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 Post subject: Indycar 2013
PostPosted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 8:24 pm 
Renegade Heroes
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Well, now that I am up to date with the Formula 1 thread, I would like to begin a thread on the IndyCar season so far. And wow what a season this has been! But before I get to tomorrow's race I wanted to get a few things about the series down so everyone knows a little more about the series.

The Indy Racing League, LLC or IndyCar as it is more commonly known was founded in 1994 and currently owned by Hulman and Co. The main reason it is called IndyCar is because of the centerpiece of the season, the Indianapolis 500. Trying to explain the overall history of how it was formed would take about 20 posts, maxing out the text allowed for each post so I will instead point to the Wikipedia page and you can go from there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indycar

Currently in IndyCar every team uses a common chassis supplied by Dallara, this has helped all teams keep the cost of racing down while improving the safety and spectacle of the sport. The name of the chassis is known as DW12. The 12 represents the year Indycar began using the chassis, 2012, while unfortunately, the DW of the chassis' name stands for Dan Wheldon. The reason I use the word 'unfortunately', is because Dan Wheldon was tragically killed at the final race of the 2011 season at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Soon after, Dallara named the new chassis after him in tribute. Before his death, he closely worked with Dallara making the chassis very safe and voicing his concern for how dangerous the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for open wheel racing cars was. To learn more about Dan Wheldon click here.


The full specifications of the current car may be found here. A few quick things about the IndyCar cars: Indycar is the 'fastest' racing series on the planet with a top speed of 240 mph. Though a Formula 1 car would easily beat an IndyCar on nearly any circuit. IndyCars currently use an engine supplied by either Chevrolet or Honda engine. IndyCar's have a rated horsepower range between 550-700 horsepower by the way of a 2.2L v6 single- or twin-turbo charged engine. The cars must weight a minimum of 1565 lbs.

I'll probably add more about the IndyCar cars at a later time, but now to the current season!

Tomorrow, Sunday July 14th, is the 13th race of 19 in the 2013 season. But before we get to tomorrow's race, lets begin at the top! The season began with the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in St. Petersburg, FL. This 1.8 mile, 14-turn course takes place on the streets and a section of runway of the Albert Whitted Airport. Like nearly every race this season, it was fantastic, the end of the race was amazing! There are three videos below, the first is a virtual tour of the circuit, the second is highlights from the race, and finally the full race from IndyCar:



Note: The race begins at the 30 minute mark.

The second race of the season was the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL. This is the first Race Circuit of the season which is 2.38 miles in length with 17 turns. This race was funny because James Hinchcliff sat in his car waiting for a caution to come out so he could get restarted and get back to the pit to rejoin the race...which never occurred. Again I've included three videos below, the first being a virtual lap of the course, highlights of the race and finally the entire race:



Note: The race begins at the 30 minute mark.

The third race and beyond will follow in the next post.


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 Post subject: Re: Indycar 2013
PostPosted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 9:29 pm 
Renegade Heroes
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The third race of 19 of the IndyCar season was the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach which is a street circuit in Long Beach, California. This 1.968 mile, 12 turn circuit is known for crashes after crashes after crashes, which I have nicknamed Crash City. And boy where there a million and a half crashes this year. When the drivers decided not to crash into each other, the racing was fantastic. While not the best race of the season...that comes next...it was one of the better races. I highly recommend watching the full race yourself (below) and all you Californian Renegade Heroes go to the race next year! Like I did the previous post, there are three videos: a virtual lap of the circuit, highlights from the race and finally, the full race:



Note: The race begins at the 4:00 minute mark.

The forth race of the season was one of the best races of all time, the Sao Paulo Indy 300 on the streets of Santana, Sao Paulo, Brazil. The street circuit is 2.536 miles in length with 11 turns. I do not want to give much away, but the last twenty-ish laps were *Insert Barney Stinson's [How I Met Your Mother] voice here*legendary! So below is the same three video layout, though I would recommend just watching the entire race!:



Note: The race begins at the 5:00 minute mark

The fifth race of the 2013 IndyCar season was this little race that hardly anyone knows of...the Indianapolis 500. How little you might ask, well over 300,000 people attended the race!!! I thought last year's Indianapolis 500 was great, but this year truly showed why this race is "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing". Why you might ask...well look at the records broken for the race (taken from Wikipedia):
  1. The race was completed in 2 hours and 40 minutes at an average speed of 187.433 mph...the fastest 500 in history
  2. There were 68 official lead changes breaking the 34 last year and the 14 from 1993
  3. Of the 33 cars that started the race 26 cars were running at the finish tying the record set in 1911!
  4. 19 of those cars were on the lead lap, tying the record set in 2009
  5. The 33 cars that finished the race completed a total of 5,863 laps out of a possible 6,600, this broke the previous record of 5,733 laps in 1993
  6. The winner tied the amount of attempts before winning the Indianapolis 500, matching the mark set by Sam Hanks in 1957
  7. Ed Carpenter led the most laps during this year with 37, breaking the lowest total by the driver leading the most laps, breaking the previous record of 47 by Roberto Guerrero in 1996

And while all those records were amazing...none were as amazing as the finish to IndyCar's feeder series, the Firestone IndyLights. Just watch the final lap and be amazed...YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS FINISH!!!!

