[VRR][B-SPEC] 2017 Straight Talk IndyCar Series Season

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"Kind of an odd race today. In qualifying the #77 Ray-Ban Special wasn't bad, but in the warm-up it felt like it was a completely different chassis from the one I had driven all weekend, so the Black Rose Racing Team once again focused on doing some quick set-up changes to make the car handle better in traffic.

"Power-wise, the car felt kind of breathless out in clean air but the changes made it pretty good in the draft. I'll admit that with how everybody was running I was getting shades of Fontana at times, so I decided to hang back until I felt it was the right time to fight my way up to the front to try and avoid "The Big One". Sure enough, I see smoke, debris and cars flying behind me right as I'm up in about third place thinking "Wow, glad I wasn't back there like a couple laps ago".

"On the restart I just tried to ride it out, let cars pass and try to stay close to the top ten. Part of me wanted to lead that one lap just to say "I lead a lap early on", then I dropped back and focused on just surviving until the very end of the race because I wanted to see the checkered flag. The track itself was pretty strange, because it felt like the groove was a moving target and while the bottom line was the only fast line, you could sometimes get away with making passes on the high side if you had the momentum or the car working right. Also, the gusts of wind right around the halfway mark made the #77 pretty touchy to drive in places."

"When the pitstops finally went through, I was stuck in a group that was around ten seconds back from the leaders and just never got that caution we needed to get back to fighting up front..."

"On one hand, a 8th place after taking an early bath at Fontana isn't too bad. On the other, I really felt like if the #77 and the rest of my little group were closer we could've won it today... But it's kind of funny: As much as I like racing on "Big" ovals like these, I'm starting think our engine package as of right now is better on road courses or maybe the short ovals like Bristol, Iowa or Phoenix... Maybe even the Eurospeedway."

"Let's see if Mid-Ohio better suits the Ferrari package. Excuse me."
 
Jamie Ngaire-Jardine made headlines by announcing she would leave Polaris Motorsports, on the verge of being rebranded as Striker Motorsports, for Eiffel Tower Racing Team, which is undergoing a massive reorganization after a very disappointing start to 2017. Stephanie Porter-Kelley opened up on her thoughts about the absense and what the team will do moving forward. "Obviously, I'm going to wish Jamie the best in her future endeavors. We still have a season to go through, and I expect everyone on the team to push 110 percent for their best possible results until the season ends. We haven't gotten off to the best start, but I think we're beginning to rally back and make serious progress at breaking into the podium and hopefully start breaking out wins...Jamie leaving definitely puts us in a interesting position for looking at the free agency. There's a lot of drivers that don't want to go anywhere, but may not have a choice for whatever reason. We have to now show that we are a team that makes race winners and world champions. We'll see what we are looking at after Indy."
 
Black Rose Racing is notorious for its prominence of Coca-Cola sponsored cars. But in 2018, a very eye catching race paint scheme will be returning to the Brickyard. GoDaddy will be sponsoring the #7 for 10 races in 2018, bringing back the black and bright green in a different variety. Monster Energy, currently slated to return with Nicole Liechti in 2018, is also slated to incorporate more green into their scheme designs next year.
 
With Ngaire-Jardine departing the team at the end of the season, new sponsorship has already started flowing into the team for 2018. Miller Lite and Valvoline have jumped onboard the team, with their sponsorship deals currently being secretive to the public until the team reveals its lineup in August. By then, team owner Stephanie Porter-Kelley intends to have a fourth full time driver determined as well as a part time driver. "We need to take advantage of the funds flowing into the series. The more funding we can secure, the better off we'll be if we lose factory status." It is currently unknown what the main sponsors for most of the team will be. Porter-Kelley has been rumored to be breaking away from the starry night scheme used since 2015, opting for a different look. Alienware is still onboard the team, but is not confirmed to be a main scheme sponsor. Porter-Kelley herself has confirmed Bethesda Softworks will continue to have a limited race deal to promote one of their upcoming 2018 projects. SubWay has also been confirmed for 10 races next year for Porter-Kelley.
 
