2013 Indy car series

z31maniac wrote: I think Marussia's budget is even lower than that! Although with the "only top 10 teams getting paid" I think that will effectively push Marussia out. But you've convinced, I'll try to catch a race here in the next month or two.

Figures on Marussia's budget came from here: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1751408/Marussia-look-to-Russia-to-boost-budget

"It costs us 1.25 million pounds ($1.89 million) per week just to stay in Formula One, to maintain this level. Obviously if you want to move up you need a much bigger budget," he said.

The 'He' is Andy Webb Marussia's CEO

alfadriver wrote: I'm not a fan of street races, for pretty much any racing- the tunnel driving makes it impossible to really enjoy. And some of the tracks that Indycar has used- well, it's not as if the huge bumps make them great.

I agree with this to a large extent. Long Beach was a prime example. There were a number of incidents at turns 1, 3 and 5 where very very small mistakes took out one or more cars. In the Indy lights race a car spun, the a few seconds later before the yellows were out his team mate came round the same corner side by side fighting for position with another car. He had no where to go so bang, two cars out.

Street races, for the most part, always suck. Too narrow, too bumpy, walls where there should be runoff, etc. However, I still go to Belle Isle every year, mainly because it's so close.

http://jalopnik.com/you-need-to-start-watching-indycar-racing-and-you-need-493144219

People complain about the lack of passing in Formula One. People complain about how NASCAR drivers only turn left. So what if there was a race series that had a ton of passing and turned left and right? Well, there is. It's called IndyCar, and you need to start watching now.

I'm not sure how many of you watched this weekend's race from Brazil, but it was a pretty fantastic race to watch. From the crowd going crazy for Kannan, to a pass for the lead on the last corner of the last lap, it was pretty darn impressive.

It blew away the other racing I caught on the tube this weekend. Sato may be erratic and a bit dangerous, but he sure is fun to watch! It appears A.J. may finally have his driver.

I have caught the bug in the last few weeks.

There is some terrible driving in the field,but there is some VERY GOOD driving also.

It doesn't have the same vibe as F1. It kinda seems like taking good ole boys and giving them this high speed new wiz bang technology and see how they handle it (talking about the crews, not the drivers).

It is almost like the indy cars are in a state of flux. Like they are trying to get more professional. Like they are trying to grow and learn. From this aspect, I enjoy the racing very much.

Now, stop it with the street races. And don't ever do ovals.

Then, I would be sold. For now, I will watch the races and hope it continues to get better.

P.S. the race in Brazil was pretty good!

Rob R.

I'm ok with the ovals- they are a part of the history of the racing. But the street courses- geez- hard to watch with more dumb yellows. And that's even with a TON of respect between the drivers- you can see them doing their best to make way (which really helped the racing much more fun to watch).

Good close racing, with respect.

So on Saturday Tom Spangler and I went down to Belle Isle for the first race of the Detroit double header. I tell you what, these cars make for really good racing. They are a lot of fun to watch, you can really see the drivers working the cars and steering through the corners. People say you can’t see the drivers in modern Formula cars (all categories), but I’m telling you, even from the free seating with general admission you have enough elevation to see down into the cockpit and really see them working. It’s a shame about the yellows, but it was really fun to watch. The first long green flag session it was great to see the top 5 (From Conway down to Dario at that time) chasing and falling back on each other. If you get a chance I highly recommend going to see these cars in action.

Here are a couple of pics with my crappy pocket camera, Tom has a better camera and some better pics he may post.

Also the Grand Am race with the Daytona prototypes. People knock those cars for not being as high tech as the ALMS P1 P2 cars and not being much faster than the production based cars. I can't argue with those points, but what people are missing is that they are so much cheaper to buy and run that you can have a full grid of these things with great racing rather than a handfull of cars with the Audi's 2 miles down the road.

I may not be a fan of the modern Ferrari road cars, but man they look good and sound great as race cars.

From the paddock

Sounds like you should have gone to day 2......it was interesting as heck to watch that bloodbath on tv.

yamaha wrote: Sounds like you should have gone to day 2......it was interesting as heck to watch that bloodbath on tv.

Eldest’ s high school graduation wins out over racing!. I haven't seen the race or the results yet.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Pagenaud won day 2......and there was a 10 or so car pile up at turn 1

yamaha wrote: In reply to Adrian_Thompson: Pagenaud won day 2......and there was a 10 or so car pile up at turn 1

Well, I konw it now!!!!

Tom and I saw the 1st lap accidents in both the Grand Am and Indy race on Sat, right in front of our eye's

My 200-ish photos here: https://plus.google.com/photos/103364049340103330004/albums/5885008483390257793

Some highlights:

A couple of car owners:

Taku:

Podium ceremony from one of the support races. Ade got a free hat from one of these guys:

yamaha wrote: In reply to Adrian_Thompson: Pagenaud won day 2......and there was a 10 or so car pile up at turn 1

Dude! Spoiler alert!

In reply to Tom_Spangler:

Yes, many spoilers fell victim........

I had some pretty sweet seats that my dad snagged up for free. Nothing better than boozing and eating free food all day with VIP access everywhere! I think we were right between turns 7 and 8(Maybe 8 and 9) just after the back straight. I really loved the aerial views from the 'choppers as the cars went down the back straight. Great sight. Lots of free stuff from the vendors there, too! My phone died right before the Indycars went on track, though.

EDIT: Somethings going on with my pictures. I'll have to upload them later.