racing - $3,100,000
Manager - Normal32
Initial Budget - $14,000,000
Chassis - Ganassi Tier 1
Engine - Honda
Tires - Firestone
Driver #4 - Michael Andretti
Driver #12 - Al Unser Jr.
Sponsor #4 - Target/Mobil 1
Sponsor #12 - Target/Mobil 1
+10,800,000 - Sponsors
-10,000,000 - Chassis Design
-2,000,000 - Chassis Builds
-3,000,000 - Honda
-700,000 - Firestone
-6,000,000 - Drivers

Team Rahal - $4,000,000
Manager - RedEyes504
Initial Budget - $12,000,000
Chassis - Rahal Tier 1
Engine - Honda
Tires - Goodyear
Driver #18 - Bobby Rahal
Driver #28 - Raul Boesel
Sponsor #18 - Brahma
Sponsor #28 - Brahma
+8,000,000 - Sponsors
-10,000,000 - Chassis Design
-2,000,000 - Chassis Builds
-3,000,000 - Honda
-1,000,000 - Goodyear
0 - Drivers

Team Green - $6,850,000
Manager - Biscione
Initial Budget - $10,000,000
Chassis - Newman-Haas Tier 1
Engine - Honda
Tires - Goodyear
Driver #26 - Scott Goodyear
Driver #27 - Paul Tracy
Sponsor #26 - Players
Sponsor #27 - Players
+6,000,000 - Sponsors
-2,950,000 - Newman-Haas
-3,000,000 - Honda
-1,000,000 - Goodyear
-2,200,000 - Drivers

Pac-West Racing - $4,900,000
Manager - FantometteBR
Initial Budget - $8,000,000
Chassis - Reynard Tier 4
Engine - Cosworth
Tires - Firestone
Driver #7 - Maurício Gugelmin
Driver #17 - Eddie Cheever
Sponsor #7 - Delco
Sponsor #17 - LCI International
+3,000,000 - Sponsors
-2,000,000 - Reynard
-3,000,000 - Cosworth
-700,000 - Firestone
-400,000 - Drivers

Walker Racing - $5,700,000
Manager - andrew
Initial Budget - $8,000,000
Chassis - Walker Tier 6
Engine - Mercedes-Benz
Tires - Firestone
Driver #5 - Roberto Moreno
Driver #15 - Bertrand Gachot
Sponsor #5 - Miller/Kmart
Sponsor #15 - VISA/Kmart
+7,500,000 - Sponsors
-5,000,000 - Chassis Design
-1,000,000 - Chassis Build
-2,400,000 - Mercedes-Benz
-700,000 - Firestone
-700,000 - Drivers

Patrick Racing - $200,000
Manager - Phoenix
Initial Budget - $7,000,000
Chassis - Patrick Tier 1
Engine - Honda
Tires - Firestone
Driver #20 - Mark Blundell
Driver #40 - Jimmy Vasser
Sponsor #20 - Firestone
Sponsor #40 - Shell
+9,000,000 - Sponsors
-10,000,000 - Chassis Design
-2,000,000 - Chassis Builds
-3,000,000 - Honda
0 - Firestone
-800,000 - Drivers

Forsythe Racing - -$3,200,000
Manager - Ice1Racing
Initial Budget - $7,000,000
Chassis - Forsythe Tier 2
Engine - Cosworth
Tires - Firestone
Driver #22 - Michel Jourdain Jr.
Driver #33 - Taki Inoue
Sponsor #22 - Indeck/Menards
Sponsor #33 - Motorola/Menards
+3,100,000 - Sponsors
-9,000,000 - Chassis Design
-1,800,000 - Chassis Builds
-3,000,000 - Cosworth
-700,000 - Firestone
+1,200,000 - Pay Drivers

Jim Hall Racing - $3,200,000
Manager - Miguel98
Initial Budget - $6,000,000
Chassis - Hall Tier 4
Engine - Mercedes-Benz
Tires - Goodyear
Driver #8 - Kenny Bräck
Sponsor #8 - Pennzoil
+5,000,000 - Sponsors
-7,000,000 - Chassis Design
-700,000 - Chassis Build
-1,200,000 - Mercedes-Benz
-500,000 - Goodyear
-400,000 - Drivers