Going to explain this one in detail instead of posting a news post. Honda, beginning in 2018, will be a cheaper alternative for an engine supplier. In 2018, the other four engines will have their stats and upgrade packages determined by the factory team owners for those engines. The price for the engine leases will also be determined by the factory team owners, although they will not earn any profit from the engines. Honda, on the otherhand, will have their engine stats determined by the final version of their 2017 engine stats, which means they'll have an advantage at the beginning of the season, but will not have a factory team and will not be able to further advance their engines or aero kits. Honda engines will also be 25% cheaper than the lowest price from the other four suppliers. (Example=Alpine prices theirs at $1M and is the cheapest of the premium suppliers, and would make Honda's lease $750K.) This is to try to draw appeal to Honda because without Honda, the series will lose the following races: Toronto, Fontana, Michigan, Sonoma, Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, Barber, and Phoenix.
 
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Eva
Going to explain this one in detail instead of posting a news post. Honda, beginning in 2018, will be a cheaper alternative for an engine supplier. In 2018, the other four engines will have their stats and upgrade packages determined by the factory team owners for those engines. The price for the engine leases will also be determined by the factory team owners, although they will not earn any profit from the engines. Honda, on the otherhand, will have their engine stats determined by the final version of their 2017 engine stats, which means they'll have an advantage at the beginning of the season, but will not have a factory team and will not be able to further advance their engines or aero kits. Honda engines will also be 75% cheaper than the lowest price from the other four suppliers. (Example=Alpine prices theirs at $1M and is the cheapest of the premium suppliers, and would make Honda's lease $750K.) This is to try to draw appeal to Honda because without Honda, the series will lose the following races: Toronto, Fontana, Michigan, Sonoma, Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, Barber, and Phoenix.
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Man, that's a tempting offer...
 
Um @Eva, the Mid-Ohio race vid is up on the YouTubes but hasn't been posted here for the folks to see. Plus I didn't want to be a douchebag and post the vid here myself before you upload everything.
 
AudiMan2011
Um @Eva, the Mid-Ohio race vid is up on the YouTubes but hasn't been posted here for the folks to see. Plus I didn't want to be a douchebag and post the vid here myself before you upload everything.
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I knew it was up. I just haven't had the time to do what I usually do for Mid-Ohio.
 
A press conference has just concluded with Eiffel Tower Racing owner, Sebastian Devereux. Following the announcements that Jamie Ngarie-Jardine was joining and that Devereux himself would be stepping down at the end of 2017, he left a vague statement, referring to his "drivers" as a plural. With Pedro Harsk's contract terminating at the end of the season, it was already known he would not be rejoining ETR as a full time driver. Either way, it raised a lot of eyebrows as to who exactly would be replacing Sebastian after Fontana.

It would appear that today we have an answer. In the scheduled press conference, Sebastian announced and welcomed Ålesund Norway's own Astrid Krane to join Ngarie-Jardine for the 2018 season. Krane has been officially signed as the 2017 reserve driver for ETR, and will be driving the #80 full-time in 2018.

"I am very excited to announce Astrid as my replacement. She has shown unbelievable speed and ambition. She was exactly who we were looking for. I honestly believe that even as a rookie she is capable of being a champion-caliber driver," he said. Continuing on about his 2017 stats and ending jokingly with, "Oh she's definitely better than me."

Astrid is expected to be present for several races with ETR, and will be answering questions at Kentucky once the team arrives.

AstridKrane.png
 
A Daily News Exclusive- The 2 Eiffel Tower Racing team-mates have just met each other, and this reporter has noticed that popular kiwi racing driver Jamie Ngaire-Jardine had a rather sizable blush on her cheeks upon meeting Astrid Krane. She was also much quieter and shyer than her normal outgoing self when interacting with the Norwegian racer. All of this makes us here at the Daily News suspicious about what JNJ may be thinking regarding her new team-mate.

