2017 Indy 500 Discussion Thread
- Thread starter Paul Jeffrey
- Start date
They have however won 5 of the 7 Indy 500 that have been run after the return of Chevy (And the awful "Lotus"). But yes, they have gone the route of pushing the engine this year, it is the most powerful engine, but it comes at a cost.
Nope, but American Honda Motor Company, and Honda Performance Development doesn't have any connection to the F1 project, other than that the big mother company is the same. HPD have worked on different Endurance stuff, IndyCar and SuperGT, but it stops there.
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I am not sure if someone who overtakes Toni Kanaan 'round the outside into T1 is a sign of someone just wanting to finish the race and when they were five wide before T3 at one point he kept his nose in as anybody else. It's hard to tell of what could have been and what if is engine wouldn't have failed, but according to Alonso he tried to not overshoot his tires after the restart wich made him look a bit slow. Looking at how well all the Andretti cars performed throughout the race and that he drove the fasted average speed lap up to that point right before his engine failed, I think he could have had a chance to be right in the pack with Sato and Castroneves. Alonso pretty much performed as I expected him to perform - being agressive at the right moment and not risking too much when it wasn't needed. That's just what makes an experienced driver like him very competetive.
Alonso is a 'thinking' driver.
He was on a fuel saving mission until it was clear he could make it to the end.
He also knew it was time to move.
Did you see what he was about to do when the engine failed?
He was just about to start moving through the pack, knowing well he could get to the front of the pack.
It's a shame he was let down by that failure...at that time.
He was on a fuel saving mission until it was clear he could make it to the end.
He also knew it was time to move.
Did you see what he was about to do when the engine failed?
He was just about to start moving through the pack, knowing well he could get to the front of the pack.
It's a shame he was let down by that failure...at that time.
Actually my point was even if you ignore the F1 project, the record still isn't that good. They win Indy by throwing money and numbers at it, so they can blow up engines and still have a numbers advantage. The prototypes haven't been any good for a good few years now. Even the Acura NSX. A works team in an Am class. That's not exactly anything to shout about.
15 Chevy v 18 Honda, so amount of cars are not that different. I have no idea about the budget for the different engine-makers, I know that Ilmor is a part of the Chevy-programme though.
I just don't see the "issue" with HPD.
The issue with HPD is how oddly they do things. Again, ignoring F1 because that's a separate branch. The LMPs were a bit half arsed. Rather than build a proper car they were modifying 10 year old courage chassis. It only got them so far and it came crashing down with the ARX-04, which was so bad even the works team couldn't use it and had to move to a Ligier. The current works backed Acura is running a professional team in an Am class (similar to Lexus there, avoid the tough competition). Blowing up motors to get an IndyCar win is just a bit of a disappointing way to go about things frankly. It's annoying to see top cars being retired because of the way Honda do things. They never seem to develop things properly.
The F1 branch of things is just a joke, but we all know that already.
The LMP program HPD ran wasn't bizarre. The original P2 cars started as the LC75s for crash test purposes due to the turnaround time on the project - and were still pretty successful. The ARX02 started the wide front tire revolution that the other manufacturers had to catch up to. The ARX03 was a customer chassis at the wrong time, and the ARX04 had zero development and basically no testing - I'll give you that one, but it's hardly like that is their history in sports cars.
If you want to play that game, you can also say the Gibsons were really just modifications to a now 15 year old Reynard chassis...
Why would it surprise anyone engines being pushed go boom? That's actually a good thing - engines not being pushed don't go boom. Engines being pushed to the limits do tend to go boom. Probably a reason the fastest lap of a track ever was in qualifying for a race where basically every engine went boom. (CART, Fontana, 2000)
Hell, Hondas lasted like literally every Indy 500 between 2006 and 2011 or something like that, and they made the whole field. Easy as pie when there is no competition and they have a monopoly. And they were the only competition not because they didn't want any, but because they were instrumental in stepping up to even ensure 33 cars at the 500.
They don't enter cars because they know they will go boom. They go boom because that's what racing engines do.
If you want to play that game, you can also say the Gibsons were really just modifications to a now 15 year old Reynard chassis...
Why would it surprise anyone engines being pushed go boom? That's actually a good thing - engines not being pushed don't go boom. Engines being pushed to the limits do tend to go boom. Probably a reason the fastest lap of a track ever was in qualifying for a race where basically every engine went boom. (CART, Fontana, 2000)
Hell, Hondas lasted like literally every Indy 500 between 2006 and 2011 or something like that, and they made the whole field. Easy as pie when there is no competition and they have a monopoly. And they were the only competition not because they didn't want any, but because they were instrumental in stepping up to even ensure 33 cars at the 500.
They don't enter cars because they know they will go boom. They go boom because that's what racing engines do.
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I agree... but Helio is not a indy monster... JPM is.
Helio ran how many times the Indy compared to JPM? And 2002 was not his win it was Pauls and everyone knows it.. only forked up by politics (Penske and IRL).
So Helio has 2 wins just like JPM. And btw Helio seemed to be cheating again... or is it allowed to race on with damaged missing right rear wing thingy? or are those optional on superspeedways?
So happy for Sato! He was flying and passed em all. It might have been Sato and Alonso 1-2 one way or the other if the engine held up... thats just speculation I know but the Andretti cars were just the fastest... other chevy cars could just pass em for a moment in the draft. But were sitting ducks one the other way around.
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Kanaan also lost the "wing thingy", Ed Jones ran the last few laps with a hole on the car...so I guess it is permited run without it...lol. Didnt even saw a discussion about it.
Apart from Helio´s 3 wins...2 wins, so be it...he was 3 times runner up, fighting until the very end. Impressive performances, regardless. To me he is a monster at Indianapolis, and was the best driver of this year´s race. The outside moves on Sato and Chilton at T3 were pure class. The Honda had a clear advantage on horse power, so he was fighting a faster car, on Sato´s case. He was brilliant.
That´s my opinion, of course.
Apart from Helio´s 3 wins...2 wins, so be it...he was 3 times runner up, fighting until the very end. Impressive performances, regardless. To me he is a monster at Indianapolis, and was the best driver of this year´s race. The outside moves on Sato and Chilton at T3 were pure class. The Honda had a clear advantage on horse power, so he was fighting a faster car, on Sato´s case. He was brilliant.
That´s my opinion, of course.
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If I'm not mistaken, Helio has 3 2nd place @ indianapolis also. I think he is a monster there, yes.
