It was announced this weekend that Target Chip Ganassi racing will be supplied by Honda next season once engine competition is aloud. There was heavy speculation that perhaps given Ganassi’s efforts in NASCAR, he would switch to Chevrolet power next year. The announcement is huge for Honda and seems as yet another hit to Andretti Autosport who was thought to be Honda’s ‘anchor’ team in 2012. Ganassi has been supplied by Honda dating back to the team’s days in the ChampCar World Series. The manufacturer backed the team to four…
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IndyCar Garage Forum Update – 5/12/2011
IndyCar Garage Forum – A place for ALL opinions on INDYCAR As part of a weekly series, IndyCar Garage moderator Tyler Carmichael will provide forum updates to the hot topics on www.IndyCarGarage.com. The forum is monitored frequently and is viewed as constructive place to voice all INDYCAR opinions. The past week of forum discussion has brought lots of conversation and with the Month of May heating up on the track, IndyCar Garage is the place to be for all your INDYCAR Conversation! For the week of May 5th through May…
Read MoreIndyCar Garage Forum Update – 5/5/2011
Editor’s note: This is the first in a new series of articles from Tyler Charmichael, Owner and Moderator of the IndyCar Garage. He will be providing weekly updates for us on the latest topics being discussed at IndyCar Garage, OpenPaddock’s recommended fan interaction site. IndyCar Garage Forum – A place for ALL opinions on INDYCAR One of the unique features of www.IndyCarGarage.com (ICG) is the forum tab on the main page and the top discussion threads that are featured as soon as you pull up the site. In order to…
Read MoreF1 Soap Box – The Gathering Concorde Storm
If you thought the last round of Concorde Agreement talks were wild and wooly, with a threatened breakaway series and posturing galore from FOTA, well aren’t you in for a treat in the coming months. Some strange forces are aligning as we hear more details about the supposed News Corp interest and with Ferrari sounding off about their displeasure with the current state of F1 and the future technical package. The Timeframe and Players The current Concorde Agreement expires at the end of this season, so this means the teams…
Read MoreOP-Ed – Pennywise and Pound Foolish: Why delaying the aero kits is a bad idea
There’s been a significant rumbling from the owners, most notably from Jimmy Vasser, co-owner of KV Racing Technologies. What they see is the $75k price tag on new aero kits and rate that as a cost they’d rather not pay. Truth is, they DON’T have to pay it. The Dallara chassis that they’ll need to buy in order to compete in the IZOD IndyCar Series in 2012 come with the Dallara aero kit. If they have a relationship with another engine manufacture such as Chevrolet or Lotus, they’ll of course…
Read MoreOP-Ed – Standing vs. Flying Starts
If you listened to this last week’s episode of the Openpaddock.net Podcast, you will know there was intense debate between the crew on standing and flying starts. I was all for implementing a standing start for the IZOD IndyCar Series, while my partners in crime were against it. I was also having the same debate with Mr. Dalbey from More Front Wing. The only other person that I have read who agrees with my stand is Robin Miller. That is a small victory though because he said he could go…
Read MoreRally – Monte Carlo WRC/IRC Combo?
We have established that Max Mosley and the FiA had no idea how to run the WRC. Strict and ever changing regulations forced many manufacturers out and key rounds of the championship were also lost in the years leading to Mosley’s stepping down. The new administration has worked hard with promoter North Sport to bring back the glory of WRC. New manufacturers and new cars have really created a buzz this year. The one thing we are missing is a steady calender. The Monte Carlo event is no doubt the…
Read MoreOP-ed – Looking Forward to Sebring 60th Next Year
An OP-ed submitted by Barry Foster, aka “MisterMedia20”, aka “trackside”, detailing plans for next year’s 60th running at Sebring. We can start to look forward to it now and make our 2011 plans accordingly. It may seem like a long time away, but 2012 is actually right around the corner for a number of those preparing to celebrate landmark anniversaries in Sebring. Next year represents the centennial anniversary for the city of Sebring, the 75th year for the Highlands County Fair, the 70th annuversary of the Sebring Regional Airport and…
Read MoreINDYCAR – ORECA Aero Kit for 2012?
See what happens when you win the 12 Hours of Sebring? Ok, maybe that is not entirely true, but there is very strong speculation that ORECA will join the growing list of companies that will produce an aero kit for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series. The French company has already discussed the plan with INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard and remains very interested in producing the components. The kits if produced will of course be available to all of the teams for use on the new generation car. ORECA has been…
Read MoreRally – 2012 Calendar Problems Remain
Think back to about this time last year and we were discussing the same thing for the WRC. What is the calendar going to be and when will it be released? Are we going to drop the silly rally rotation rule the WRC has? As we know with the FiA however, the same problems always crop up and are never resolved. So here we sit in 2011 and we are waiting for the 2012 calendar. The events and dates are set to be announced later this month or early next…
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