COMMENTS:

RACING4876: I FREAKING KNEW IT! AHHHHHH!!!!!!! NEW OTP FOR SURE
Replies:
WHOCARES4346: OH MY GOSH! THEY'RE TOO CUTE TOGETHER! AHHHHH!!!!!
RACING4876: RIGHT!? PLS FANGIRL WITH MEEEEEE! AHHHHHHH!!!!
WHOCARES4346: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Popular racing driver Jamie Ngaire-Jardine has released her signature cards on her website HelpKiwisFly.com. The cards are almost the same, excepting the signature. There are 2 versions, 1 reflecting the current number at Polaris Motorsports, and the second one looking forward to next season, bringing back number 67
SignatureCard1.jpg SignatureCard48.jpg​
 
Definitely a more tolerable race than last year. Glad Taylor and Ragus are flying the flag for the team and engine, because I...once again...seem to be a midpack regular with the occasional decent finish. Maybe that will change at Indy, we have another update either there or the next event, but I doubt it just because it's me. Also my pit crews are bad compared to the field, and it seems like that kills any possible on-track advantage. Oh well, that's my fate.
It's a shame to see Seb step out of the car entirely, but it'll be interesting to see how it goes for him, Jamie, and Ms. Krane. Considering that the only things that as of yet will be the same from '17 to '18 will be the chassis and the number 80, It may be a bit chaotic. Learning about Ms. Krane will be interesting as well, as I have no reports on her. As for Ms. Ngaire-Jardine, as she said before we did have a brief discussion but nothing in depth before what I assume was a blockbuster offer from Seb. I hope she makes the most of the change in scenery, and it'll be fun to race against the 67 again.
@Luis Torres @ukfan758 @DcrRaikkonen @Sakura @Suzumiya @Clayton Hardy @DurWinning @GranTurismo916 @Whitetail @Michelin @AJHG1000 @Eh Team @Formidable @RACECAR @catamount39 @Pezzarinho17 @KuniKino****a @vetteman24 @tbwhhs @optiongamers @swiftsmith @GTRacer22 @Niku Driver HC @amaterasu @YayoiGT2 @RESHIRAM5 @Antares26
 
"It was a really quiet race for us coming from so far down the pack. All we needed to do was to simply survive the race and managing to salvage 16th is at least better than where I was last year with all my reliability issues."
 
"The #77 Coca-Cola Cherry Special was really good in qualifying. I know The Black Rose Racing Team have really pushed hard to improve our shock program over the winter and it showed; Mid-Ohio's a fun course, but it's starting to get pretty bumpy in places... When raceday dawned I was a little concerned because qualifying was in the bright sunshine and the clouds had moved in, but the car still was pretty good in the morning warm-up with all of the quick "Race Mode" set-up fixes."

"I'll admit I botched the start pretty badly though... I thought I could make a move through the first turn and try to leapfrog past Liechti and the #84 car, but the momentum I lost going over the inside curbing and then trying to get it back together dropped me back to 5th. What surprised me early on was just the sheer amount of turbulence coming off of the car in front of me was bad enough I felt like I couldn't really close in to try and make a pass. Then the leaders got caught behind a slower car and everybody bunched up enough I thought I could make a move on the #84 going into the "Thunder Valley", but the the #4 got into it with somebody (Thomas Rogers) and I have no clue how I squeaked by that without any damage.

"I thought about trying to do the "High-Wide And Handsome" pass again on the restart, but decided against it and just let Liechti go and try and catch the leader. Then another caution came out for some "Bowman Grey Stadium" stuff between the two that got involved in the last one and I'm thinking "You know, I like this kid in front of me, but I like winning races too..." So I try to get a big run off of the last corner and set something up on the restart, but then she kind of did a "Bump-Stop" on the restart and I couldn't really make a move. I've got to say, as much as I wanted to I couldn't really close in on Liechti. Once got into clean air she just packed her bags and checked out."

"So, I sort of hung back by around the halfway point, managing my fuel and tires and keeping the gap at around One Second... Then lead two laps when Liechti came in and I stopped at Lap 35. The Pit-Stop itself was smooth as silk, but part of me wanted to try and do an Under-Cut when I saw six or seven cars pass by. But I'm glad I stayed out those two laps because when the stops cycled I was back out front with my virtual teammate in my mirrors keeping me honest. I'll tell you what, it was pretty tough mentally just trying to keep the gap steady because even though she's a rookie in these cars, her reputation on road courses is second-to-none and just holding the lead with her breathing down my neck gave me goose-bumps."

