HERTA BENEFITS FROM NEW HONDA ENGINE.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 Motor Sports The people at Honda Performance Development provided 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 with what they call the latest iteration of the current engine specification for the Indy Racing League The Indy Racing League, better known as IRL, is the sanctioning body of a predominantly American based open-wheel racing series. The League consists of two series, the premiere IndyCar Series event 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. . That's engineering-speak for, they gave Herta's team an updated version of their Honda engine. That wouldn't be such a big deal, except only two other drivers had the latest version of the Honda engine for the Michigan race. The brain trust at Honda Performance Development are not willing to divulge who the other two drivers were, but to say the least, they were pleased with Herta's performance at Michigan. Herta, driver of the No. 7 Honda-powered entry for Andretti Green Racing Andretti Green Racing is an auto racing team that competes in the IRL IndyCar Series and the American Le Mans Series. Early years in CART Founded in 1993 by Barry Green and Gerry Forsythe as Forsythe Green Racing , won his first race of the year and his first race in nearly three years. He also won the pole and led 159 of the 200 laps in the Michigan race two weeks ago. It was a dominating performance, one that was not lost on Robert Clarke, president of the Valencia-based Honda Performance Development. ``This was our latest specification of development and will be introduced to all cars as quickly as possible,'' Clarke said. That means more Honda-powered cars will be using the latest iteration of the Honda engine specification for Sunday's race at Kentucky Speedway. Herta said having the latest technology wasn't the difference in winning at Michigan. ``I think we won because we had the best car,'' said Herta, a Valencia resident and Hart High of Newhall graduate. ``Clearly we had a very good engine, but it wasn't that much different than the others. I don't think that was the difference.'' At best, Herta said his engine was able to produce more horsepower. He also pointed out that the cars that race in the IRL 1. (jargon, chat) IRL - In real life. Generally synonymous with f2f. 2. (language, robotics) IRL - Industrial Robot Language. are very close in speed and horsepower. It takes a combination of modifications to improve a car's performance and it is probably unfair to pinpoint one slight, yet significant, change. The timing of the introduction, however, was a little easier for Herta to explain. ``It happens all the time,'' Herta said. ``I would suspect that probably Toyota and maybe even Chevy had a new iteration of their engine for Michigan as well. Or at least some of their guys might have had them. ``Michigan - it's a race that a lot of engine manufacturers target because its a big power track. They're working through the development and they find a little bit of horsepower, it's a good track to try and roll it out for.'' Iteration of engine specifications or not, Herta finds himself with some momentum as he heads to Kentucky and the stretch run of the IRL season. After the Kentucky race, there are several tracks and courses that seem to be to Herta's liking. There are two road courses, Watkins Glen Watkins Glen (wŏt`kĭnz), resort village (1990 pop. 2,207), seat of Schuyler co., W central N.Y., in the Finger Lakes region, at the southern end of Seneca Lake; inc. 1842. It is in a grape and wine area and has extensive saltworks. in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and Infineon Raceway Infineon Raceway, formerly Sears Point Raceway, is a road course and drag strip located on the landform known as Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains near Sonoma, California, USA. The course is a complex series of twists and turns that go up and down the hills. in Sonoma, and 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. . Herta won the pole for the first road course event in St. Petersburg, Fla., and was part of a 1-2-3-4 Andretti Green Racing finish. He is also considered a road-racing ace, with two wins in the old CART series, both at Laguna Seca, a permanent road course in Monterey. As for California Speedway, it is very similar to Michigan in size and design. ``I like what we got left on the schedule,'' Herta said. Up next is Kentucky, a 1.5-mile speedway which Herta said has more similarities to Michigan than would be expected. ``Actually Kentucky's not that different from Michigan in terms of car set up either,'' Herta said. ``I'm kinda hoping what we learned at Michigan is going to work well at Kentucky.'' Apparently, so are the people at Honda Performance Development and the handful of other Honda drivers with the latest iteration. CAPTION(S): box Box: RACE WEEK BY TIM HADDOCK |
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