Alonso Missing Monaco to do Indy 500
Discussion
FourWheelDrift said:
Staggered they went to a Taco Bell, it's 2nd only to Chipotle in the worst American fast food (and I use that in the broadest terms) stakes. But then one of them was brought up on Scottish cooking and the other New Zealand so I guess it's fancy foreign food to them 
Chipotle is no way the worst. There is a long line ahead of that. 768 said:
ash73 said:
Scott Dixon's pole laps:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc6kis8M4aQ
Does that, then gets robbed at gunpoint by some teenagers at a Taco Bell. Good old US of A.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc6kis8M4aQ
http://www.espn.com/racing/story/_/id/19436735/ind...
WitnessProtection said:
jsf said:
Zero, the Indy 500 is a standout race, the Indycar season would be like going back to GP2, only on lower grade circuits with drivers past their best..
When Mansell went to CART, the competition was better with more serious racing in a more varied grid of cars that were proper pieces of kit, not the current one make series with old and fat drivers.
Having looked at the full list of drivers competing in 1993, I'm going to suggest that might be a somewhat rose tinted view. Competition wise, the field was dominated by two chassis manufacturers (Lola/Penske) and two main engine suppliers (Ford/Chevrolet), whilst all except two races were won by either Penske or Newman/Haas. There were also plenty of old and fat drivers in the field, plus a decent collection of US journeymen, second tier F1 drivers and just outright ride buyers. If anything, I'd argue the talent pool in the field over the last few years is as deep as it's been in a long while. I can't see Alonso going there full time either, but I could certainly see him doing Indy and maybe a few of the higher profile street circuits as one-offs. When Mansell went to CART, the competition was better with more serious racing in a more varied grid of cars that were proper pieces of kit, not the current one make series with old and fat drivers.
In the early 90s Unser and Andretti Jr's were in there prime, Mansell, Jacques Villeneuve, Alex Zanardi, Greg Moore, JPM. Who are today's equivalent? The young drivers are too inconsistent eg. Hinch Town shows potential at being a great; hard to make of RHR would he have served better driving for Gannasi or Penske and he was probably the last driver to race Indy when the ladder system was still decent.
I thought my comment might go down well. 
The IRL/CART split did open wheel racing in the USA a lot of harm, if you watch the normal indy races its like watching something from 20 years ago with regards to the venues and the driving ability is no where near high enough to stand a chance against someone like Alonso or Hamilton.
Drivers looking for the highest level of racing don't aspire to Indycar, they try GP2/F1/WEC, the USA open wheel scene is a fall back position. NASCAR is where the real money, major teams and high profile drivers are in USA racing these days.
The Indy 500 is a different case that's stands on its own, it also requires a different skill set to traditional open wheel racing. It's going to be very interesting to see the race unfold. It's fantasy to think Alonso would want to do a season of indycar though.
Maybe this extra interest in the series plus the new car for 2018 will help Indycar recapture some of its kudos, I hope so, because the old CART days were great to watch.
The IRL/CART split did open wheel racing in the USA a lot of harm, if you watch the normal indy races its like watching something from 20 years ago with regards to the venues and the driving ability is no where near high enough to stand a chance against someone like Alonso or Hamilton.
Drivers looking for the highest level of racing don't aspire to Indycar, they try GP2/F1/WEC, the USA open wheel scene is a fall back position. NASCAR is where the real money, major teams and high profile drivers are in USA racing these days.
The Indy 500 is a different case that's stands on its own, it also requires a different skill set to traditional open wheel racing. It's going to be very interesting to see the race unfold. It's fantasy to think Alonso would want to do a season of indycar though.
Maybe this extra interest in the series plus the new car for 2018 will help Indycar recapture some of its kudos, I hope so, because the old CART days were great to watch.
jsf said:
It's fantasy to think Alonso would want to do a season of indycar though.
Indeed. Let's be honest, if mid-field ex-F1 drivers like Sato are racing in IndyCar then it's hardly going to be the calibre of racing to tempt someone like Alonso. The Indy500 is a self-appointed Bucket List goal for him but I can't see him being interested in a whole season. Bourdais is up and walking already, with help !
https://twitter.com/BourdaisOnTrack/status/8667656...
https://twitter.com/BourdaisOnTrack/status/8667656...
ash73 said:
Anyone got the times from today's practice session?
Practice 8 results link on this page - http://www.indycar.com/News/2017/05/05-22-Indy-pra...WitnessProtection said:
entropy said:
Its a lot more competitive IMHO because most of the drivers are of similar level and there isn't a/group of drivers who are head and shoulders above the rest or as I like to call: at the apex of their peers.
In the early 90s Unser and Andretti Jr's were in there prime, Mansell, Jacques Villeneuve, Alex Zanardi, Greg Moore, JPM. Who are today's equivalent? The young drivers are too inconsistent eg. Hinch Town shows potential at being a great; hard to make of RHR would he have served better driving for Gannasi or Penske and he was probably the last driver to race Indy when the ladder system was still decent.
Here's the list of all drivers who competed in the 1993 season, including part time rides. I'd argue only about four of them were on top of their game at the time, and that's including Paul Tracy, who you'd absolutely have to put in the same "frustrating" category as the likes of Hinchcliffe, Marco, Graham Rahal and the like. The rest of the drivers you listed are spread out over five or six seasons (Mansell 1993 > Moore fatality 1999), and I'd argue the last five or six seasons has a readily identifiable "apex of peers" - Dixon, Power, Bourdais, Pagenaud, Franchitti, Wheldon, Castroneves and Kanaan all leap to mind. I think the "average" talent in the last few seasons is probably as high as it's been for many a year, and God knows it's been poor in seasons gone by.In the early 90s Unser and Andretti Jr's were in there prime, Mansell, Jacques Villeneuve, Alex Zanardi, Greg Moore, JPM. Who are today's equivalent? The young drivers are too inconsistent eg. Hinch Town shows potential at being a great; hard to make of RHR would he have served better driving for Gannasi or Penske and he was probably the last driver to race Indy when the ladder system was still decent.
Wheldon - great on ovals, weaker on road circuits. I remember him blaming Ganassi's inferior road course programme yet Scott Dixon didn't seem to struggle
HCN - never convinced me as championship material
Power - IMO he's not a great. I think should have won more titles being in the best team for a number of years. Mind you, he is arguably the best road course racer in the field.
Pagenaud - I think he's similar to Power but to be fair his Penske career his still in its infancy.
Put it another way, if Power and Pagenaud were teammates to Dixon who would come out on top? My money is on Dixon.
Melman Giraffe said:
What channel and at what time can this be watched?
Race will be shown on BT Sport ESPN from 16:30 Sundayhttp://sport.bt.com/tv-guide-01363810618853
MartG said:
Melman Giraffe said:
What channel and at what time can this be watched?
Race will be shown on BT Sport ESPN from 16:30 Sundayhttp://sport.bt.com/tv-guide-01363810618853
Apparently McLaren won't charge their sponsors anything for the extra exposure of Alonso's Indycar
https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news/alonso-ind...
https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news/alonso-ind...
CraigyMc said:
Just for info, the 2018 cars look like this; they've got rid of the bodywork behind the rear wheels and tidied things up a bit.
Forgive the slight drift, but Indycar have uploaded new 2018 car renders.Note that there are (obviously) two specs of car shown - skinny wings for big ovals, and big wings for the road courses:
They look pretty decent to me - better than this year by some margin.
Front three-quarter
Front
Side
Rear three-quarter
Rear
Above
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