Indycar 2019

wood · March 24, 2019

6 minutes ago, Anton Chigurh said:

A friend of mine said that Indy does this all the time. I was unaware. They use the regular one for the race. Makes sense, though.

Yeah I read that, and yeah, I've never seen it before either.

wood · March 24, 2019

2 hours ago, wood said:

...and damn, I'd be surprised if there have been more than 10,000 people at COTA so far, both Saturday and Sunday combined ... not including the concert. Not good.

errr ... Friday & Saturday. I'm tired.

RamjetFDO · March 24, 2019

Colt on crutches doing the "Start your engines!"... And a Hook 'Em shout out!

elfenix · March 24, 2019

OBTW, Stadium Super Trucks may be the coolest thing I've ever seen. That is some entertaining, fucking awesome shit.

After watching highlights of it on YouTube I'm really disappointed I'm not there

Track limits? What track limits? is really weird

Hawndoh · March 24, 2019

That was pretty good. Some interesting moments.

Quite a lot slower than F1. Just can't accelerate or corner the same way, which is I'm sure why they were allowed to go so wide on the second to last corner. To stay on track they would have to slow so much and would look too slow on the main straight in front of the grandstands.

Anton Chigurh · March 24, 2019

Unlucky for Rossi but great drive by Herta.

George Steinbrenner IV is 22 and owns an IndyCar team, and his 18 year old driver won today. Crazy.

relapse98 · March 24, 2019

19 hours ago, wood said:

OBTW, Stadium Super Trucks may be the coolest thing I've ever seen. That is some entertaining, fucking awesome shit.

Fuck yeah, those guys are nuts.

And i get to see them again next week. That was a very nice suprise.

relapse98 · March 24, 2019

That was a fun race. Really enjoyed it and that's what matters to.keep and build a fanbase

Sat in the grass in front of the turn 1 stands the full race, good view. Parked at a house off Elroy, well worth the $10 to avoid traffic in T. Of course, had a friend park in T, which should be $30, but crackheads couldn't figure out who was supposed to take money so it was $0.

elfenix · March 24, 2019

29 minutes ago, Hawndoh said:

That was pretty good. Some interesting moments.

Quite a lot slower than F1. Just can't accelerate or corner the same way, which is I'm sure why they were allowed to go so wide on the second to last corner. To stay on track they would have to slow so much and would look too slow on the main straight in front of the grandstands.

the cars are down about 200 hp, 2 gears, and don't make the race to race changes to aero that F1 cars do (not to mention no DRS). that same aero package is used at temporary street races, go kart tracks like barber, and power tracks like cota and road america. the engine size is going up to 2.4 liters in 2021 so the cars will be making another 100 hp which should knock another couple seconds off, i'd expect. assuming they come back.

and this whole series probably runs on less money than just ferrari or mercedes F1.

Edited March 24, 2019 by elfenix

Hawndoh · March 24, 2019

Oh of course. I know all that and I don't expect to see them be as fast as F1. At the end of the day they're designed for the 500. I get that and they are very impressive at the 500.

It's just a lot more evident at a place like COTA where they can't brake and then accelerate the way F1 can.

SurlyBDR · March 24, 2019

The trucks were fucking awesome!

SurlyBDR · March 24, 2019

6 hours ago, RamjetFDO said:

Colt on crutches doing the "Start your engines!"... And a Hook 'Em shout out!

Atxracer · March 25, 2019

On March 23, 2019 at 7:29 PM, wood said:

Really sucks that they're not enforcing track limits at 19. I can't find a way to understand it when any major series does that shit.

This...I didn't get to watch much of it but saw the last 15ish laps and was blown away at how wide they were going. Easy and beneficial to do there but c'mon.

relapse98 · March 25, 2019

The phrase that pays this week is "track limits". Good heavens. Hardly ever hear it and then bam, all the bitching in the world about it.

wood · March 25, 2019

I just don't understand the benefit of not enforcing track limits...and it played a role in the crash that had a massive effect on the outcome of the race. That runoff area has massive rippling bumps.

utee94 · March 25, 2019

Overall I really enjoyed seeing the Indycars run at COTA. I didn't expect them to be as fast as F1, so just enjoyed it for what it was. Also enjoyed the racing of the Indylights, they attempted some pretty crazy passes and that was entertaining.