"With 3 to go I could feel the tires were just about done, because when I ran wide it kind of woke her up and I had to use all the talent I've got to keep the #77 pointing straight. I can't tell you what happened after that, because I was so mad at myself for making that little mistake "The Red Mist" descended and it didn't lift until I saw the checkered flag."

"Thanks to all of my sponsors and Angie (Evangeline Porter) for giving me this opportunity. Let's roll on to Kentucky in two weeks!"
 
Update on Round 7: Race will not be coming out on the scheduled date. Mediafire had a moment and failed to complete uploads for both halves of the race, which weigh in at almost 7 GB. Due to the delay, it'll be out a week later. @nascarfan1400 and @Crashbroke23 are slated to be in the booth. @Clayton Hardy is going through a shift in his schedule and may be unable to join them.
Andrew Draco certainly has developed fans in Maranello. Sergio Marcionne, chairman of the Fiat Cryslet Group, sung his praises for the two time IndyCar winner. "Eva Porter said great things about Draco. We were personally reserved about him after what we saw last year. But, seeing what he can do when he is at home has proven us wrong, and we are proud to have him as a leading part in Ferrari's campaign in American open wheel racing."

Black Rose Racing team owner Evangeline Porter also praised Draco and runner up Nicole Liechti after the Mid-Ohio race. "I'm very proud of Andrew with what he has achieved this year. You could tell after last year that he was second guessing himself. He felt weighted after being at Perl Speed, and now that he's back where he belongs, he's excelling better than anyone expected, and Perl Speed is showing they are a good team as well with Ryan back with them. Andrew and Perl Speed simply didn't work well together, which isn't something you can pinpoint on either side...Nicole breaking through and getting podium is a relief to me and I think to her as well. She's had a lot of pressure on her shoulders to improve herself on race day, and she's I think finally getting through the teething issues to show her skillset."
In mid-June, the VRR Straight Talk IndyCar Series will be hosting its first doubleheader weekend in the Streets of Toronto. The series will host a race on both Saturday and Sunday for the week of June 14th, and VRR CEO Evangeline Porter has revealed what the special weekend will entail with a transcript.

Friday will see two practice sessions, which is standard for every VRR race event. Saturday morning will see qualifying for the Saturday race. The order of those that finish the race on Saturday will be inverted to make the starting grid on the race for Sunday, with drivers that DNF or DNS moved to the rear of the grid. Both races for the weekend will offer standard points for the World Championship.
VRR has opened up a grant system to encourage teams to enter the series, as well as existing teams to expand their current IndyCar portfolio. VRR will be offering a USD$3,000,000 grant to teams entering the series for the first time. Teams in the series intending to expand their operation will receive a USD$1,000,000 grant for each additional full time entry they add. Evangeline Porter, CEO for VRR, hopes that the grants will inject more opportunity into the series.
 
Eva
VRR has opened up a grant system to encourage teams to enter the series, as well as existing teams to expand their current IndyCar portfolio. VRR will be offering a USD$3,000,000 grant to teams entering the series for the first time. Teams in the series intending to expand their operation will receive a USD$1,000,000 grant for each additional full time entry they add. Evangeline Porter, CEO for VRR, hopes that the grants will inject more opportunity into the series.
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So... Tempted...
 
Eva
Go for it if you want it
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Conflicts of interest out the wazoo. Also, I have a feeling Draco's career would mimic Jacques Villenueve's later years in F1 if he happened to jump ship to a start-up team built around him for 2018...
 
Kingofweasles
Conflicts of interest out the wazoo. Also, I have a feeling Draco's career would mimic Jacques Villenueve's later years in F1 if he happened to jump ship to a start-up team built around him for 2018...
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Not necessarily. Unless you really mismanaged money, it'd be very difficult with the options available to you.
 
