338 replies to this topic

[Risil]

Round 6: Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix presented by ShopAutoWeek.com (thanks Wikipedia).

Important Facts
Belle Isle Raceway is 2.07 miles long and the overall race distance will be 188.64 miles. We can deduce from this that the race will contain 90 laps.

Wikipedia says that the lap record belongs to Scott Dixon from 2008, at 1:12.2861. BUT SERIOUSLY WIKIPEDIA it actually belongs to Gil de Ferran, who lapped his Reynard-Honda around the same layout in 1:09.052 in 1997. So don't listen to them.

The last race was run a really long time ago, in 2008, and Justin Wilson won it for the much-missed Newman-Haas-Lanigan outfit.

[Paul Page voice] This weekend sees the Indycars roll into Motor City, storied home of the American automobile industry. Henry Ford, the Dodge brothers, Walter Chrysler: these men wrote their names into the nation's history and onto the cars that still bear their names. [Dot dot dot] But today it's a different set of names on the cars, new men aiming to leave their mark on history. Last Memorial Day at Indy, Dario Franchitti lent his name to the select group of three-time winners. Takuma Sato was one pass away from being the first new face on the Borg-Warner trophy since Scott Dixon in 2008. The big stories from that day were names from the series' past. Ganassi. Rahal. Vasser. But others are looking for revenge. Andretti cars have been fast at every event, but haven't entered the winners' circle. Roger Penske's hopes for a 40th anniversary win evaporated on race day, but his team will be looking to resume its 2012 winning streak here in Detroit. These and many more stories will play out on the Raceway at Belle Isle, and it's live, on ABC (). [/Paul Page voice]

Here's the schedule
Friday 1st June:
12.00-13.00 First Indycar practice
15.45-16.45 Second Indycar practice
17.05-17.40 Grand-Am qualifying

Saturday 2nd June:
8.00-8.45 Indy Lights qualifying
9.00-10.00 Third Indycar practice
11.45-13.00 Indycar qualifying
13.30-14.30 Indy Lights race (45 laps)
14.30-15.30 Indycar autograph/tell Dario he's a schmuck/schmoe/former NASCAR driver session
17.05-19.05 Grand-Am race (2 hours)
19.15-20.30 The B-52s are playing a concert, this is way better than Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Sunday 3rd June:
10.45-11.15 Indycar warm-up
12.30-13.30 Indycar autograph session 2 (if Franchitti wasn't there yesterday, he'll be here today)
15.45 Indycar GREEN FLAG (Race 90 laps)

Risil does not recommend, suggest or condone the calling of names, especially not towards Indy 500 champions like Mr G. D. M. Franchitti. Moreover, the mistaking of real-world situations with Youtube comments pages is one of the fastest-growing causes of death worldwide, and Risil has no intention to bolster this statistical trend. The reader (hereby referred to as the Second Party) pisses on Dario's chips taking full responsibility to damage caused to his or her well-being/self-worth/soul, and Risil (hereby referred to as the First Party) accepts no liability for any resultant corruption by the dark side the Second Party should incur.

Television
It's on ABC/ESPN, so don't even think about enjoying the broadcast. They're on air from 3.30 to 6pm, ET, which GMT-wise falls roughly between Holby City time and Question Time. Wild stab in the dark says there's a NASCAR Cup race hogging the best TV slot.

Engine grumbling
We've been here before. The last Champ Car race at Detroit played host to the Klassic KART Katastrophe of 2001, which featured accusations, practice boycotts, and laughter you could hear all the way from 16th and Georgetown. Apparently the Penske engineers were bypassing the pop-off valve with an air tube connected to their drivers' lower digestive tracts.

Therefore I declare all talk of Chevrolet's and Honda's bitching to be strictly on-topic.

Racing
You can do it around Belle Isle if you're as boneheaded as Michael Andretti and Paul Tracy. Proof.

Tsingtao watch
Race still appears to be on. There's even a track map and start time (one minute past midnight ET, brilliantly) on the Indycar website now. Ah, the mysterious East.

I got me a car, it's big as a whale
And we're headin' on down to the Love Shack. The DW12 does indeed look a bit like a whale. In whale terms, it's about as big as a Pygmy Right Whale, or a newborn North Atlantic Right Whale.

Pygmy Right Whale, by all accounts a beautiful and little-studied creature. Is currently in negotiations to become a Group Lotus brand ambassador.

Edited by Risil, 30 May 2012 - 23:53.