Agree on the stadium trucks, they were awesome! I took the kids (for free!) on Saturday, and that was their favorite part.

Also agree on not enforcing track limits, especially after T19. It was an issue, that became a problem.

I was disappointed in the attendance, I really figured there'd be more Indycar fans in Texas that would want to see them race at a purpose-built road course instead of an oval. I guess I was wrong.

relapse98 · March 25, 2019

COTA does not promote events, that's part of it.

And attendance at almost every live sporting event has been dropping steadily over the years, that's another part.

Anton Chigurh · March 25, 2019

It’s pretty lame how salty the IndyCar only fans are being about people disagreeing with track limit enforcement.

BuT iNDy pUtS On a MuCH bETteR sHoW!!11!1!1!1!

Look, I like IndyCar, but half the time it’s a lottery on your fuel strategy and how the cautions play out. Just because an underdog wins because the leaders were incredibly unlucky doesn’t mean it is inherently better or worse than another series. It’s spec racing. It’s different.

Maybe they should leave the pits open during a caution in the future (this crash notwithstanding since it literally happened at pit entry).

Buxton tweeted this and got a lot vitriolic responses:

Someone did make a good point about lap and track records. What if IndyCars were almost as fast as F1, or what if a P1 car was able to not have track limits and beat an F1 car lap record? How can you then compare those? You’d have to put a big asterisk next to it since they essentially ran a different layout.

wood · March 25, 2019

Yep. I understand the drivers' motivations for exceeding track limits at times. I don't understand the series' motivation for allowing it. Not by a long shot. It doesn't help them.

Anton Chigurh · March 25, 2019

And this is straight from Indy’s website:

““We want track limits,” Josef Newgarden said of his Team Penske teammates Pagenaud and Will Power. “It makes it easier in some ways when you don't have track limits. It takes away some of the difficulty of having to get that corner right. We don't like that. Certainly, there's other aspects that we don't like with it, too, such as safety, the way you pull into pit (lane).

“Right now, we just don't have a great solution to police it, how we implement that for the way INDYCAR puts that on for a race. They don't like being involved too much. They don't want to put penalties out when they don't need to. They don't want to alter a race result if they can get away with it. I understand their position.””

BlueGreySky · March 25, 2019

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/motor/2019/03/20/indycar-heads-cota-lets-cut-out-comparisons-formula-one/3221505002/

INDIANAPOLIS -- Frankly, I don’t get it. I don’t understand the obsession so many fans have with comparing IndyCar racing to Formula One -- specifically, comparing the speeds and lap times produced by the two series’ vastly different vehicles.

Unfortunately, I fear we’re doomed for a weekend filled with fans engaging in this useless exercise.

This weekend, the NTT IndyCar Series is headed to the 20-turn, 3.427 mile Circuit of the Americas road course for the first time. As many racing fans know, Formula One cars have been competing at the idyllic track since it opened in 2012 -- making this weekend’s race the first time IndyCar and F1 will race on the same track in the same year since 2006 at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

For many fans, this offers the ideal opportunity to compare speeds and lap times of the world's two top open-wheel series.

But why? To what end? It’s not like the naked eye is capable of detecting the difference in the speed that separates Lewis Hamilton’s COTA-record 1:32.237 (during 2018 U.S. Grand Prix qualifying) and whatever the fastest lap Indy car produces this weekend.

Is there something useful to be gained by comparing these two series' performances?

“No, it’s silly,” said Sebastien Bourdais, one of few drivers with experience in both series. “I mean, what are we trying to compare?

Good question.

The series' open-wheel cars are so vastly different that a comparison makes no sense -- like comparing the merits of a spoon and a fork. Sure, they both accomplish the same goal, but they get there in very different ways.

In Formula One, Bourdais explains, you’re dealing with some of the most technologically advanced machines in racing. As the pinnacle of motor sports around the world, F1 teams spend somewhere between $80 million and $300 million on their full-season programs.