Eva
Update on Round 7: Race will not be coming out on the scheduled date. Mediafire had a moment and failed to complete uploads for both halves of the race, which weigh in at almost 7 GB. Due to the delay, it'll be out a week later. @nascarfan1400 and @Crashbroke23 are slated to be in the booth. @Clayton Hardy is going through a shift in his schedule and may be unable to join them.
VRR has opened up a grant system to encourage teams to enter the series, as well as existing teams to expand their current IndyCar portfolio. VRR will be offering a USD$3,000,000 grant to teams entering the series for the first time. Teams in the series intending to expand their operation will receive a USD$1,000,000 grant for each additional full time entry they add. Evangeline Porter, CEO for VRR, hopes that the grants will inject more opportunity into the series.
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Has Crashbroke covered a race this season yet? Should be interesting to hear a different voice.

Also, dammit Eva, I'm having a hard time resisting the urge ask absolutely everyone if they want to join me, now you've got me considering giving 'THAT GUY' a car.
 
BKGlover
Has Crashbroke covered a race this season yet? Should be interesting to hear a different voice.

Also, dammit Eva, I'm having a hard time resisting the urge ask absolutely everyone if they want to join me, now you've got me considering giving 'THAT GUY' a car.
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Crashbroke has never done anything for VRR before. And also remember one thing. That guy has DNQ'd more races than he's started.
 
Stephanie Porter-Kelley is finally making inroads into the work cut out for her. She confirmed on Saturday night that Polaris Motorsports would be renamed Striker Motorsports in 2018, but would remain a Chevrolet team. However, Porter-Kelley also confirmed that Ngaire-Jardine may not be the only driver to leave the team at the end of the season. "Diego has decided he wanted to look around and see what others may be offering. As with Jamie, he has every right to do so. The last thing I want is someone driving on my team while their heart isn't in the team." Porter-Kelley has remained tight lipped on who could fill those seats, but Porter-Kelley is ambivalent that it won't be rookies.
 
News going on around about granting more entries has clearly got R.5 attention on expanding his operation for VRR IndyCar even more so thanks to how Honda is being cheaper for 2018 due to a issues with the factory governing teams.

"[Rainbow Road Racing] is interested into being the main Honda team for 2018" "Kevin Ritter I believe has improved since his beginnings and we feel positive to expand our movement to keep Honda alive due to our close relationship with the manufacturer, who while can't support us in this series coming 2018, we'll be happy to supply Honda 2017 cars to drivers from other teams due to the cheapness of supplying the cars and getting deals for grants and hopefully bring Honda back on their feet to be dominant in 2019".

"4 might be a bit stretching it, but if it prooves possible we might welcome a 4th driver into ot as well and maybe be the 1 Honda team."
 
  1. Able to drive fast.
  2. Able to not crash regularly.
  3. Able to put up with irritating people.
  4. Able to breath air. (optional)
If you meet these requirements and are looking for a new team, what number would you like and do you already have sponsors?
 
Certain races initially scheduled for 2017 will not be happening. Races at Charlotte, and Iowa have been axed, with the Iowa race weekend being filled by a race at the new Pensacola International Speedway road course, a 5.3 mile "roval". On Easter Sunday, Porter took time away from her day to confirm a new race between Phoenix and Fontana. Round 25 will see the series visit Barber Motorsports Park, which was slated to return in 2018. Porter weighed other options including Richmond International Raceway and North Carolina Speedway, but ultimately chose the road course option. "Barber is a beautiful track in a key location for us and our fanbase," Porter stated, "...Returning to Barber outweighed another oval race." Porter was however, ambivalent on a race in the Carolinas. "Despite the politics, which should have no weight over us trying to entertain the world, the Carolinas and Virginia are a very racing focused area. Leaving them in the cold is a stupid idea, and we'll be working with some of the smaller tracks to get a race in that region."
 
@Eva I've edited my sponsor release, but I'm dropping Ariat for Craftsman. I'm also working on the 2018 car just to get an idea how I want it to look.
 
BKGlover
Has Crashbroke covered a race this season yet? Should be interesting to hear a different voice.

Also, dammit Eva, I'm having a hard time resisting the urge ask absolutely everyone if they want to join me, now you've got me considering giving 'THAT GUY' a car.
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Oh hey that's me! Long time no see folks. Uhh.... yeah it's been a while since I've done comms for racing so I don't know how this will go. Eva has faith in me....I think?
 

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