[PayasYouRace]

[Paul Page voice] This weekend sees the Indycars roll into Motor City, storied home of the American automobile industry. Henry Ford, the Dodge brothers, Walter Chrysler: these men wrote their names into the nation's history and onto the cars that still bear their names. [Dot dot dot] But today it's a different set of names on the cars, new men aiming to leave their mark on history. Last Memorial Day at Indy, Dario Franchitti lent his name to the select group of three-time winners. Takuma Sato was one pass away from being the first new face on the Borg-Warner trophy since Scott Dixon in 2008. The big stories from that day were names from the series' past. Ganassi. Rahal. Vasser. But others are looking for revenge. Andretti cars have been fast at every event, but haven't entered the winners' circle. Roger Penske's hopes for a 40th anniversary win evaporated on race day, but his team will be looking to resume its 2012 winning streak here in Detroit. These and many more stories will play out on the Raceway at Belle Isle, and it's live, on ABC (). [/Paul Page voice]

I did actually read it in his voice.

I like Belle Isle, though I'm still disappointed that they use the original layout instead of the improved late 90s one with the longer straight after T2. It's quite flowing for a street circuit in either case, and its the Indycar counterpart to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in many ways.

The series has a busy June ahead. Great for us.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Yeah I think we've got 6 straight races including Indy? Smart move.

[WatchingF1since4yearsold]

hopefully winning the Indy 500 will kick start Franchitti's season be good to see him winning races again and getting into the championship race!

[HaydenFan]

I did actually read it in his voice.

Who didn't?

I like Belle Isle, though I'm still disappointed that they use the original layout instead of the improved late 90s one with the longer straight after T2. It's quite flowing for a street circuit in either case, and its the Indycar counterpart to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in many ways.

The series has a busy June ahead. Great for us.

Only race I'm going to this year (wish Milwaukee was a few weeks apart, then it might be two races) so I am glad a race is back in Michigan. It's not the best circuit though. And always a hassle to get there (much like in Montreal), but if you get a good seat (which looks to be a difficult thing to do. T8 looks like the best), it'll be a fun day.

[Risil]

The whole thing is up on Youtube somewhere. One of the best CART races of the 1990s, and definitely the best round that track. Honourable mentions going to the two races that followed, in which Al Unser, Jr was punted out of probable race wins by his teammate in consecutive years. And the Great Pacwest Fuel Gamble of 1997, of course (link complete with commentary from Ben "Hollywood" Edwards).

Anyway, have fun. Report back and tell us how it was in person.

Edited by Risil, 30 May 2012 - 15:23.

[jonpollak]

14.30-15.30 Indycar autograph/tell Dario he's a schmuck session

Comedic genius treads along a fine line my friend.
Jp

Edited by jonpollak, 30 May 2012 - 17:24.

[Risil]

Comedic genius treads along a fine line my friend.
Jp

Some Wikipedia research tells me that Lenny Bruce once got arrested for saying that word! Does that make me possibly guilty of inciting public order offences?

Edit: OP now fully disclaimed and disclaimered.

Edited by Risil, 30 May 2012 - 23:54.

[Prost1997T]

There's enough Dario flaming on Youtube under the Sato\Franchitti Indy 500 video as it is

[Red17]

They used to run this one on the same weekend as Canada. That was the closest the two series ever were and it was sort of fun knowing that «the other guys» were just over the other side, maybe plotting something evil.

Tho the first thing that pops my mind when it comes to the Detroit GP is Tyrell.

I predict a return to form for Power, Ganassi's back in the pack.

[jonpollak]

Some Wikipedia research tells me that Lenny Bruce once got arrested for saying that word! Does that make me possibly guilty of inciting public order offences?

Edit: OP now fully disclaimed and disclaimered.

No no no.
Never ever backtrack !!!
It makes it appear you are in the wrong.

Keep bringing the fun Ris,
It's all good.
Jp

[Risil]

Well be that as it may Jp, I've worked tirelessly through Youtube to bring you all a couple of onboards of the circuit. Sadly no footage of Indycars going round it in its current ("old") configuration exists, but as they say in the business, there were workarounds.

Here's another Penske taking a lap in 2008. The ineffably cool Teuton Sascha Maassen narrates.

And here's the promising young Indycar driver T. Ishikawa tearing up the island for a couple of laps.
(Bonus points if you can identify the year of the carset that "ishikawa675" is playing in based on the names and liveries in the vid.)

[PayasYouRace]

Ya. Zat iss unt very gut lapp off zer track.

I only needed to see the opening shot of the ICR2 vid to know it was 1998. Lehto in the No.9 and Castroneves in the No.16 are the givaways.

Edit: I remember ICR2 sounding a lot better.