A top-level IndyCar team might top out at around $10 million. It’s no knock on IndyCar to say that with level of spending disparity, F1 cars had darn well better be quicker in and out of COTA’s corners.

And that’s by far not the only reason F1 cars will turn quicker laps at COTA. Once you add the driver to the equation, Indy cars weight around 100 pounds more than their F1 counterparts (minimum weight of 1,631). They have to. If they weren’t, Bourdais might not be around to explain why.

Indy cars are built to absorb significantly more impact than their F1 counterparts, he said -- primarily because Indy cars race on ovals.

If Bourdais had slammed into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway SAFER barrier going 227 mph and generating 114 Gs -- as he did during 500 qualifying two years ago -- in an F1 car he probably would not have escaped the wreckage with only a fractured pelvis and hip.

“Right now, Formula One has a lot of artificial ways to produce lap times, particularly with the DRS (drag reduction system),” Bourdais continued in his comparison of the two series. “And when you start looking at the difference in pace from race and qualifying, you see a very different picture. They lose like eight seconds at the beginning of the race. On new tires. You have all that fuel, and they’re still not at our minimum weight. That tells you how important weight is (to speed).

“They also have ridiculously big tires that produce a lot of mechanical grip and have a ton of horsepower with the hybrid systems. Of course they’re going to be a lot faster. If we added a 1,000 horsepower on acceleration, we’d go a lot faster, too.”

There are other differences, too, but by now the point should be clear: Why waste your precious time this weekend comparing lap times when there are more important questions to ask?

What will the racing be like at COTA? Will it be entertaining? Those are really the only questions IndyCar should be concerned with, Bourdais said.

"Ultimately, we're in the entertainment business," he said. "We’re in racing, and racing is about a lot more than just pure speed or lap time. It’s about how good a race you put together and how much fighting you got going on and how much action you have on track.

"I think the (F1 and IndyCar) disciplines are completely different, and trying to compare them, yeah, there’s just really not much point in doing it."

I couldn't agree more.

Edited March 25, 2019 by BlueGreySky

utee94 · March 25, 2019

2 hours ago, relapse98 said:

COTA does not promote events, that's part of it.

And attendance at almost every live sporting event has been dropping steadily over the years, that's another part.

That's certainly been true of other race events at COTA, but I saw plenty of promotion for this race from COTA.

Beyond that, I'm not sure what COTA would need to do, to promote an Indycar race to Indycar fans. The Indycar fans saw the schedule 6 months ago. They know when and where the race is. If they want to attend, they will attend. I suppose one question is, how expensive was it to attend, compared to other Indycar races?

I agree that overall attendance for live events is diminishing, but that's a separate issue. How many fans show up to Indycar at TMS? At Alabama? I know it's huge for the Indy500, but were the numbers out there this past weekend average for this sport, or below, or even above? Not sure.

Edited March 25, 2019 by utee94

relapse98 · March 25, 2019

Quote

That's certainly been true of other race events at COTA, but I saw plenty of promotion for this race from COTA.

I can't say outside of some facebook posts that I saw from COTA and Indy that I saw a single word about the race. About 2 months ago, COTA swooped into the McNay Art Museum and then New Braunfels City Hall for a picture op, they seemed to be at each stop for maybe 30 minutes. Do something at those. Make a big announcement splash in each city. Invite people out to come sit in the static display car and get their picture taken. Something. Anything.

What promotions did you see? Obviously my experience varied greatly from yours, so that would certainly point to a marketing issue.

Its more than just the Indycar fan. Those are gonna go no matter what. Marketing them is obviously wasted money. It's marketing to the average person on the street and convincing them to go and drop some change. I'm not sure what COTA would need to do - but if they don't do something, they will run off yet another series.

Cost:

Indy for Sunday only was $65 for general admission. Parking in Lot T, $30 (if they remember to charge you.

TMS Sunday only, $30 right now on Ticketmaster, parking free.

