Honda Car Forum

On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 23:29:39 GMT, Hachiroku <Trueno@ae86.gts> wrote:

>On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 15:30:20 -0400, flobert wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 15:19:16 GMT, Hachiroku <Trueno@ae86.gts> wrote:
>>
>>>On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 10:34:30 -0400, flobert wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 00:00:18 GMT, Hachiroku <Trueno@ae86.gts> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>After today's race, Chevrolet dropped out as a supplier of engines to the
>>>>>Indy Racing League (IRL)
>>>>>
>>>>>Interesting. Although previous Indianapolis 500's have had their share of
>>>>>British engines as well as American iron, the 2006 Indy 500 will most
>>>>>likely be a fight between the best from Honda and Toyota. There may be a
>>>>>stray entry of an older car with a Chevy, but IRL is now All Japanese when
>>>>>it comes to engines!
>>>>
>>>> Call me old fashioned, but I much prefer the close racing of the new
>>>> A1 series. 3rd ever meting (races 5 and 6) are this weekend, i think -
>>>> www.a1gp.com
>>>>
>>>> The american and Japaneese teams haven't done so well, britain and
>>>> canada did well as did New Zeland. Oh and its a british made engine.
>>>
>>>
>>>Hmmmm....sort of a WorldWide IRL. Looks like the spirit of the IRL; the
>>>cars are all basically the same and have similar engines (if not the SAME
>>>engine!)
>>
>> Yes, they're all the same engine. The cars are all made by raynard to
>> the prince's spec, and he bought all 50 for the teams (2 per team, 25
>> country-teams). Cars designed to make a big hole in the air behind, to
>> help with overtaking, plus a push-to-pass boost button. All engines
>> made by a company called Zytec, and lots of scrutineers around to make
>> sure everyones the same. Everyones even running the same cooper tyres,
>> although theere are 2 different compounds available
>>
>>>
>>>So what happens is, it doesn't come down to how much MONEY you throw at
>>>it, but the skill of the driver. i like that!
>>
>> Driver AND pitcrew. There's a manditory pit stop to change all 4 tyres
>> in the 'feature race'
>>
>>>
>>>When Penske was kicking butt in the CART series, as in F1, it was how much
>>>MONEY you had that determined who own the race. When IRL came along I was
>>>initially against it, but it leveled tha playing field and brought the
>>>competition back to the cockpit rather than the garage itself.
>>>
>>>This is the first I have heard of A1. Thanks!
>>
>> no probs. For those that don't know, the race format goes like this...
>> Theres a free practice on the friday
>> saturday a little practice, and then 4 qualifying sessiosn. Each one
>> is 15 minutes long, and teams are allowed an out lap, a flying lap,
>> and a in lap in each. something like 5-10mins between each sessions.
>> They then take the drivers best TWO times, and add them together, and
>> base the grid for the sprint off that There is only one car for each
>> team, so no blocking, team orders etc.
>>
>> Sprint race is about 18 laps, or half an hour long. Takes place about
>> 1:30pm on the sunday. No pit stops etc. 10 for first, 9 for second and
>> so on, down to 1 for 10th. Finishing order is then the grid for the
>> longer feature race that takes place around 3pm. its a hour/36ish lap
>> race, with a manditory tyre change pitstop. Standing start, F1 style.
>> Pits are one person per wheel, and no-one to leave the garage, except
>> the flagman, until the cars stopped. , and the cars must make a pass
>> over the start-finish line at racing speed with both sets of tyres.
>> Same points layout for the finish of the feature race, and therse an
>> aditional point to whoever gets the fastest lap over the two races.
>> Thats is basiaclly. The engines are 520hp standard, 550hp when under
>> the 'power boost' (get 4 in the sprint, and 8 in the feature - they're
>> limited to 30second length, and only work when you've got your
>> throttle wide open, press the button when you're braking, and you've
>> wasted one.
>>
>> Very good, close racing, and a wide range of experiance too, from
>> former F1 driver jos Verstappen for Holland, down (i don't know if the
>> russian and chineese drivers ever really did single-seater racing
>> before)
>
>
>"THE Prince"? Which Prince? You DON'T mean "The Artist" I am assuming!

No, some shiek from Dubai.

>
>Interesting. So THAT'S where Verstappen went!
>
>Hopefully, someone will pick this up on this side of the Pond!

There are a few torrents of the first 2 meetings outt here, but from
http://www.a1teamusa.com/ its shown on "setlanta sports channel" on
direcTV, and you can register on the day of the race to watch a
webcast at a1gp.com, starrts 8am EST

The problem most people seem to miss, and i too have no actual figures
for, is in the production of methanol (instead of gasoline) are the
power consumptions greater than fuel. Same with hydrogen cells or
electric cars - the power to charge the batteries comes from power
stations, the power to heat/cool/pump chemical reactions round a
refinery all add up and have to be produced by a non-renewable resource
until we get enough wind/tidal power to replace all power stations.

J