Indycar 2018 Season

Does anybody here follow Indycar? I have e to say I haven't been so excited in 20 years, literally. The new car looks fantastic, there are several new teams, many promising rookies. Those cars are damn impressive, as Indycar cut off some 30% of downforce. And it shows. You really need to wrestle the car, onboards are stunning. Yesterday's qualifying was a shocker, too, as most old school guys failed to do a good lap and there are three rookies in top 6, with Robert Wickes winning the pole in his first ever Indycar race. I can't wait for the race, it starts today at 17:30 CET.

No suitable coverage here to follow, but I'd love to. 

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Indycar cut off some 30% of downforce. And it shows. You really need to wrestle the car, onboards are stunning.

IMO it's the same old story as with the old crapwagon when they first had to go road racing, the base design is shit and started showing its limitations. Dallara has had no competition and for years has based everything on a stupid level of downforce. Take some of that away, and the underlying chassis is crap and unable to respond properly to the challenge of the engine power (Even if it is a modest one compared with F1).

I've watched Indycars since the mid 80s, the new car is the best car from the one make era. No silly F1 areo bits. It looks like it could be a good year with the rookies able to compete at the front and a full field at Indy.

Alberto Ibañez wrote:

No suitable coverage here to follow, but I'd love to. 

It's not that difficult to find a decent streaming

On one hand yes, it's still a DW12. On the other hand, the first Lamborghini Miura was a shitty car and it evolved into something remarkable. And the current evolution of DW12 seems to be a really fine race car. I'll definitely enjoy the season

http://cricfree.sc/watch/live/indycar-gp-of-st-petersburg-live-streaming

Watching now.  That was an eventful lap one :/

I felt really sorry for Wickens, he did an amazing job. Rossi should have known better that pull such a dive bomb. As always, there were glichtes by the series leadership - lights on the pacecar were still on, when the last restart occured. And a penalty for Dixon while Rossi got away with it also doesn't look good.

On the other hand, there were many positives. The grid is full, those cars are beautiful and (more importantly) really difficult to drive again. There were more than 350 passes, that car is obiously very racy. Wickens might be a new star. Bourdais claimed a victory after his horrific crash in Indy last year.

I'm really curious how Phoenix will turn out. Tyre degradation/management will play a major role. Also, this one mile bullring will be a tough proving ground for rookies. Can't wait!

I watched the St. Petersburg race.  I still think current Indy car racing is a mere shadow of former self (late 80s early 90s glory years), but I will admit that this new car is a step in the right direction.  They take more talent and effort to drive than last year's car, and the cream should have a tendency to rise to the top (i.e. people who have superior car control skills and don't resort to dive bomb bush-league overtaking tactics).  Plus the car looks a lot less stupid.     I will be tuning in for Phoenix for sure, and I am looking forward to Belle Isle in a couple of months.

not sure if this will keep up, but for those who can't find a good steam to see it live, indycar just uploaded the full race to youtube



and for those with a shorter attention span, a 30min recap

thank you for the links, guys!

IndyCar expects 'bumping' to return at the 2018 Indianapolis 500 as a 35-car entry list looks likely.

http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/134813

I wonder how embarrassed that "higher-up" at GM was after crashing the Pace-Corvette at T2 of the formation lap yesterday

David Jundt wrote:

I wonder how embarrassed that "higher-up" at GM was after crashing the Pace-Corvette at T2 of the formation lap yesterday

That was Funny,and the chevy that led the most laps was the pace car