CART TRYING SLOW APPROACH.Byline: TIM TIM Timothy TIM Technical Interchange Meeting TIM Transient Intermodulation Distortion TIM Time Is Money TIM The Invisible Man (movie) TIM Telecom Italia Mobile (Italian cellular provider) HADDOCK Auto Racing Five drivers from the CART FedEx Series, including Valencia resident Bryan Herta Bryan Herta (b. May 23 1970, Warren, Michigan) is an American race car driver. He currently drives for Andretti Green Racing, which is co-owned by former CART and IRL driver Michael Andretti, in the ALMS, although his career has primarily been spent in open-wheel cars , tested Champ cars with reduced turbo boosts and modified rear wings at Michigan International Speedway Michigan International Speedway is a two-mile (3.22 km), moderate-banked, D shaped superspeedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than 1,400 acres [1] near Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. on Tuesday. The changes - reduced manifold pressure from 37 to 36 inches and a 3-inch extension of the Handford Device on the rear wing to increase drag - were made specifically to reduce speeds for the two 500-mile superspeedway races, the July 22 Michigan 500 and the season-finale Marlboro 500 at California Speedway The California Speedway is a two-mile, low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California, similar to that of "sister track" Michigan International Speedway. It is located approximately 40 miles east of Los Angeles on the site of the former Kaiser Steel mill. on Nov. 4. The modifications resulted in about a 10-mph reduction in speed compared to the pole-qualifying speed of Team Green driver Paul Tracy at Michigan last year. Series champion and Team Penske driver Gil de Ferran Gil de Ferran (born November 11, 1967) in Paris, France to Brazilian parents, is a former racing driver. De Ferran was the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car champion driving for the Penske Honda Team and the winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500. clocked the fastest time in Tuesday's test, at 224.287 mph in his Honda Reynard. Tracy won the pole at Michigan last year with a lap at 234.949 mph. ``The aim in my mind is to contain speed rather than reduce speeds,'' said de Ferran, who set a closed-course world record at California Speedway in qualifying with a lap at 241.428 mph last season. ``They have achieved that to some extent. I ran a lap at 224, but we will run faster come race weekend.'' Herta, driver of the Zakspeed Forsythe Racing Ford-Cosworth Reynard, had a best lap of 219.727 mph. And while Herta applauded CART's efforts to reduce speeds at two of the fastest tracks on the series, he was also ``cautiously optimistic'' about the results. ``It felt OK,'' said Herta, who has won two races in his seven-year CART career. ``To be honest, it didn't feel a whole lot different. I thought it was a good step. But I don't think we will truly know until we put 24 cars on the track to know how it will feel.'' The test comes in the wake of April's canceled event at Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway is a superspeedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas -- the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The track layout is very similar to Atlanta Motor Speedway and Lowe's Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor . Drivers complained of dizziness and disorientation disorientation /dis·or·i·en·ta·tion/ (-or?e-en-ta´shun) the loss of proper bearings, or a state of mental confusion as to time, place, or identity. after qualifying and practicing at the high-banked 1.5-mile oval. CART officials canceled the race only hours before the scheduled start. But Herta said the speed-reduction test is nothing new to the CART Series. ``I think the reason for the test is to keep speeds at a steady level,'' Herta said. ``This year, this is what they came up with. ``It's something that happens every year. If CART doesn't continue to lower the limits, we'd keep going faster and faster.'' De Ferran added that the new configurations and adjustment made for a lighter car. ``I felt a loss of downforce The term downforce describes the downward pressure created by the aerodynamic characteristics of a car that allows it to travel faster through a corner by holding the car to the track or road surface. . The car was a little more edgy,'' he said. ``I could feel the car slide a little more. I think it will be OK. To be honest, I will reserve my opinion until race weekend.'' Team Green driver Dario Franchiti, Newman-Haas driver Christian Fittipaldi and Team Rahal driver Max Papis also participated in the test. The CART FedEx Series continues with this weekend's Grand Prix of Detroit on The Raceway at Belle Isle. The race is Sunday. CART also announced that starting with the Miller Lite 200 on Aug. 10-12 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside of the town of Lexington. (Mid-Ohio has also colloquially become a term for the entire north-central region of the state, from south of , all Champ car drivers This is an incomplete list of notable drivers that have made at least one start in Champ Car racing. Drivers are