Parking is MUCH better at TMS. Granted you are stuck in a single seat at TMS, but you can bring a cooler in, that alone is worth a shit ton of money since you can pack that fucker with hard shit. COTA - no coolers, maybe no drinks depending on which person "checks" your stuff".

As to how many fans showed up, we may never see a real number. Our hill at Turn 1 was decently full, but the Turn 12 and Turn 1 grandstands were bleak. There were people in the grass by the esses, but I doubt (I couldn't see but I'm guessing) that there were many fans past that to Turn 11 and back to Turn 12 because COTA didn't run shuttles down there like they do for F1. Of course, without fans there, no need to. And we can look at the parking lots and see what's up. Lot T was full, but N was turned into camping (almost completely empty) and I'm almost certain they didn't use L or M at all, not to mention Q off of 812. And then they turned C into a .25 USAC Midget track.

utee94 · March 25, 2019

LOT N is camping for F1 as well-- that's where I park our RV every year for the USGP. It was definitely less than half full of RVs compared to F1 though.

Anyway, all that aside, I did enjoy the Indycar racing-- I'm not trying to crap on the Indycar thread. Just making observations.

I especially loved seeing them on a track that I'm very familiar with. I don't really care at all about comparing lap times to F1 or anyone else. As has been pointed out many times, the budgets for Indycar aren't anywhere close to F1 and the cars are designed with entirely different season-long objectives in mind. The bang-for-your-buck in Indycar is pretty impressive.

And those TRUCKS.

utee94 · March 25, 2019

If nothing else, Indycar earned itself a new fan. I haven't followed it much at all since the CART/IRL split ruined the sport for me. But I had a great time watching it this weekend, and I'll be following it for the rest of this year. I still don't really dig the ovals, but there are fewer of them on the Calendar now, compared to the days of yore.

wood · March 25, 2019

41 minutes ago, utee94 said:

That's certainly been true of other race events at COTA, but I saw plenty of promotion for this race from COTA.

Beyond that, I'm not sure what COTA would need to do, to promote an Indycar race to Indycar fans. The Indycar fans saw the schedule 6 months ago. They know when and where the race is. If they want to attend, they will attend. I suppose one question is, how expensive was it to attend, compared to other Indycar races?

I agree that overall attendance for live events is diminishing, but that's a separate issue. How many fans show up to Indycar at TMS? At Alabama? I know it's huge for the Indy500, but were the numbers out there this past weekend average for this sport, or below, or even above? Not sure.

What did they do to promote it? Honest question. I saw very little. Even very little of their usual low effort radio giveaways etc.

Re: the expense, I am lucky enough to have access to discounted tickets through GOVX and, including bullshit fees & parking, I still spent over $250 for 3 days for 2 people in T12. IIRC it would have been well over $300 for 2 regular priced 3-day GA tickets & parking. I'm not 100% certain, but that's probably higher than IndyCar fans are used to.

At TMS's first crack at IndyCar, 129K showed up and filled that massive front stretch grandstand. Eddie Gossage said before this weekend that surely COTA would probably pull about 100K. I think he was having a bit of fun at their expense, probably having heard the same thing that I'd heard about their sales. The last time I went to IndyCar at TMS, 2 or 3 years ago, there were about 80K on race day.

Judging from what I saw out there yesterday --- ~30K grandstand seats ... probably about 1/4 to 1/3 full on average + a few thousand people scattered about in GA --- it looks like the pre-race report I heard of <20K tickets sold was spot on. The Main Grandstand & T15 grandstands were ghost towns.

I'm not sure what COTA needs to do, but they're the promoter, and from what I can tell, they really aren't doing much promoting for any race.

Edited March 25, 2019 by wood

wood · March 25, 2019

37 minutes ago, relapse98 said:

I can't say outside of some facebook posts that I saw from COTA and Indy that I saw a single word about the race. About 2 months ago, COTA swooped into the McNay Art Museum and then New Braunfels City Hall for a picture op, they seemed to be at each stop for maybe 30 minutes. Do something at those. Make a big announcement splash in each city. Invite people out to come sit in the static display car and get their picture taken. Something. Anything.