[Insert words of disbelief in here]! That was amazing!!!

But back to the Indianapolis 500, if that is even possible. Well, a quick word about the track before the videos: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has existed since 1909 and has a seating capacity of 400,000! The speedway consists of 4 corners banked at 9 degrees. The straightaways are 5/8ths of a mile long and is the equivalent to the holy grail of speed. I almost forgot...they start 3 wide too! So video time! Well, IndyCar does not have a virtual lap, but I found a highlight video along with the full race...but really the entire race was a highlight!


Note: The race begins at the 15 minute mark.

Since this post is getting a little long, I will continue with race 6 in the next post!
[Edit]Fixed the link to one of the videos[/Edit]


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 Post subject: Re: Indycar 2013
PostPosted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 10:42 pm 
Renegade Heroes
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Round 6 and 7 of the IndyCar season took place in Detroit, MI, at the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit. This 2.34 mile, 13 turn street circuit on Belle Isle. Belle Isle is the largest city-owned island city park in the United States and the third largest island on the Detroit River. Last year the track was literally coming apart during the race directly causes multiple crashes and a dangerous racing surface because much of the course was patched up and the patches were not staying attached to the ground. The video below shows how bad it was:
Note: Bleeped out NSFW language in the video below.

Note: Bleeped out NSFW language in the video above.

This year after a multiple million dollar repave the circuit was looking great for this year's Dual in Detroit. And you know what...this great looking circuit led to two great races! So lets get to the videos: the first is a virtual lap of the track, the second is highlights of the race and the final is the full race.
Race 1 of 2



Note: The race begins at the 22 minute mark.

Race 2 of 2



Round 8 of 19 of the 2013 IndyCar season was the Firestone 550 in Fort Worth, TX. This race was at the Texas Motor Speedway which is a 1.5 mile 4 turn oval which is banked at 24 degrees. This was an average race on a generic oval track. Videos time:



Note: The race begins at the 15 minute mark.

Round 9 the Milwaukee Indyfest at the historic Milwaukee Mile...my home race and one I attended!!! The Milwaukee Mile is surprisingly a one-mile in length oval which has 9-degree turns. The low banking makes the Mile drive more like a road course than a typical speedway. The Milwaukee Mile opened in 1903 and little has changed in the 110 years since it opened. The Milwaukee Mile is the oldest operating speedway *Insert Jeremy Clarkson's voice*in the world. The race track is on the Wisconsin State Fair grounds and has a very fun atmosphere. The race was fantastic and even better I purchased his jersey the previous day and had him sign it before the race! I watched the race on the inside of turn four and it was an amazing time! I also attended the race last year, but this year's race was so much better! Additional videos I took from the race will be uploaded in a later post, but my favorite was Alex Tagliani's spin right in front of me:


If you watch the full race, you can actually see me in the yellow jersey in the background recording that video. As for the three videos they are below:



Note: The race begins at the 29:00 minute mark. And there is me at the 42:30 minute mark filming that spin!

I will continue with catching up with the rest of the races tomorrow. The next race of the season is the second race at Toronto at 3:00pm EST on NBC Sports Network.


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 Post subject: Re: Indycar 2013
PostPosted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 10:37 am 
Renegade Heroes
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Round 10 continued the speedway section of the IndyCar season at the Iowa Corn Indy 250. This race took place at the 0.875 mile tri-oval with variable banking Iowa Speedway. This race was boring...fall asleep boring. But if you want to watch it here are the videos:



Note: The race begins at the 22:00 minute mark.

Round 11 was the IndyCar return to the "Tricky Triangle" the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, PA. This tri-oval is unique because each turn is based on other racetracks. The first turn has 14-degree banking and modeled after the now non-existent Trenton Speedway. The second turn is designed to replicate the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a 9-degree banking. The final turn is a very flat 6-degree banking similar to the Milwaukee Mile. The race itself was interesting and the first time IndyCar has been at the track since the 1989 season. Another quick note is that IndyCar used the 3 wide start again at this race. The 1989 race may be found below along with the typical three videos:





Note: The race begins at the 15:00 minute mark.

And yesterday's race, the first of two races on the streets of Toronto. The Honda Indy Toronto 2 in T.O. is the second dual race this season. This circuit is 1.75 miles in length with 11 turns and one that encourages dive bombs to pass. The race was pretty good as well, which is strange because they usually hold back the first race of a dual so they can drive the car for the second race without many repairs. This was going to be the first race the current IndyCar name series would have a standing start...unfortunately that did not occur :(

Currently, IndyCar has posted the typical virtual lap video, but have yet to post a highlight video. But they have posted the full race...but does not have any ticker graphics. So I have posted those two videos and included another video which shows what happens if you do not hold on to the trophy correctly (aka lulz ensue)




The lulz:


Again the next race in the IndyCar season is today in just an hour and a half on the NBC Sports Network! Watch and enjoy! The next post from me will include thoughts from the race and a series of funny videos from IndyCar that led up to this 2013 season.

