champcar: Back on track

[Blake]

Yeah, my favourite driver at my favourite track to years in a row!!!!

I haven't actually finished watching the race, planning to tonight. Anyway the bad news is I'm pretty sure he'll be going to the dark side next year, if too many drivers leave the series will just die due to lack of good drivers, I mean we lost Fernandez and a few other drivers. Not good.

 

[millencolin]

yeah. but pat has stated that he WANTS to stay in champcars. but the question remains, if pat goes, will there be 18 cars next year?!?!?!

oh, and i HATE FERNANDEZ. the guy rocks up at the pre season champcar show and within 2 days states that he has crossed to the dark side. what a ****head

 

[LoudMusic]

My friend that lives in Monteray was there. He left me a voicemail of the cars running around the track. What an a-hole.

 

[millencolin]

i did that to my mate when i was at the gold coast indy last year. he punched me when i got back. i would love to go to laguna seca to watch the champcars at the corkscrew, that would be something to see.

 

[Blake]

Yeah, I love that track, just so deserty and stuff. You see the track with really nothing bt sand around it and you just know it's a track built with a purpose, if I make any sense. The corkscrew has to be the best corner in racing though. Just dropping off and hoping the car hits where you want it to. As one of the commentators said "Sometimes it lands where you want it too, sometimes it lands on the dirt, and sometimes it lands on Radolfo Lavins nose cone."

 

[millencolin]

pfft, rodolfo lavin, now there is one over-rated driver that champcars can do without. pity his car has the BEST paint job around

 

[Blake]

Are you kidding, unless you mean the sponser, that paint job sucks!

 

[millencolin]

i kid ya not

 

[Blake]

God, I hate that.

 

[millencolin]

WOAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT A RACE. how good was that, oval racing at its finest (i.e no crashes) the lines were tight, the action was immense, and no one crashed. considering that all the IRL seem to do when close racing is on, crash!

bruno vs sebastien. what a rivalry!! they dont like each other one little bit. thats what makes it so good.

 

[Blake]

Sounds like I should have been in Aussie not in Europe, I missed it, who won?

 

[Cap'n Jack]

It was a good race. I don't know who won. I fell asleep at lap 120 or 130.

Blake, check your PM damnit!

 

[millencolin]

bourdais JUST, AND I MENA JUST from junkie, pat third. junkie and sebastein were side by side for twenty laps, it was AWESOME

 

[Blake]

I have no PMs from you Jack???

Haha, damn, I should have taped it if my mum knew how to use the damn thing...

 

[millencolin]

your lost busta

 

[Jspec]

going to fly out to the gold coast in <6hrs, will be me first Indy.. hyped!

 

[Blake]

I was wondering when the Indy posts would start. Lucky bastige! Have fun 👍. But then again you'll be soaking wet while I'll be comfortable inside watching the race . Oh screw it I'd rather be there!

 

[millencolin]

ill be there as well.....my first indy a few years ago just blew me away. i love it, cant get enough. its gonna be awesome

i tip a bruno victory and a crash at the first turn

 

[Blake]

You tip a crash at the first turn, omg that never happens in ChampCars, especdially not at indy!

Hey why are you never on MSN anymore?

 

[Cap'n Jack]

My friend that lives in Monteray was there. He left me a voicemail of the cars running around the track. What an a-hole.

My step brother sorta did the same thing to his dad at Bathurst this year.

Anyways, I can't wait to watch the gold coast indy, its one of my most favorite circuits in the world, I love watching the Champcars and V8s running through the chicanes and tight corners.

 

[millencolin]

HOLY CRAP IM STOKED

FRIDAY QUALIFYING, BEZZY QUALIFIED 13TH, IN A REYNARD!!! outqualifying junkie, smith and some others. he is only 2 spots behind his teammate haberfeld and only one tenth behind a forstythe lola (albiet Lavins) but stil HOLY COW!!! i cant believe it

oh and ive uninstalled msn and i barely come to gtplanet anymore

 

[Blake]

And the important part Bourdais got pole. I'll be infront of the TV all weekend

 

[Cap'n Jack]

And the important part Bourdais got pole. I'll be infront of the TV all weekend

I've changed my plans to do the same, due to the weather.

 

[Blake]

That was a pretty good race. Pat got snapped, that was a pretty bad crash. Besnard finished a very respectable 7th. Bruno won over Bourdais while Dominguez came in 3rd. Pitty it finished under yellows but it was still a pretty good race.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Yeah, like it was building up and up and up and then ... anti-climax. But that was a big accident from Carpantier. I think CART has outgrown Surfers somewhat, it's a bit too narrow and a bit too dangerous - Fittipaldi's accident a few years ago pointed that out. If they re-routed the track to include some wider roads, it would be much better.

But what strikes me as odd is this: CART and IRL split some time ago. CART is dominated by street and permanent courses, in fact there's just two ovals. IRL is exactly the opposite. Its calendar consists of mostly ovals, with one or two tracks like Infineon thrown in for good measure. So why is IRL much more popular?

In some ways, CART is much better than F1, with more privately-owned teams meaning that everyone has a fairly similar budget; and the cars are mostly of the same make with a single engine supplier. It makes for much closer racing, so much so that only Bourdais and Tracy had more than one win this season and no-one has ever won more than once at Surfers (I think that still stands).

But a question to our American viewers: Did the telecast of this weekend's race include the V8 Supercar support races? And if ddi, what did you think?

 

[Blake]

First of all, please stop calling it CART, that name died with the start of this season. I love the indy circuit though, the reason is it's such a challenging circuit, it's like a better version of the Miami circuit. Indy (IMO) is the best street coarse in the calender, best track being Laguna Seca, third best is Road America.

Also the V8's are shown in the off season in America so they have something to keep them going, I wish we had something like that here, with the ALMS for example.

As you said, ChampCar has some advantage over F1, usually more passing, bigger variety of cicuit types etc.

 

[millencolin]

So why is IRL much more popular?

oi, look at the size of the IRL race crowds, then look at the size of the champcar crowds, then youll see who is more popular. trust me

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I'm guessing you mean that CART ... I mean ChampCar ... is much more popular than IRL?

I think CART has what F1 needs: the teams are privately-owned, the chassis are virtually controlled and they race on a wider variety of track. If F1 had private team with little or no works support other than the engine with the FIA dictating everything else and the races were held on a wider range of track types (but please, no airfields!), I think the global appeal of the sport would pick up.

F1 vs CART vs IRL anyone?

 

[millencolin]

whats wrong with airfields? i love the cleveland airport track

at the moment its Champcar vs IRL while F1 and Nascar run off into the distance.

Remember back in the early nineties when CART was rivaling F1, at a full on serious and worrying rate. champion drivers were leaving for champcars, and it skyrocketed. now look what has become of it. we have 2 series now with neither being as sucessful as its predacessor. we have the same series defying death and rising, while we have tony george feed his series money similar to people filling up their cars with fuel. both are inferior to what it once was.

NASCAR and f1 won from this......no OW american series has benefited

 

[Blake]

OK, well this season's come to an end, the championship won by Bourdais, I'm looking forward to next season, it looks likely that Da Matta will return in a 3rd Newman-Haas car, they almost can't lose.