Yeah but Ganassi has that super secret tunnel in the mountains in PA is it? Where he can do straight line aero testing.....
Great point. It is, indeed, a relative "shoestring." And I suppose that it partially explains why JPM is so good on long stints previous to the race mid-point.
Since I've got your attention, you and others have suggested that JPM is lacking in desire, hunger, or killer instinct. Personally, I think it's a torque issue.
I've done enough track days that passing should be common place, but I can think of only one more viseral thing than the sight of a rear bumper moving progresively toward me with each lap. Once you realize that the target rear bumper is moving toward you, the lizard brain and the predatory
instinct takes over. It's like hearing the good lady wife say, in that inflected tone that only you can hear, "
Let's go to bed." Sure, you've spent decades together, but the slightest inflection in her tone is like a red cape flashed before a fighting bull. It defies rational logic and trumps the good night's sleep you should have for tomorrow's daily nonsense. The lizard brain says "GO!," you heed the call and later find yourself wondering what in the hell just happened...and worrying about getting enough sleep.
There is an argument to be made JPM may not be spending enough development time with the team, I suppose. But I find it difficult to believe that JPM, like any other animal bestowed with a lizard brain, doesn't see red when a rational, meaningful passing opportunity presents itself.
I appologize for using sex, a trite and habitually over-used standard, for my comparison. But it's the only totem that comes to mind that can compare with the visceral
rush that accompanies the realization that a pass is feasible. It's a full-on, unadulterated lizard brain thing. Like sex, you have full cognition over how it is accomplished, and yes you can obstain from engaging in it (Vettel), but you are absolutely defenseless to that primal, lizard brain rush of chemicals when you realize: I can pass this SOB!!!
In this regard, I find the JPM is fat and happy line of argument to be a bit hollow. A fat and happy bull still rushes the red cape, a married man still rushes eagerly to bed. Both do so under the influence of the lizard brain. Passing is a visceral, not a rational act--one's lifestyle does not stand a chance versus the massive primal, chemical influx to the lizard brain. I used to hunt and fish, but I've given that up. There is nothing as rewarding, predatory, or thrilling, as hunting and symbolically killing another human being--sex rivals it. Racing
is that visceral.
Hence my assumption that torque is the correct answer.
Edited by Marbles, 18 June 2010 - 05:20.