[edit]Added Race 1 highlights[/edit]


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 Post subject: Re: Indycar 2013
PostPosted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 10:49 am 
Renegade Heroes
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Howdy everyone, Indycar is back in action this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in....Ohio. This track is a 2.258 mile, 13-turn natural-terrain course. This is known as being one of the most difficult tracks in the United States. This is due to constant elevation changes, high-speed corners, difficult 'S' turns and of course tight turns as well. The track is also very narrow for a circuit at 40 feet wide. For an explainer of the track the virtual lap video is below:


Last year's race:


To help you get caught up for qualifying in a few hours, here are highlights from practice 1 and 2:

Practice 2 can be found here.

Indycar Qualifying is at 5:00 PM EST on NBC Sports Network
IndyCar Honda Indy 200 At Mid-Ohio is at 3:00 PM EST on NBC Sports Network


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 Post subject: Re: Indycar 2013
PostPosted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 3:48 pm 
Renegade Heroes
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Just wanted to do a quick post of the final practice and qualification highlights:


and



IndyCar Honda Indy 200 At Mid-Ohio is at 3:00 PM EST on NBC Sports Network


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 Post subject: Re: Indycar 2013
PostPosted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 8:46 pm 
Renegade Heroes
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IndyCar is back as well this weekend at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, CA...which I believe quite a few RHers are by. This track is a 2.385 mile, 12-turn natural terrain course that offers a beautiful and scenic setting. This track was built in Sthe Sonoma Valley in 1968 and has since added a drag strip which hosts NHRA drag racing. The track has seen a few name changes over the years including Sears Point Raceway and Infineon Raceway. This track is difficult to pass on due to its short straightaways and flowing turns.

The last five race winners include:
2012 Ryan Briscoe
2011 Will Power
2010 Will Power
2009 Dario Franchitti
2008 Helio Castroneves
All of which are racing this weekend.

To help familiarize yourself with the track here is a virtual lap:


And a quick driver's preview of the race may be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUy1F61QvUUQXAXi2Voa_fUw&feature=player_detailpage&v=LhaIpgPp5Oc

USA times in EST: [edit]Added dates[/edit]
Saturday, August 24th: Qualifying on NBC Sports Network 9:00p.m.
Sunday, August 25th: GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on NBC Sports Network 4:00p.m.
That is 6:00pm and 1p.m. PST

If you are interested in attending the race, tickets may be purchased here:
http://www.racesonoma.com/tickets/gopro_indy_grand_prix_of_sonoma/


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 Post subject: Re: Indycar 2013
PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 7:54 pm 
Renegade Heroes
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Well the 2013 IndyCar season is finally over....if you want to figure out who won watch the final race of the season Fontana cause I will not spoil it for you :D

The last post lead into Sonoma Raceway and it was a pretty good race! I would highly recommend every one near Sonoma to go to the race next year on August 24th, 2014, the penultimate race of the season. But the full race is below:


The next race of the season the Grand Prix of Baltimore...or Crashmore or Balticrash....can you guess by now they crash A LOT at the street course of Baltimore. Unfortunately, it was the last race in Baltimore but it was a great one!
Virtual Lap:


The race itself:


The last double header of the 2013 IndyCar season was next on the streets of Houston, TX. Great racing occurred all weekend, but on the final lap of the second race there was a horrendous crash between Takuma Sato and Dario Franchitti. Franchitti ended up fractured his right ankle, getting a concussion and fractured at least one vertebrae. The crash looked very similar to the one where Dan Wheldon passed away helping to demonstrate how safe the DW12 chassis is.
Virtual Lap:


Race 1:


Race 2:


I'll save the last race of the season for one final post for the season!


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 Post subject: Re: Indycar 2013
PostPosted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:05 pm 
Renegade Heroes
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The final race of the season...the MAVTV American Real 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. This final track is a two mile D-shaped oval with 14 degrees of banking in the turns. Drivers will typically be between 210 and 230 mph depending on what part of the track they are on. Before continuing here is a virtual lap of the superspeedway:


So the race....it was completely and utterly nuts. I mean you could not write a script with as many points (well not counting Formula 1's Monaco Grand Prix in 1996). The only thing I will spoil about the race was Justin Wilson was involved in a big crash which he was removed from his car by a medical team. At the Arrowhead Reginal Medical Center it was revealed he had three non-operable pelvic fractures and a small pulmonary contusion. From what I can tell he will be fine and most likely looking forward toward the 2014 IndyCar season.

Just watch the race...it really is bonkers and amazing to watch...one of the best of the season!


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