Episode 124 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Join the guys this week as they present the weekly roundup for all of your favorite motorsport series. We talk car launches and day 1 of testing for Formula 1. Honda is up to its old tricks again with engine failures in IndyCar. We also try and make sense of all the bad things happening in the WRC. IndyCar fans beware, this may be a prophetic look into your future as well, or at least how fast good momentum can come apart. Mike brings the Pirelli tire ad back for another week and things just keep unprofessional. As always, thank you for the download and we hope you enjoy the show!

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5 Thoughts to “Episode 124 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

  1. oregonwings

    I was listening to your recent podcast episode #124. You were speaking of the complexity of the manufacturers vs. the manufacturer customer cars. At this point, I’ll refer to Ford, Citroen, and Mini as “main” manufcatuers. I believe…and I’m no expert here…but I think the reason why you need to be a “main” manufacturer is to be able to do future development and homolugation changes to the car over time. I don’t think the customer cars are allowed to make any changes to their vehicles, even if they were within design specs. Only the main manufacturers can do that and then can sell those new modified parts to customers as the customer cars use bolt-on parts from the main manufacturers. I believe this is one of the reasons why the main manufacturers have to commit to a full season of all 13 rounds and pay $300K…so they get the “opportunity” to make those upgrades and changes. For some reason Pro-Drive / Mini got a special exception to not have to do all the rounds. I’m glad that Pro-Drive / BMW Mini came to some sort of agreement, just sad that they don’t have the full ride we were hoping for this year.

    This also brings up a question of which I don’t have an answer. Would a it be possible to sell cars to customers if you aren’t a “main” manufacturer? In other words, if Mini dropped out completely, would Pro-Drive be allowed to make any new Minis for customers from that point going forward? Or would they have to just keep repairing old cars and if one is totaled, that’s it…done? Although I think the more likely scenario is that Pro-Drive would be able to continue making new Minis for customers, but would be frozen in a current homologation and would not be able to make any changes.

    1. Would like to start by saying thank you fo rthe listen! Hope it was a good show! haha.

      Great point on the homolugation rules. MINI need a team to call a “works” team so the new cars can be homolugated. They chose the MINI Portugal team as their “works” car over the two Prodrive entries given money concerns it would appear. Prodrive will still prepare all of the cars like they do now, but the red team is no longer the “factory” team like before. Evidence already surfacing as Sordo apparently won’t be in Mexico.

      As far as the second question, it is a good one. I am not 100% sure. I think M-Sport was still going to run the Fiesta for a year or so, but I would think specific rights would be needed. Not really sure why they would if they are not getting paid. They would be doing Ford a favor for free and not sure Malcolm would go for that. He would run them for a year and try to get a new manufacturer for sure.

  2. oregonwings

    You’ve got a pretty good show. I just started listening to it since you had Colin Clark formerly from World Rally Radio as a guest. I mostly follow Rally now as I find it to be a purer form of auto racing, and I really like some of the grass roots teams in Rally America (T. Hansen rules!). I used to be a huge IndyCar fan…back then it was the CART series. I got into it purely for the reason I think Doug mentioned in a recent podcast (I think it was Doug…can’t remember), where he said it was the technology that made open wheel racing cool. He was referencing that now banned “active suspension” system proposed in F1 this year. Anyway, the technology in CART was amazing back then and the cars had so much amazing power (900HP if I recall correctly). I especially enjoyed the car tech commentary they had with Jon Beekhuis in the pits. CART even used to make a stop here in Oregon at PIR (Portland International Raceway). I went to two of the races and it was just amazing to hear / feel those cars go around our 2 mile circuit. Unfortunatley things changed soon after that. I agree that the prices got out of control for owners, and so did the speeds. But nothing can forgive the gutting of the series caused by Tony George and the creation of the IRL. A combination of the IRL garbage mixed with the death of my then favorite driver Greg Moore, and the move from ABC Sports to Speed Network (of which back then I couldn’t afford cable TV that included Speed Network) led me to stop watching CART / IRL / IndyCar for many years. I would still watch the occasional Indy 500, but that was it. Finally a couple of years ago I started watching again with the now IndyCar series. The cars were much better than the IRL days which had failure after failure of their one manufacturer engines (Toyota wasn’t it?). I was also pleasently surprised to see the rivalry and close battles between Dario and Will Power. It reminded me of the days when it was Rick Mears vs. Danny Sullivan, or Little Al vs. Michael Andretti. This rivalry, if properly exploited could increase the viewership of the sport. Unfortunately, I think that with the huge change in cars and engines this year…it will simply be whoever has the most reliability wins…not the best driver. Granted with technology today, they can likely resolve most of their issues in just one season. I’m planning on the 2013 season being a good one for IndyCar, but not so much 2012. I don’t really follow any Road to Indy, Indy lights, or F1 racing…its hard enough to have time to follow Rally and IndyCar, so most of my comments in the future will likely be in regards to those two forms of motorsport. However, thanks to you guys and your weekly podcast I’ll at least have some insight into what’s going on in the other series.

    1. I’m hoping I can change your mind in regards to the Road to Indy stuff. Best open-wheel racing around!

      I must admit that I like Rally America a bit better than the WRC precisely because of it’s more grassroots feel. Drivers like Hansen, Crazy Leo, Knox, , and Duplessis grinding it out old-school is fantastic. Are you going to make it to the Oregon Trail or Olympus rallies?

      1. oregonwings

        I’m definitely going to make it out to the Oregon Trail Rally. I’m not certain of Olympus yet, but would like to make it there as well. This will be my 3rd year out at OTR. I think its a great event, and super fan-friendly, especially the short stages out at Portland International Raceway on Friday night. I was so stoked to meet Travis Hansen. Such an approachable guy…you’d think he was your next door neighbor (you know…the one you like…not that other one!) Last year I was up at a spectator section in Hood River (just north of Mt. Hood). It was so awesome! It was free to attend other than a few $$ for parking (of which the money went to a charity), and a local Subaru dealership even came out and grilled up some free hotdogs and gave us beverages and swag (little packets of swag sun screen were very useful that day!). There were about about 100 spectators at this section, and everyone was having a pretty good time. I plan on attending all 3 days this year, even if I have to drive 3 hours out to Dufur. There is one spectator section out there that I’ve seen vid clips from that looks phenominal! I can’t wait!

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