Edited by PayasYouRace, 31 May 2012 - 11:25.

[Ross Stonefeld]

1998, just by the first page of the running order.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Edit: I remember ICR2 sounding a lot better.

Sounds like iRacing

[Peat]

Hope to be back from Llandow in time for the race.

Real shame the way the calender has panned out this year. These next few weeks are going to be impossible for me to catch every race live as i would like.

Also may lead to some fan burn-out if you ask me. Compunded by a 6month break when the season ends.

[Risil]

Also may lead to some fan burn-out if you ask me. Compunded by a 6month break when the season ends.

Not to mention the engineers and pitcrews. Might see some errors and possibly equipment gremlins emerge. The big teams' strength in depth and numbers should give them an advantage, not that they need it.

It sets up the championship nicely though. IMHO the first time we need to look seriously at the championship standings will be before Toronto on the 8th of July. Power hasn't run away with things just yet, though he's hardly going to have a Tracy/Penske 1997 second-half meltdown.

Edited by Risil, 31 May 2012 - 14:34.

[HaydenFan]

Not to mention the engineers and pitcrews. Might see some errors and possibly equipment gremlins emerge. The big teams' strength in depth and numbers should give them an advantage, not that they need it.

It sets up the championship nicely though. IMHO the first time we need to look seriously at the championship standings will be before Toronto on the 8th of July. Power hasn't run away with things just yet, though he's hardly going to have a Tracy/Penske 1997 second-half meltdown.

Burn out would be good. Like you said, reliability could become an issue, and that brings a new level of intrigue.

[Prost1997T]

Sounds like iRacing

They're both made by Papyrus as it happens

[Risil]

Practice one was pretty much washed out, with only 7 or 8 drivers making it on track at all. Session two has times though:

1. Will Power 1:12.8355
2. Justin Wilson 0.0988
3. Ryan Briscoe 0.2821
4. Simon Pagenaud 0.2840
5. Tony Kanaan 0.4657
6. Scott Dixon 0.4732
7. James Hinchcliffe 0.6755
8. Ryan Hunter-Reay 0.7557
9. Helio Castroneves 1.0181
10. Oriol Servia 1.0677

Indianapolis heroes Franchitti and Sato (quickest in the morning) are 12th and 22nd. Simona de Silvestro is fastest Lotus, 25th and over seven seconds off the pace. Apparently Sebastien Bourdais hit a squirrel which did not survive its injuries. RIP Squirrel.

2.2s between Power in first and Kimball in 20th feels like a big gap for a 70s or so lap. Perhaps after two sessions of running things'll tighten up, although in the last couple of races held at Belle Isle the qualifying differentials were unusually large. Perhaps the difficult surface(s) punishes bad setups worse than most tracks.

Full times at the mother website. http://www.autosport...t.php/id/100052

[Pikachu Racing]

Favorite Detroit race was first time they raced at Belle Isle in 1992. You had Paul Tracy coming out party especially pulling off a big pass on Michael Andretti for the lead. In one small straight Bobby Rahal went from 3rd to 1st when Tracy and Andretti went wide. Andretti would drive hard throughout the race brushing off walls trying catch up til he end up spinning out with 1 and 1/2 lap to go. Also notables of the race. Raul Boesel would start his competitive drive in Dick Simon car til he left the team after 1994. Wish he won at least a race with them. Robby Gordon arrived the scene as Stefan Johannson. Teo Fabi one-off ride with Newman-Haas got him back in CART with a full time ride in 1993.

[Jim Thurman]

Belle Isle? Didn't "Machine Gun" Joe Viterbo win there once? Wait, it was "Whistling" Joe Tanto. I always got those two mixed-up.

Belle Isle is also where Arie Luyendyk peeled off a tear-off during a pit stop, and it was promptly sucked into the turbo

Nice work Risil Between you and that Andrew fellow, some very humorous posts here of late

"Brrr-ahh, he's on the pole! - Paul Page

Edited by Jim Thurman, 02 June 2012 - 05:53.

[PayasYouRace]

Practise 3 highlights

The last turn seems to be catching a number of drivers out.

[Risil]

There's a bump there which is clearly visible even from the TV shots. The track surface is the main thing that keeps Belle Isle above the mediocre-street-circuit bracket. Fun to watch and keeps the drivers awake. I'm beginning to feel a bit sad that they won't be doing a race in Cleveland this year. With these cars it could be pretty interesting.

[PayasYouRace]

Cleveland would be epic with any cars. I guess we'll have to settle for Edmonton. I missed the new layout last year so it'll be new to be this year.