What promotions did you see? Obviously my experience varied greatly from yours, so that would certainly point to a marketing issue.

Its more than just the Indycar fan. Those are gonna go no matter what. Marketing them is obviously wasted money. It's marketing to the average person on the street and convincing them to go and drop some change. I'm not sure what COTA would need to do - but if they don't do something, they will run off yet another series.

Cost:

Indy for Sunday only was $65 for general admission. Parking in Lot T, $30 (if they remember to charge you.

TMS Sunday only, $30 right now on Ticketmaster, parking free.

Parking is MUCH better at TMS. Granted you are stuck in a single seat at TMS, but you can bring a cooler in, that alone is worth a shit ton of money since you can pack that fucker with hard shit. COTA - no coolers, maybe no drinks depending on which person "checks" your stuff".

As to how many fans showed up, we may never see a real number. Our hill at Turn 1 was decently full, but the Turn 12 and Turn 1 grandstands were bleak. There were people in the grass by the esses, but I doubt (I couldn't see but I'm guessing) that there were many fans past that to Turn 11 and back to Turn 12 because COTA didn't run shuttles down there like they do for F1. Of course, without fans there, no need to. And we can look at the parking lots and see what's up. Lot T was full, but N was turned into camping (almost completely empty) and I'm almost certain they didn't use L or M at all, not to mention Q off of 812. And then they turned C into a .25 USAC Midget track.

All of this, and oh yeah, who in the actual FUCK directs the perpetual parking fiasco at COTA? Only 2 lanes into lot F yesterday morning, so there was a backup at 10am even with that shitty crowd. And then exiting the place they send everyone down Kellam, which was expressly built for fucking COTA as an easy way to get cars to 71, and then they merge us down to one lane before Pearce and make everyone turn onto Pearce. Gridlock. Un.Fucking.Real. TMS was light years ahead of where COTA is now by their 2nd season of racing.

And yeah, the inability to bring a cooler doesn't sit well with IndyCar fans, or most race fans for that matter.

Re: the crowd, T15 and Main were even way bleaker than 1 and 12. It was bad. And the crowd along the esses was very thin even compared to IMSA for example. It was more along the lines of PWC. And there was basically nobody at all past T6. There were literally like 20 people, most of whom were at T9, probably at least in part because Bobby won't spend a couple hundred fucking dollars on generators to power any TV screens past T5. For a fucking IndyCar race. Same shit they've been pulling with MotoGP. Just fucking embarrassing.

Edited March 25, 2019 by wood

wood · March 25, 2019

26 minutes ago, utee94 said:

LOT N is camping for F1 as well-- that's where I park our RV every year for the USGP. It was definitely less than half full of RVs compared to F1 though.

Anyway, all that aside, I did enjoy the Indycar racing-- I'm not trying to crap on the Indycar thread. Just making observations.

I especially loved seeing them on a track that I'm very familiar with. I don't really care at all about comparing lap times to F1 or anyone else. As has been pointed out many times, the budgets for Indycar aren't anywhere close to F1 and the cars are designed with entirely different season-long objectives in mind. The bang-for-your-buck in Indycar is pretty impressive.

And those TRUCKS.

I don't take your post at all as complaining about IndyCar. They did everything they could, track limits aside, to put on a good show. And yeah, that's exactly my take re: IndyCar, when you look at their budgets and the versatility they need from those cars, what they did at COTA is amazing.

And yeah, I can't say enough good things about the trucks. Robbie's really onto something with this thing imho.

Re: the camping at Lot N, it was woefully empty, for a series whose RV fans generally travel very well. Some of that can be explained by the infield camping, but there weren't many RVs there either.

Edited March 25, 2019 by wood

elfenix · March 25, 2019

I just don't understand the benefit of not enforcing track limits...and it played a role in the crash that had a massive effect on the outcome of the race. That runoff area has massive rippling bumps.