All American Racers - -$450,000
Manager - go_Rubens
Initial Budget - $6,000,000
Chassis - Eagle Tier 4
Engine - Cosworth
Tires - Firestone
Driver #36 - Bryan Herta
Driver #98 - Jean-Denis Deletraz
Sponsor #36 - Valvoline
Sponsor #98 - Valvoline
+5,000,000 - Sponsors
-7,000,000 - Chassis Design
-1,400,000 - Chassis Build
-3,000,000 - Cosworth
-700,000 - Firestone
+650,000 - Pay Driver

Tasman Motorsports - $5,600,000
Manager - V8fan12
Initial Budget - $6,000,000
Chassis - Tasman Tier 6
Engine - Toyota
Tires - Firestone
Driver #31 - Scott Pruett
Driver #32 - Max Papis
Sponsor #31 - Castrol
Sponsor #32 - Castrol
+4,000,000 - Sponsors
-5,000,000 - Chassis Design
-1,000,000 - Chassis Builds
-2,000,000 - Toyota
-700,000 - Firestone
-700,000 - Drivers

Galles Racing - $2,300,000
Manager - mrfakeboullier
Initial Budget - $5,000,000
Chassis - Reynard Tier 4
Engine - Honda
Tires - Firestone
Driver #10 - Adrián Fernández
Driver #55 - Gil de Ferran
Sponsor #10 - Tecate
Sponsor #55 - SmithKline Beecham
+4,500,000 - Sponsors
-2,000,000 - Reynard
-3,000,000 - Honda
-700,000 - Firestone
-1,500,000 - Drivers

Bettenhausen Racing - $2,000,000
Manager - peteroli34
Initial Budget - $5,000,000
Chassis - Reynard Tier 4
Engine - Mercedes-Benz
Tires - Goodyear
Driver #16 - Stefan Johansson
Sponsor #16 - TBA
-1,000,000 - Reynard
-1,200,000 - Mercedes-Benz
-500,000 - Goodyear
-300,000 - Drivers

Hogan Racing - $650,000
Manager - Klon
Initial Budget - $5,000,000
Chassis - Penske Tier 1
Engine - Mercedes-Benz
Tires - Goodyear
Driver #9 - Parker Johnstone
Driver #99 - Robby Gordon
Sponsor #9 - Alumax/Copec
Sponsor #99 - MCI/Copec
+3,400,000 - Sponsors
-2,400,000 - Chassis Purchases (2)
-2,400,000 - Mercedes-Benz
-1,000,000 - Goodyear
-2,400,000 - Drivers
+450,000 - Pay Drivers

Payton/Coyne Racing - $1,900,000
Manager - RonDennisDeletraz
Initial Budget - $4,000,000
Chassis - Lola Tier 5
Engine - Toyota
Tires - Goodyear
Driver #19 - Dennis Vitolo
Driver #34 - Marc Goossens
Sponsor #19 - TBA
Sponsor #34 - Mi-Jack
+2,000,000 - Sponsors
-2,000,000 - Lola
-2,000,000 - Toyota
-1,000,000 - Goodyear
-100,000 - Drivers
+1,000,000 - Pay Drivers

A. J. Foyt Enterprises - $1,000,000
Manager - Pointrox
Initial Budget - $4,000,000
Chassis - Lola Tier 5
Engine - Mercedes-Benz
Tires - Firestone
Driver #14 - Michele Alboreto
Sponsor #14 - TBA
-1,000,000 - Lola
-1,200,000 - Mercedes
-350,000 - Firestone
-450,000 - Drivers

Arcerio-Wells Racing - $525,000
Manager - HawkAussie
Initial Budget - $3,500,000
Chassis - Arcerio-Wells Tier 8
Engine - Cosworth
Tires - Goodyear
Driver #25 - Hiro Matsushita
Driver #52 - Scott Sharp
Sponsor #25 - Panasonic/Cristal
Sponsor #52 - Copenhagen/Cristal
+5,400,000 - Sponsors
-4,000,000 - Chassis Design
-800,000 - Chassis Builds
-3,000,000 - Cosworth
-1,000,000 - Goodyear
-75,000 - Drivers

Project Indy - $2,450,000
Manager - OsellaFA1L
Initial Budget - $3,500,000
Chassis - Reynard Tier 4
Engine - Toyota
Tires - Firestone
Driver #64 - Jeff Krosnoff
Sponsor #64 - No Touch
+1,000,000 - Sponsors
-1,000,000 - Reynard
-1,000,000 - Toyota
-350,000 - Firestone
+300,000 - Pay Driver

