A taste of Indy.

I just hope he gets to race competitively with no problems.

 

That's the prob with oval racing One minor mistake by a competitor can wipe out
a lot of cars. He's just gotta try keep close to the front to avoid most of that.

 

Another damn sweet wrapper on the track.......... let's throw a yellow!

 

Don't need a junk on track when yer doing 225 mph and bugger all downforce.

 

Damn right, you'd know about it if you hit one

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Waaah waah waaah waaaaah!!!!

 

oh, a few ants are wandering around turn 3.

Let's have a break.

Are we sure its debris or just allowing some commercial time for the broadcasters as the action is pretty quiet at the moment? They seem pretty regular!

 

Ah, a proper yellow now

 

You never know. I heard something mentioned about a cut tyre earlier.

 

I know, anything on track is potentially an issue at the speeds they go.

I remember Mario's last attempt at the Indy ended with him flipping on a piece of debris.

 

Now I'm beginning to think they're taking the piss now.

 

Not sure how he compared to the veteran session after or if the track gets quicker

 

Not too bad for a first outing with other cars on track. 19th overall i think.

 

Stupid question but does an oval rubber in and get quicker, or does it grip up and get slower?

 

Rubbers-up and gets quicker.

 

Pretty much yeah. A green track can be hairy given that you don't want to be lacking grip at those speeds. That makes for a tricky drive.

Depending on how they have his car setup, there could be still a ton of speed left in there yet. Going to be interesting to see him progress.

 

Top speeds are unaffected but more grip through the turns means a quicker lap.

 

Ok so that's why the car changes from loose tight etc during the race for example?

 

There's many factors that can change the conditions of the track throughout the race which is why you'll see different cars drop off or pick up at different times as the track changes.

 

Agree with you Bhaji.

Smithers: the greatest factor in a car getting loose or tight (oversteer and understeer respectively) is the evolution of its balance. Tyre wear is always uneven between all four. For instance, if grip evolves so that there is more at the front, the rear tends to get loose because it can't cope with what the fronts are doing. Conversely, if fronts go off first (especially the outside front), turn-in becomes difficult and the car will tend to run up and out toward the wall before its driver knows to go in a little more slowly next time around! Outside tyres (rights on an anti-clockwise circuit) also tend to wear more. That said, the wear rates of each individual tyre relative to the others depends upon both set up and driving style. The trick is to get a balance which copes most effectively – with the evolution of the track, car weight (due to fuel load far more than the loss of rubber!), tyre wear and temperature – for the optimum length of a stint.

Track and car are both living things. Correct preparation for what is anticipated is the real key to success – and I expect Alonso to get a handle on this pretty quickly: although it's unfamiliar territory, he is very thorough and has instinct and talent at least on par with his new adversaries.