Tire wear. The reds were falling off really fast, apparently.

wood · March 25, 2019

I had my phone ready the last time Robbie did a 2-wheel pass...

elfenix · March 25, 2019

They handed Herta the bottle of champagne meant for Newgarden while Newgarden got the non alcoholic cider meant for Herta

utee94 · March 27, 2019

On 3/25/2019 at 11:11 AM, wood said:

I don't take your post at all as complaining about IndyCar. They did everything they could, track limits aside, to put on a good show. And yeah, that's exactly my take re: IndyCar, when you look at their budgets and the versatility they need from those cars, what they did at COTA is amazing.

And yeah, I can't say enough good things about the trucks. Robbie's really onto something with this thing imho.

Re: the camping at Lot N, it was woefully empty, for a series whose RV fans generally travel very well. Some of that can be explained by the infield camping, but there weren't many RVs there either.

Well I'm not sure they could have fit a lot more RVs into the infield camping, given all the other junk you typically need inside the walls just to manage a race weekend. But even if you'd moved every single one of those infield RVs into Lot N, it wouldn't have made a dent. I, too, was surprised by that. Just another reflection of the low turnout. I'm hopeful it will improve, but as you said before, year 1 has typically been their biggest for ANY series that's raced there.

I think I read somewhere that the contract is 3 years, is that true? If so, I guess I'll just enjoy it while I can. We didn't make it out there for Friday, we were still wrapping up our Spring Break camping trip to Garner State Park. Next year hopefully the schedule won't align to Spring Break, that would make it easier for me, honestly.

wood · March 27, 2019

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

Well I'm not sure they could have fit a lot more RVs into the infield camping, given all the other junk you typically need inside the walls just to manage a race weekend. But even if you'd moved every single one of those infield RVs into Lot N, it wouldn't have made a dent. I, too, was surprised by that. Just another reflection of the low turnout. I'm hopeful it will improve, but as you said before, year 1 has typically been their biggest for ANY series that's raced there.

I think I read somewhere that the contract is 3 years, is that true? If so, I guess I'll just enjoy it while I can. We didn't make it out there for Friday, we were still wrapping up our Spring Break camping trip to Garner State Park. Next year hopefully the schedule won't align to Spring Break, that would make it easier for me, honestly.

3 years is what I was thinking I remembered too, and I doubt IndyCar will be here beyond their current contract, if even that long. Re: the infield camping, it wasn't very full at all. When I was on the tower I snapped some phone pics, & you can see in the video above how wide open it & the other RV areas were. They could have fit probably 25+ more RVs in the infield and along the back straight. You're right. Those RVs wouldn't have made a dent in Lot N, which is pretty sad for a series that typically brings tons of RVers. If the infield RVs were put at Lot N, it probably would have filled out the first two rows.

Edited March 27, 2019 by wood

utee94 · March 27, 2019

Great pictures!

Looks like they could have comfortably fit another 15-20 or so RVs infield. If I'd paid what they were asking for that, I definitely wouldn't have wanted to be crammed.

(Yeah, yeah, I know what NASCAR infield RV parking looks like, but personally I would never pay a dime to be shoe-horned into a sardine can like that. Talk about a shitshow. I can't even imagine the SMELL! )

wood · March 28, 2019

Since this was held during the IndyCar weekend, I'll put it her for those of you who might be wondering what all the commotion was re: Stadium Supertrucks. This is the last 3 laps of the Saturday race.

This wasn't even the best video, but I haven't gotten around to uploading everything. Stay with it to the end to see some amazing 2-wheel skills by Robbie Gordon, and other hilarity...

Edited March 28, 2019 by wood

utee94 · March 28, 2019

Those trucks were so awesome. Truly a highlight of the weekend. My son enjoyed all the racing, but my daughter loved the trucks.

wood · March 28, 2019

:coughBULLSHITcough:

IndyCar at COTA: Track boss Epstein says event met 'upper end' of projections | Autoweek https://autoweek.com/article/indycar/indycar-cota-track-boss-epstein-says-event-met-upper-end-projections

Wait a minute - 80000 for F1? That's a lot less than COTA's been telling us.

And don't get me started on the whole "Reserved seat holders were out walking around or standing beside the track, so that's why the place looked empty" nonsense. Dude sounds desperate and thinks we're all fucking stupid.