Comptech Racing - $2,055,000
Manager - FlyingGinger
Initial Budget - $3,000,000
Chassis - Reynard
Engine - Cosworth
Tires - Firestone
Driver #49 - Buddy Lazier
Sponsor #49 - Hollywood Cigerettes
+2,000,000 - Sponsors
-1,000,000 - Reynard
-1,500,000 - Cosworth
-350,000 - Firestone
-95,000 - Drivers

Della Penna Motorsports - $2,600,000
Manager - Bleu
Initial Budget - $2,000,000
Chassis - Reynard Tier 4
Engine - Mercedes-Benz
Tires - Firestone
Driver #44 - Carlos Guerrero
Sponsor #44 - Herdez
+3,000,000 - Sponsors
-1,000,000 - Reynard
-1,200,000 - Mercedes-Benz
-350,000 - Firestone
+150,000 - Pay Drivers

Foyt, Project Indy and Della Penna also have IRL entries which you won't have any control over.

Sponsors

Teams may bid for two title sponsors, five primaries and three associates. A team can either have a title sponsor covering two cars or two primaries covering one car each. One car teams may only bid for primaries. There are no restrictions on associates.

Some sponsors come with conditions as shown below. Teams will also make automatic bids for whatever sponsors they had the season before, unless you specify that you don't want them to. These are shown in italics in the team list.

Title Sponsors - Will sponsor two car teams.
Target - $10,000,000 - Will only sponsor Ganassi
Marlboro - $8,000,000 - Favours Penske
Player's - $6,000,000 - Wants at least one Canadian driver
Valvoline - $5,000,000
Castrol - $4,000,000

Primary Sponsor - Will sponsor one car.
Texaco/Havoline - $6,000,000 - Favours Newman-Haas
Shell - $6,000,000
Brahma - $5,000,000 - Wants Raul Boesel
Pennzoil - $5,000,000
Budweiser - $4,500,000
Miller - $4,000,000
Tecate - $3,500,000 - Wants Adrian Fernandez
Firestone - $3,000,000 - Team must run Firestone tires
Panasonic - $3,000,000 - Wants Hiro Matsushita
Herdez - $3,000,000 - Wants Mexican driver
VISA - $2,500,000
Motorola - $2,500,000
Alumax - $2,000,000
Hollywood Cigerettes - $2,000,000
Mi-Jack - $2,000,000
Copenhagen - $2,000,000
Delco Electronics - $1,500,000
LCI International - $1,500,000
MCI - $1,000,000
SmithKline Beecham - $1,000,000

Associate Sponsors
Kmart - $1,000,000
Mobil 1 - $800,000
Menards - $600,000
Food 4 Less - $500,000
Cristal - $400,000
Copec - $400,000

Chassis Rules

Teams have the option to either design and build their own chassis or purchase them from Lola or Reynard. Teams may run up to two cars full-time.

Chassis Design
Tier Performance Price
1++ 90-100 N.A.
1+ 85-95 N.A.
1 80-90 $10,000,000
2 75-85 $9,000,000
3 70-80 $8,000,000
4 65-75 $7,000,000
5 60-70 $6,000,000
6 55-65 $5,000,000
7 50-60 $4,500,000
8 45-55 $4,000,000
9 35-50 $3,500,000
10 25-40 $3,000,000
11 15-30 $2,500,000
12 0-20 $2,000,000

When building a new chassis, constructors can decide to focus on either one or two areas of development. If one area is selected, the range from two tiers higher is used for that area of development. If two areas are selected, the ranges from one tier higher are used for those two areas. The categories are Grip, Aero and Reliability.

Only Grip and Aero will follow the tier ranges above. For reliability all tiers will take a range of 0-100 unless you decide to make it one of your focuses in which case a range of 50-100 will be used.

The prices shown above are a one-off design cost, each chassis will cost an extra 1/10 of the design cost to build. You may also build extra chassis either to sell to other teams or for use as spares.

Customer Chassis Prices are per car.
Reynard - $1,000,000 - Tier 4 - Focus on grip and aero.
Lola - $1,000,000 - Tier 5 - Focus on grip.

Upgrades
The same upgrades rules used in Pi's F1 will be used.
After the construction of a new chassis, the first upgrade costs 25000 and the cost per upgrade will increase by 25000 with every additional upgrade bought.
Each team may buy up to three chassis upgrades per weekend.
Chassis upgrading is possible in three categories:
Grip - Increases the grip of your car, resulting in better cornering speed
Top Speed - Increases the straight-line speed of your car
Reliability - Reduces the chance of your car retiring due to mechanical problems.

