We have some new photos of the 2012 Dallara IndyCar chassis, IR12, in both the Honda and Chevrolet livery thanks to our photographic partner, Tom Turk, from Piratical Photography. One of the interesting things Tom ran into was a reluctance by Chevrolet to allow him a view of the rear diffuser. Odd since it should be the same exact underwing! Either they were just being overly protective, or something fishy is happening. I’m chalking it up to an overzealous engineer. We were able to get some shots of the rear…
Read MoreAuthor: Doug Patterson
Motorsports enthusiast since ...well... always. Grew up watching Mario and AJ, took my first lap around IMS in the tour bus in 1977, fell in love with anything that went fast.
Currently, I work as a professor of astronomy and physics at a college in the suburbs of Kansas City, http://staff.jccc.edu/dpatter/, and own a photography business, Patterson Prints, with my wife. http://www.pattersonprints.com/
IndyLights – Las Vegas Preview
The final round of the 2011 Firestone Indy Lights Series takes place this Sunday at the Las Vegas Motorspeedway, but the calamity from Kentucky has left a few cars and one driver on the sidelines. David Ostella, primary driver for Jensen MotorSport, is out. The team was not able to repair his car in time for the transport out to Las Vegas leaving the team with only one entry, newcomer Oliver Webb. This is a pretty brutal situation for Ostella who has scrapped and fought well for Jensen MotorSport all…
Read MoreIndyCar – Kentucky Weekend in Photos
Our IndyCar photographer, Joe Ferrall, was at the Kentucky Speedway and brought back some really great shots of both the IZOD IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights events. Enjoy! You can view the rest of our IndyCar photos from this year and back to 2009 by clicking on the Photo Galleries tab above and selecting IndyCar.
Read MoreIndyLights: Jensen MotorSport Adds Serious Engineering Muscle
Jensen MotorSport has already been showing some strength in the latter half of this season, but now they’ve grabbed another gear and are shooting for significant improvement. Today, the team announced the hiring of veteran GP2 engineer Raul Prados! Mr. Prados’ experiences includes working with top-shelf European open-wheel such as Carlin and iSport, and he engineered the winning car in the 2010 GP2 Asia series. Most of all, I love Mr. Prados’ comments and optimism in regards to open-wheel racing in North America: “This is an exciting new chapter of…
Read MoreOP-Ed – Does INDYCAR’s “Faux-vertaking” Rule Encourage Avoidable Contact?
Comparing the number of accidents in Formula 1 and other open-wheel series and in IndyCar in the past couple of years has me wondering if the INDYCAR overtaking rule (faux-vertaking as @MikeOpenPaddock would call it) doesn’t in fact encourage avoidable contact rather than discouraging it. There has been a lot of talk about INDYCAR’s overtaking rule on road and street courses that demands that a driver leave open the inside line in approach to a corner, and usually not in happy tones. This rule comes from Tony Cotman and the…
Read MoreIndyLights – Rusty Mitchell, Horses, and Horsepower
A curious thing crossed my virtual desk here at OpenPaddock this week, a press release. …no, that’s not especially unusual, but its content sure was. Normally, teams and drivers issue a release previewing their thoughts and expectations for the upcoming event, but this was a bit more than the simple “we hope to roll off the transport fast and win” type of hype and blase quotes. This was a nice little background piece on Rusty Mitchell, with whom we spoke prior to his running the Firestone Freedom 100 back in…
Read MoreInside The Helmet – 2011 Star Mazda Champion Tristan Vautier
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadWe spoke with Tristan Vautier, driver of the #5 JDC MotorSport Cecibon/Circuit du Laquais/Fontanels/Red Line Oil Mazda and the 2011 Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear Drivers’ Champion. Tristan describes his early ventures in motorsports driving in various Formula Renault series in Europe before coming to the Star Mazda Championship in 2010. He also walks us through his amazing and dominating 2011 championship-winning season. We even sneak in a little bit of rally goodness!
Read MoreRally – Rally America Announces 2012 Schedule and New Owner
The Rally America Series has a new owner and a new schedule for 2012. While the six events remain the same, the length of the season is extended beyond the X-Games in an effort to provide more continuous support for many of the regional rally events throughout the year. It also gives teams time to recover and rebuild between rallies. During the 2011 season, half of the championship events were crammed into a short couple of months. With the new schedule, and events spaced out a bit more, there should…
Read MoreIndyCar – Thoughts on the 2012 Dallara Aerodynamics
We’ve now seen the new 2012 car in both its road course trim and its oval trim. The road course package was tested at Mid-Ohio last month the Monday after the race there. This past Tuesday, test driver Dan Wheldon shook the car down in its oval trim at the Iowa Speedway. Perhaps it would be better to call it its short oval trim, as the car was still fitted with a multi-element front and rear wing and looks very much like the road course package used at Mid-Ohio. Regardless,…
Read MoreIndyLights – Jensen Motorsports Wins Firestone Image Award
Jensen Motorsports has had a tough 2011 in the Firestone Indy Lights Series. Their primary driver, Canadian David Ostella, has had the pace to bring home a quality finish for the team, but it seems that they’ve been caught out all too often by mechanical gremlins or just plain being at the wrong place at the wrong time and being taken out by a competitor as happened at Toronto. Their second driver, Oliver Webb, also promises to have good pace and the team should be in a position to score…
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