listed under only one era, even if their careers spanned more than one. will be required to wear the HANS (Head and Neck Support) Device during all on-track testing and race-event activities on ovals and road/street courses. CART had mandated the use of HANS Devices at all oval tracks prior to the beginning of the 2001 season. --Strange garage-fellows: Todd Berrier probably has been privy to some interesting conversation in the garages of his two NASCAR teams. Berrier is Kevin Harvick's crew chief for the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing RCR Enterprises, LLC, doing business as Richard Childress Racing, is a NASCAR team fielding Chevrolets for Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, and Scott Wimmer in the NEXTEL Cup Series as well as the #2 BB&T Chevy for Clint Bowyer, the #21 AutoZone Chevy for Harvick Chevy in the NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. Busch Grand National Division. Harvick also races on the Winston Cup Series for RCR RCR Richard Childress Racing RCR responsible conduct of research RCR Royal College of Radiologists (UK; also seen as RCOR) RCR Royal Canadian Regiment RCR Rockcliff Resources Inc (Sudbury, ON, Canada) in the No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevy. Berrier doubles as the crew chief for Jeff Green's No. 30 RCR AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. entry on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Green also races full time on the Busch Series in the No. 10 PPC Racing NesQuik Ford. Green, the defending Busch Series champion who finished 17th in Sunday's Winston Cup Kmart 400 at Michigan International Speedway, is chasing Harvick in the Busch Series standings. Harvick holds a 75-point lead as the series heads to Kentucky Speedway for the inaugural Outback Steakhouse 300 on Saturday. But Green said having Berrier as his Winston Cup crew chief hasn't affected his chances to chase down Harvick on the Busch Series. ``There's not a lot of secrets in the garage,'' Green said. ``We want to be friendly to each other. We see each other more than we see our families. But we both want to do the best for our race teams.'' As for being able to catch Harvick, Green, who won the series championship last year by a record-setting 616-point margin, said he is confident in his team. ``I feel we are a good enough team,'' said Green, who has won twice on the Busch Series this year. ``I don't think you're going to see a 600-point deficit this year, but it only takes one to win.'' --Larry Krieger Memorial race: Larry Krieger, the 1999 NASCAR Grand American Modified champion at Irwindale Speedway who died in February after a battle with a brain infection, will be memorialized Saturday night with a race in his honor. The first Larry Krieger Memorial race will be run at Irwindale Speedway. Donna Krieger, Krieger's widow and owner of Mountain Mortgage Company, will be adding to Saturday night's purse in the Grand Am division. An additional $250 will be awarded to the winner; $100 to the second-place driver; $100 to the leader on lap 18 (Krieger's Grand Am car was No. 18), and $50 each to the driver voted as the hard-luck driver and the last-place driver. The NASCAR Late Models and Modified 4s also will be racing Saturday night at Irwindale Speedway. Gates open at 4 p.m. and racing starts at 7 p.m. WEEKEND AT THE RACES At The Races is a British television channel, originally co-founded with Channel 4, but now owned by a partnership between British Sky Broadcasting, Arena Leisure PLC and 28 (out of the 59) UK racecourses. NASCAR WINSTON CUP Pocono 500 Site: Long Pond, Pa. Schedule: Today, qualifying (Fox Sports Net, noon); Sunday, race (Fox, 10 a.m.) Track: Pocono International Raceway (triangular oval, 2.5 miles, 14 degrees banking in turn 1, 8 degrees in turn 2, 6 degrees in turn 3) Race distance: 500 miles, 200 laps BUSCH Outback Steakhouse 300 (inaugural race) Site: Sparta, Ky. Schedule: Today, qualifying, 7 p.m.; Saturday, race (FX, 5 p.m.) Track: Kentucky Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles, 14 degrees banking in turns) Race distance: 200 laps, 300 miles CART Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix Site: Detroit Schedule: Saturday, qualifying, 10:45 a.m. (ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network 2, 2:30 p.m., tape); Sunday, race (Ch. 7, 11 a.m.) Track: The Raceway On Belle Isle (temporary road course, 2.346 miles, 14 turns) Race distance: 168.912 miles, 72 laps IRL 1. (jargon, chat) IRL - In real life. Generally synonymous with f2f. 2. (language, robotics) IRL - Industrial Robot Language. Radisson Indy 200 Site: Fountain, Colo. Schedule: Saturday, qualifying, noon (ESPN2, 3:30 p.m., tape); Sunday, race (Ch. 7, 1 p.m.) Track: Pikes Peak International Raceway Pikes Peak International Raceway was a one mile oval Auto Racing track located in Fountain, Colorado, south of Colorado Springs and north of Pueblo. Capacity: 42,000 Grandstand seats, 20,000 Infield capacity. (d-shaped oval, 1 mile, 10 degrees banking in turns) Race distance: 200 miles, 200 laps CAPTION(S): box Box: WEEKEND AT RACES (see text) |
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