IndyCar: COTA Discussion Thread

[CreamyCornCob]

Sounds good to me. I don't see the benefit in visiting. Please delete my account.

Delete it your self, you'll feel cleansed from head to toe

 

[NikiGouda]

Where are the moderators please!!! This guy has replied in this thread
(i counted it) 21 times and NONE of them were relevant for the topic.
Yes, 21 times off topic without any problem! What's going on here?

 

[whaletail]

If only Indycar would open the pits during FCY!

Power and Rossi were the clear class of the field, but a stupid rule arbitrarily ruins their races. Two poles and no mistakes, yet Power probably isn't even top 10 in the standings. I realize he would've been out due to mechanical failure anyway, but these late race lotteries aren't doing the series any good.

That said, Herta's pace and O'Ward's racecraft are very exciting, and will hopefully increase future viewership. Assuming O'Ward's pace hasn't plateaued in the off-season, he's probably the faster of two as well, and I hope he eventually finds a team that can give him a contending car.

Given Herta's Steinbrenner ties, and his father's to Andretti, I wouldn't surprised to see him stay with Harding Steinbrenner as long as they're competitive, but I'm sure Penske's in him and O'Ward. The latter moving to Penske in place of Pagineaud (or even in addition) almost seems inevitable.

 

[Stephen O'Sullivan]

I watched the highlights on IndyCar's YouTube channel. The marvellous onboards highlighted how the drivers wrestled with the manual steering. The lack of track limits seemed to encourage some drivers to edge others off of the track: an exciting but dubious development. This generation of IndyCars is attractive in many ways, but my favourite aspect of them is how lively they are all the way through a corner. Here's to the next race!

 

[rubaru]

Power and Rossi were the clear class of the field, but a stupid rule arbitrarily ruins their races. Two poles and no mistakes, yet Power probably isn't even top 10 in the standings. I realize he would've been out due to mechanical failure anyway, but these late race lotteries aren't doing the series any good.

Which stupid rule are you referring to? The teams gambled by waiting to pit later, got caught with a caution while many other cars pitted already. When Power and Rossi pitted under yellow, they ended up in the middle of the field. I believe the same thing could have happened in any racing series.

I might be wrong, but I think Herta was running in 4th or 5th around Lap 40. Is it possible he would have overtaken Rossi or Power when they pitted? I forget what the gap was before the caution, and the pit delta was somewhere around 30-32 seconds.

 

[NikiGouda]

Herta was running on 3rd before his last stop, in fact he was top 3 all the time.
Gap to Power and Rossi was something like 8sec before he went to the pits
if i remember well. So viewing it realistically he had not a winning chance
anymore. Until caution Dixon was 3rd for 1 lap but without any chance to stay
in front of Colton after his pitstop.
Nonetheless this performance of an 18 years old rookie is exceptional enough.

I watched the highlights on IndyCar's YouTube channel. The marvellous onboards highlighted how the drivers wrestled with the manual steering. The lack of track limits seemed to encourage some drivers to edge others off of the track: an exciting but dubious development. This generation of IndyCars is attractive in many ways, but my favourite aspect of them is how lively they are all the way through a corner. Here's to the next race!

Especially the section through turns 16, 17 and 18 was awesome to watch
with the onboards. Always sideways, drifting galore. There was a BIG save
of Alex Rossi late in the race in this section with a huge countersteer and
from onboard view it looked like he is about to spin. Spectacular stuff and
one of the many reasons why i love IndyCars.

 

[ermo]

I remember Marcus Ericsson saying that one of the differences between F1 cars and IndyCars is that in F1, you can dial in the car to have a good balance everywhere on the track, but in IndyCar, you'll always have to find a decent compromise and then drive around these compromises.

To a driver, the prospect of manual steering, longer braking distances and less DF gluing the car to the track might actually be a pretty exciting prospect and represent quite the challenge.

It is also no secret that driver fitness and physique can make a difference in terms of concentration, precision and focus at the end of a long, hard race during which you've wrestled your car around with no power steering. It's bound to yield more driver mistakes over a race, but that's part of the game for everyone.

I think I've decided that I quite like both the looks and the on track action of the new IndyCars. Kudos to the IndyCar organisation for building a sexy and entertaining Formula with good sound and plenty of close racing!

EDIT: IndyCar runs with CF brakes, not steel brakes. My mistake.

 

[NikiGouda]

Agree with all but if i'm not completely mistaken the use of steel brakes
is long time gone. The longer breaking distances are caused predominantly
by lesser downforce. Therefore they have to break earlier because an
Indycar is not able to break deep into the corner in contrast to a F1 car.
Speaking of driver fitness and physique, i find it interesting that, in spite
of the physical demands, skinny guys like Zach Veach or Colton Herta can
wrestle these cars over a 2 hour race distance without a big problem.

 

[Stephen O'Sullivan]

This is either scary but fun or fun but scary:

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

This is either scary but fun or fun but scary:

Awesome!

 

[Jonathan Young]

I was lucky enough to be at the race last weekend, the second time at COTA this month. One of the advantages of having moved to Austin! The circuit felt fairly busy actually, I was in the T12 stand where you get an excellent view of large parts of the track and it was packed. The racing was pretty good, the engines were loud and a good time was had by all. We even had paddock passes so got to mingle with all the drivers, and had brief chats with the likes of Rosenquist, Ericsson and my favorite, Takuma Sato. It was awesome fun, can’t wait to go back.