[jonpollak]

OH MY GIDDY AUNT...
IndyCar actually has a page on their website with the qualy results
I almost had a heart attack.

http://www.indycar.c...ults-Belle-Isle

Jp

[ascension]

It's a cool track!

Belle Island deserves hope as grand Prix roars in

Edited by ascension, 02 June 2012 - 20:57.

[DanardiF1]

There's a bump there which is clearly visible even from the TV shots. The track surface is the main thing that keeps Belle Isle above the mediocre-street-circuit bracket. Fun to watch and keeps the drivers awake. I'm beginning to feel a bit sad that they won't be doing a race in Cleveland this year. With these cars it could be pretty interesting.

Cleveland is possibly my favourite all-time CART/Indycar track. It's just great watching the cars fly round this airport.

[HaydenFan]

OH MY GIDDY AUNT...
IndyCar actually has a page on their website with the qualy results
I almost had a heart attack.

http://www.indycar.c...ults-Belle-Isle

Jp

Yeah, the Statistics page has pretty up to date results. The Indy Lights (who don't have a website or any real links in the indycar.com site) had their results from today's race only a few minutes after the fact.

[Risil]

Belle Isle qualifying results. I have highlighted the driver whose grid position I find to be surprising but also affirming of my prejudices about him.

1. Scott Dixon 1:10.3162s
2. Will Power +0.0044s
3. Alex Tagliani +0.3522s
4. Simon Pagenaud +0.5264s
5. E. J. Viso +0.7690s
6. Ryan Hunter-Reay +1.1395s
7. Graham Rahal [due a 10 place grid drop]
8. Ryan Briscoe [brushed the wall in part 2]
9. Helio Castroneves
10. Sebastien Bourdais
11. Justin Wilson
12. Takuma Sato
13. Josef Newgarden
14. James Hinchcliffe
15. Dario Franchitti [held up badly in traffic. Apparently he's also got a cold.]
16. Mike Conway
17. Oriol Servia
18. Tony Kanaan [one of two slow KV cars]
19. J. R. Hildebrand
20. Rubens Barrichello
21. Charlie Kimball
22. Simona de Silvestro [also due a penalty; the Lotus is back to being not the total disaster it was at Indy]
23. Ed Carpenter
24. Marco Andretti [accidentally set up the car to be undriveable]
25. James Jakes

Qualifying times and some info pulled off Autosport.com's article. Which also gives us the delicious opening sentence: "The top spot oscillated between Dixon and Power with every lap over the final few minutes..." If someone would like to rig up a pendulum to swing between a Honda logo and a Chevy one as a sort of illustrative prop, then they're welcome to upload photos here, I think we could really learn something.

[Ross Stonefeld]

It was interesting that the top 6 after round 2 and the fast 6 were identical but for Dixon getting the edge over Power. I momentarily thought theyd repeated the running order.

[jonpollak]

Jp

[Ross Stonefeld]

Man alive, go Bourdais. P10(9th on the grid after Rahal penalty) and right behind two of the Varsity Penskes.

[Watkins74]

My apologies if this is to far off-topic but I caught the last hour of the Grand-Am race and it was pretty good.

[Andrew Hope]

Franchitti running the livery of the year so far. That paint scheme is sharp as hell.

[Muppetmad]

I hope we can see Bourdais challenging today, he had a really good qualifying.

I also hope Pagenaud can challenge for the win, once again he's doing a great job on these street courses.

[rubikimi]

what happened to Rubinho?

[jonpollak]

Morning Warm Up...
http://twitpic.com/9sfl9s

Jp

[jonpollak]

what happened to Rubinho?

Grid Penalty

Jp

[OfficeLinebacker]

Awesome thread again Risil. This on ABC?

[Ross Stonefeld]

Yeah. 3:30est, verde verde verde at 3:45

[PayasYouRace]

For UK viewers Sky Sports 2 at 8:30.

[SPBHM]

different time zones, DST and whatever is always so confusing, if the time was always also given in relation to "GMT" it would help
how long until the race starts?

[OfficeLinebacker]

different time zones, DST and whatever is always so confusing, if the time was always also given in relation to "GMT" it would help
how long until the race starts?

20 mins or so.

[jonpollak]

Vallen in de gracht.
Jp

[Option1]

Ich bin ein grachtmuncher.

Neil

[jonpollak]

ooh... look at those regenwolkens
Jp

[Option1]

A bit of the wet stuff might be interesting

Neil

[Red17]

That Sky host... why does he always stare at the camera as if he is sitting higher?

[RC127]

Pardon me, where are my manners?

Please, anyone care to PM me a stream, thanks?