Only teams that built their own chassis may upgrade their chassis.

Engines Prices are per car.
Honda - $1,500,000 - High top speed - Medium reliability
Ford Cosworth - $1,500,000 - Medium top speed - High reliability
Mercedes - $1,200,000 - High top speed - Low reliability
Toyota - $1,000,000 - Medium top speed - Low reliability

Tires Prices are per car.
Goodyear - $500,000 - Medium Grip, Low Degradation
Firestone - $350,000 - High Grip, High Degradation

Driver Signing

You may bid for up to five drivers. You may try for any active driver at the time but your best bets are to look in CART, IRL, F3000, Atlantics and Indy Light. Teams will also make automatic bids for whatever drivers they had the season before, unless you specify that you don't want them to. These are shown in italics in the team list.

I won't provide a list of drivers but I will point out which drivers may be willing to bring cash.

Eric Bachelart
Juan Carlos Carbonell
Pedro Chaves
Fabrizio de Simone
José Luis Di Palma
Affonso Giaffone
Felipe Giaffone
José Giaffone
Marco Greco
Carlos Guerrero
Diego Guzman
Naoki Hattori
Shigeaki Hattori
Akira Ishikawa
Michel Jourdain, Jr.
Jeff Krosnoff
Tarso Marques
Hideshi Matsuda
Christian Pescatori
Ricardo Rosset
Eliseo Salazar
Domenico Schiattarella
Hubert Stromberger
Fermín Vélez
Dennis Vitolo
Alessandro Zampedri

[Samster]

You may select your team. Decide whether you wish to enter one or two cars and make your sponsor bids.

[DemocalypseNow]

I'll take Team Green!

We'll bid for Players to be our Title Sponsor, given the strong relationship already in place with our driver Jacques Villeneuve. We'll still run two cars even if Jacques is the only confirmed driver so far.

We'll take Honda engines and Goodyear tyres.

For the other car, we'll look to sign the following in order;

Jeff Gordon
Jimmy Vasser
Alessandro Zanardi
Greg Moore
Bryan Herta
Scott Pruett

We'll hold off on chassis plans until all the above has been sorted and put in place.

[Normal32]

i will take ganassi
Bids now:
Sponsors:
1)Target
2)Marlboro



Primary:
1)Shell
2)Pennzoil
3)Budweiser
4)Miller
5)Tecate

Associate:
1)Kmart
2)Mobil 1
3)Menards

[Dom_Wings]

Newman-Haas for me.

[Samster]

I'll take Team Green!

We'll bid for Players to be our Title Sponsor, given the strong relationship already in place with our driver Jacques Villeneuve. We'll still run two cars even if Jacques is the only confirmed driver so far.

We'll take Honda engines and Goodyear tyres.

For the other car, we'll look to sign the following in order;

Jeff Gordon
Jimmy Vasser
Alessandro Zanardi
Greg Moore
Bryan Herta
Scott Pruett

We'll hold off on chassis plans until all the above has been sorted and put in place.

Driver signing will be done last. Only sponsor bids may be made now.

[RedEyes504]

I'll have a go with Team Rahal, and we're interested in Marlboro, if not we'd like Vavoline (this means we're running two cars)

[Dom_Wings]

NHR will go for Forsythe as title sponsor (since there is Canadian Paul Tracy in the team), if it doesn't work out, then Marlboro.

Other sponsor bids
Primary: Texaco/Havoline, Budweiser, Miller, Pennzoil, Motorola.
Associate: KMart, Mobil 1, Menards.

[Samster]

NHR will go for Forsythe as title sponsor (since there is Canadian Paul Tracy in the team), if it doesn't work out, then Marlboro.

Other sponsor bids
Primary: Texaco/Havoline, Budweiser, Miller, Pennzoil, Motorola.
Associate: KMart, Mobil 1, Menards.

I assume by Forsythe you mean Players right?

[TomWazzleshaw]

I'll take Roger Penske's mob for this. Sponsor bids for Team Penske will come shortly

[FantometteBR]

I'll take PacWest then

[go_Rubens]

I'll take All American Racers, although I'm not the usual completely and utterly patriotic American! Well, I may as well make Dan Gurney proud.

[Klon]

Well, let's grab Hogan Racing. We would like to acquire either Firestone, Shell, Budweiser, MCI or Alumax as Primary Sponsors and Mobil 1, Copec or Cristal as Associate Sponsors. All sponsors are in order of preference.

[RonDenisDeletraz]

Can I please have Coyne?