Also, one of the support races was new to me. Stadium Super Trucks have wacky suspension and big engines. They add ramps to the track so that they do massive jumps. Crazy, definitely not classy or serious racing, but really entertaining. I would buy a sim based on them in a heartbeat!

 

[Piperkyle]

You obviously have no clue how the hybrid system works. Wow. Run out of electricity?

In TEN Laps they lap the last car on the grid, the numbers show it. And heres a tip: F1 cars don't run out of 'electricity'.

They have batteries that can run out of electricity. They regain energy during braking. In this hypothetical oval race, there would be no braking so there would be no way to recharge the hybrid part of their cars, therefore they'd be stuck to just using their ICE after a couple of laps

 

[CreamyCornCob]

They have batteries that can run out of electricity. They regain energy during braking. In this hypothetical oval race, there would be no braking so there would be no way to recharge the hybrid part of their cars, therefore they'd be stuck to just using their ICE after a couple of laps

Theres more then breaking that produces electricity. So no they wouldn't be 'stuck' after a 'couple of laps'. And the batteries never 'run out', as they have a maximum discharge floor that never is below a varying % threshold.
You might want to read up.

 

[Stephen O'Sullivan]

Also, one of the support races was new to me. Stadium Super Trucks have wacky suspension and big engines. They add ramps to the track so that they do massive jumps. Crazy, definitely not classy or serious racing, but really entertaining. I would buy a sim based on them in a heartbeat!

You're in luck - Automobilista has the trucks and the ramps.

 

[Paul Glover]

Theres more then breaking that produces electricity. So no they wouldn't be 'stuck' after a 'couple of laps'. And the batteries never 'run out', as they have a maximum discharge floor that never is below a varying % threshold.
You might want to read up.

Reading your last line on your post, it's really not needed. You can kindly link them to article if you believe they are wrong.

My advice to you is read before you post and remain respectful to others at all times.

 

[Piperkyle]

Theres more then breaking that produces electricity. So no they wouldn't be 'stuck' after a 'couple of laps'. And the batteries never 'run out', as they have a maximum discharge floor that never is below a varying % threshold.
You might want to read up.

They can regain a bit of charge thru the MGU-H but that's not nearly enough to give them anywhere near full power while going flat out. And yes, the battery technically never fully discharges, but the control module won't let it send power to the MGUs once it reaches that limit. These cars aren't some magical perpetual energy machines.

 

[ermo]

Regarding the MGU-H, I was under the impression that there's no limit on the amount of energy that can be recuperated and re-deployed directly from the MGU-H to the powertrain?

I get that there's a limit to how much back pressure you can apply on the exhaust side of the engine via the hot side turbine before you start negatively impacting the breathing of the engine, but still?

Isn't it accepted wisdom that one of the things Mercedes got right was to "supersize" the turbine in order to be able to recuperate (and freely re-deploy) more heat energy at full throttle?

 

[Knoxstar]

ITS 14 Seconds. Good grief. Delta - 13.78 to be exact.
I know your in denial seeing this.

Hinch on the right is not on a fastest qualy lap (black sidewall not red) so that's the first issue. I'm not sure it was even the race weekend that was recorded as the announcers are not NBC but the guys that overlay the radio with the streaming vid.
Also, Hinch was not on pole (15th qualifier), Power was.

Finally, these 2 cars have only one thing in common and that is open wheels. Indycars are heavier, have no power steering and on and on. People that educate themselves to both know the strengths of both. They don't use the boost button in qualy whereas F1 use DRS in qualifying.

I love F1 and Indycar and see no reason to not appreciate both as professional racing series.

 

[CreamyCornCob]

Hinch on the right is not on a fastest qualy lap (black sidewall not red) so that's the first issue. I'm not sure it was even the race weekend that was recorded as the announcers are not NBC but the guys that overlay the radio with the streaming vid.
Also, Hinch was not on pole (15th qualifier), Power was.

Finally, these 2 cars have only one thing in common and that is open wheels. Indycars are heavier, have no power steering and on and on. People that educate themselves to both know the strengths of both. They don't use the boost button in qualy whereas F1 use DRS in qualifying.

I love F1 and Indycar and see no reason to not appreciate both as professional racing series.

Dude.. I know the difference in the two. It seems others did too because less then 30k showed for the race on Sunday. And I never said Hinch was on pole.
indycar pole: 1:46.01 - Will P.
Lewis pole (2018) 1:32:23
Delta -- 13.78

 

[Piperkyle]

Dude.. I know the difference in the two. It seems others did too because less then 30k showed for the race on Sunday. And I never said Hinch was on pole.
indycar pole: 1:46.01 - Will P.
Lewis pole (2018) 1:32:23
Delta -- 13.78

where do you keep getting this "less than 30k" attendance figure from? because from what I've seen, Indy estimates it a bit above 30k.
https://autoweek.com/article/indyca...-epstein-says-event-met-upper-end-projections
either way. this was the first year of a hopefully long run at this track. Also, why do you dislike IndyCar? you seemed to relish in the fact that they were slower