Epstein and COTA officials would not confirm total attendance for last Sunday’s IndyCar Classic at COTA. But with 5,000 paddock passes sold out and a Muse concert drawing more than 10,000 fans at the Austin360 Ampitheater, race day attendance was estimated at more than 30,000.
Many of those fans did not watch from the grandstands, choosing to walk around the race course and check out other viewing options. That is in contrast to the estimated 80,000 who attend the United States Grand Prix Formula 1 round at COTA every year.

Epstein told Autoweek on Sunday night that he was pleased with the crowd for Sunday’s race and said it was at the “upper end of our projections.

“The thing about the venue that a lot of people don’t realize is people like to wander,” Epstein told Autoweek. “They have some of their favorite hills and want to watch in the turns, so they aren’t really sitting in their grandstand seat. We realized that when we priced the IndyCar ticket. There wasn’t really a difference if you had general admission or had a ticket.

“Most of the people you saw on hillsides had reserved seats somewhere else. But people wander around and meet their friends at a different turn.

“When you spread that crowd out over 3 miles, it gets lost in the actual size of the crowd.”

elfenix · April 2, 2019

Interesting read with Ericsson's thoughts on the difference btw indycar and F1:

https://www-motorsport-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.motorsport.com/indycar/news/arrow-schmidt-IndyCar-F1-ericsson/4363752/amp/?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.motorsport.com%2Findycar%2Fnews%2Farrow-schmidt-IndyCar-F1-ericsson%2F4363752%2F

wood · April 7, 2019

Sato!

wood · April 8, 2019

McLaren Racing unveils 2019 Indy 500 livery.
https://www.mclaren.com/formula1/2019/indy-500/mclaren-racing-unveils-indy-500-livery/

Edited April 8, 2019 by wood

elfenix · April 8, 2019

Looks so much better than the 2017 car. Wish they could get rid of the pants, at least for road courses.

Hawndoh · April 9, 2019

The Alabama race was pretty good. But I have now discovered it is harder to avoid spoilers in Indy. Had to watch DVR of the race Monday and had it spoiled by Indy's YouTube channel.

They have a great YouTube channel but since I'm subscribed to them their videos show up on my home screen. That's fine but when they put up their race highlights videos the winning car is shown prominently in the thumbnail.

pwinger · April 9, 2019

If you're gonna rely on replay and don't want spoilers, you really have to venture into dark territory. That means no media whatsoever - no TV, radio or internet. And probably no conversations with friends or family either. It's a commitment.

faps · April 9, 2019

I'm somehow able to avoid Indy spoilers, but MotoGP is a different story.

relapse98 · April 9, 2019

I can avoid spoilers for the most part - except facebook. That shit always shows up when I don't want it to.

And to top it off (already knowing the winner at Barber) we set up the DVR without anything padded at the end and missed the last 9 laps or so. Fsck.

That was a pretty damn good race. Gorgeous race track. And spoiler alert - that start. WTF with passing 3/4 of the field before the green. It was a slow start, but he timed that poorly.

faps · April 9, 2019

Someone on Instagram asked Ed Jones what that start was all about, his response: everyone was repeatedly brake checking, initially went out of line to avoid crashing and knowing I’d get a penalty anyway I made the most of it

So he just said fuck it. lol

Hawndoh · April 9, 2019

I bet that start becomes a GIF with text above is car like "laters! Lololololoooo" or something like that.

relapse98 · April 9, 2019

Apparently Fernando is doing some testing at Texas Motor Speedway.

wood · April 10, 2019

Good article here re: the test, if you don't have time for the video:

Alonso encouraged after Texas IndyCar test http://disq.us/t/3didbtp

The video has more from Alonso though.

Edited April 10, 2019 by wood

wood · April 10, 2019

Man, I respect Robin Miller's work, but he's just completely clueless when it comes to the COTA Track Limits issue, imho ... or he's just toeing the IndyCar line.

Ignoring T19 Track Limits is not what made for good racing during the IndyCar race at COTA.

https://t.co/0zfPM22mdu

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