RADAR doesn't look bad
Posted on 08/03/2014 7:00:01 AM PDT by gymbeau
Sebastien Bourdais took his second and KV Racing's third pole position of the season, with a composed performance in a wet 'n' wild qualifying session for tomorrow's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. While a large number of his opponents slid extravagantly like dirt-trackers through the worst of the rain in Q1 and the start of Q2, Bourdais kept his head, kept his car on the island, and ended up capitalizing on the form he's shown all weekend. Seb's economical steering inputs also appeared to pay off when in Q3, the track dried rapidly, and everyone's wet tires were starting to overheat. He took pole by half a second. Said Bourdais: "I'm really kinda glad it rained because I'm not sure I'd be on the pole if it hadn't. It was tricky, yes, but more straightforward and I liked it because it was about finding the right line. The last lap (pole lap) was trickier not to make a mistake or slide wide because those tires were getting pretty used up. "It was drying fast and I was tempted to come in for slicks but I'm older now, not that crazy!" Commented his proud KVSH Racing engineer Olivier Boisson: "At Toronto, in the morning, he said the car was shit and he won the race. This morning, he said the same thing and I knew we were going to have a good day. "During the first and second sessions it was so slippery, the drivers were barely turning 6,000rpm, they couldn't touch the throttle."
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Mid-Ohio is a beautiful track - in a setting like a state park with lots of elevation change. I raced there many times in SCCA. It’s fun to see the in-car camera and visualize it all over again.
RADAR doesn't look bad
I’d love to see a night race on a road course but the lighting would be challenging. Watkins Glen would be a good track for it.
Financially it’s big deal. Indy has been looking into it and the bill for a 2.5 mile track is about $25 mil. And more for the parking and adjacent areas. So far they’ve said the numbers don’t work, at least in this modern era of Obama economy.
They’ve talked about lighting for MIS but it won’t happen because its too close to Brooklyn. People will tolerate their houses shaking during the day but at night is a bridge too far.
I’d love to see Indy return to Michigan but on the old road course.
The problem Indycar has is they charge a big sanctioning fee to the promoter AND pay no tv money. Venues struggle to make any money on the races.
Due to the big tv money, Nascar races makes profit before one spectator buys a ticket.
good to see the former Champ Car champion on a hot streak...hopefully he proves the shortened Toronto win was no fluke..
btw- i’m a big F1 fan but have to tell you; IndyCar is a much purer form of racing...
financially Indycar has a lot of problems; the 500 has not sold out, the race promoter at Pocono is trying to get out of the last year of his deal because no one showed up this year (fans), they have what, 4 races on national TV...
its really sad but you reap what you sew...
bigger issue is lack of sponsorship....when open wheel screwed themselves in the mid 90’s the sponsors said “see ya” and went to NASCAR...NASCAR has a business plan- Indycar cross their fingers...
Like a camp ground with a sliver of fresh asphalt.
I LOVED working Elkhart lake for the same reason.
pit lane Sucked!
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