[OsellaFA1L]

I would like to take Project Indy, and offer to extend the No Touch sponsorship

[Miguel98]

Can I take Jim Hall Racing?

[Dom_Wings]

NHR will go for Forsythe as title sponsor (since there is Canadian Paul Tracy in the team), if it doesn't work out, then Marlboro.

Other sponsor bids
Primary: Texaco/Havoline, Budweiser, Miller, Pennzoil, Motorola.
Associate: KMart, Mobil 1, Menards.

I assume by Forsythe you mean Players right?

Whoops, yeah (it was pretty clear, right?)

[andrew]

I'll take walker racing

[Phoenix]

I'll take Patrick Racing. I'm retaining Scott Pruett in the car.

[Miguel98]

Jim Hall Racing will keep both Penzoil and Gil de Ferran in the car.

[Dom_Wings]

Ohh, I can keep also the sponsors. Nevertheless, these two were my primary options

Keep both Texaco/Havoline, Budweiser and Andretti with Tracy please.

[Phoenix]

We'd like to retain our sponsorship, but if Firestone wishes to leave, our alternative choices would be Shell and Miller.

[RonDenisDeletraz]

Payton/Coyne Racing would like to resign all of their existing sponsors

[V8fan12]

I would like to run Tasman Motorsports please.

Sponsorship bids:
Title sponsor (2 cars)
Valvoline
Castrol

Primary sponsors (1 car each, if both title sponsor bids fail)
Shell
Pennzoil
Miller
Firestone
VISA
and if all else fails, just re-sign LCI International to both cars

Associates
Kmart
Mobil 1 (not applicable if any other oil sponsors sign as title or primary)
Menards

Engine: Honda
Tires: Firestone
Chassis plans to come

[mrfakeboullier]

Can I take Galles Racing. We'll run two cars, and would like to approach both Shell and Tecate as first choice and if one of those doesn't work we would like to get Firestone and if that fails we would like Herdez to sponsor us. We would also like to use Reynard chassis, Honda engines and Firestone tyres

[Dom_Wings]

If possible for NHR,
Chassis - Reynard
Engine - Honda
Tyres - Goodyear

[Ice1Racing]

May I take Forsythe Racing. We would like to run two cars

[Samster]

Just five teams left.

[HawkAussie]

I would like to manage Arcerio-Wells Racing

[Samster]

Even though there are four teams left, I'd like to start sponsor signing this weekend. If the remaining teams aren't taken by then, they will miss out on the first round of sponsors.

Speaking of sponsors, the following are still yet to make bids.
Forsythe

Still Avaliable
Bettenhausen
Foyt

[Bleu]

I take Della Penna.

Sponsor contacts: Herdez, Pennzoil, VISA, Motorola.

Reynard-Mercedes-Firestone combo.

Btw, Marco Campos (who is in the list) died in October 1995.

[FantometteBR]

PacWest would go for the combo Reynard-Ford-Firestone

[go_Rubens]

AAR will go for the Reynard-Ford combi with Goodyear tyres.

Title Sponsor

Valvoline
Castro

Primary Sponsors

Car 38

Shell
Motorola
Copenhagen

Car 98

Visa
Alumax
Mi-Jack

Associate Sponsors

Kmart
Mobil 1
Menards

[HawkAussie]

My propsals

Primary Sponsor
Shell
Budweiser
Herdez
Alumax
Copenhagen
Mi-Jack

Associate Sponsors
Kmart
Cristal
Menards
Copec

[TomWazzleshaw]

Penske will make offers to the following sponsors:

Title/Primary
1. Marlboro
2. Shell
3. Pennzoil
4. Budweiser
5. Miller
6. Firestone

Associate
1. Mobil 1
2. Menards
3. Food 4 Less

[andrew]

Primary
Shell
Budwiser
Miller
Firestone
VISA
Texaco

Associate

Kmart
Mobil 1
Copec

[Flying Ginger]

If possible i want take Comptech Racing

Primary Sponsor
1)Firestone
2)Motorola
3)Miller
4)Hollywood Cigeretts
5)Mi-Jack

Associate Sponsors
1)Menards
2)Food 4 Less
3)Cristal

[Samster]

Of the teams that are taken, I still need Forsythe's sponsor bids.

[Ice1Racing]

I would like to bid for the following sponsors

Main: Firestone, VISA, Motorola

Secondary: Mobil 1, Menards, Cristal

[Normal32]

Gannasi would take Honda engines and Firestone tyres