DCP

I couldn't care less about the hp, but WOT on ovals is bad for everyone. Dangerous and boring, except when it gets exciting for all the wrong reasons. The spec cars are terrible for the sport. The recent fight between Chevy and Honda over Honda's turbo change was good for the sport. Rivalry. Pick a side. They have got to allow more innovation in the chassis.

mglobe

I used to listen to the Indy 500 on the radio because the TV feed didn't show up for at least a week if not more after the event. IIRC it was shown on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Like almost anyone who followed motorsports "back in the day", I miss the innovation and the exotic machinery that came with Indy, Can-Am,...

Unfortunately, Can-Am etc is gone for a reason. It was not sustainable. It wasn't sustainable for the same reason that the major sports can't function with free agency and a lack of salary caps. There's also the issue of safety. How fast could someone navigate the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an open-wheel car if the series were wide open? 250 mph? No doubt that could be done. 275? Probably. Would it be safe? I doubt it. Do we want to start killing drivers again?

I suppose you could set up a league where you had an expenditure cap and allow for any sort of innovation that could fit under that cap. It would be interesting to see what would happen, but I'll bet it would end up not working.

hacker-pschorr

It was Ilmore. Mercedes has been in bed with them for quite a while:

Steve113

High HP is to compensate for little b_LLs
Power to weight is for the guy that doesnt need to compensate

TexasRider

^^^^

You think that is why Senna's F1 Honda powered McLaren had 1200 Hp with no traction control except him and manual shifting with no auto synch .

ubercooper

you must be joking

let me throw out some numbers and then see if you want to retract that statement...

1993 mclaren mp4/4: 1114 lbs, 1200hp

2012 redbull rb8: 1411 lbs 700hp

mglobe

All this talk about HP is crap. Everyone knows we should be talking about torque...

GuyIncognito

Champ cars pretty much all had 1,000 bhp on the speedways in 98-01, granted by then they weren't racing at Indy.

and they blew up. a lot.

winders

That's not quite right. The engine was not a "stock-block" engine. It was "push-rod" engine.

The intent of the rules was to allow engines using push-rods (like those production-based blocks used by Buick/Menard) to be more competitive with the over-head cam engines. So the Indy rules allowed push-rod engines more displacement and higher boost pressure. The rules did not specifically say the engine block had to be from an engine in a production car. The rule makers never envisioned anyone spending the money to build a push-rod race engine from the ground up for one race.

Penske and Mercedes (Ilmor designed and built it) did spend the money and won the race.

That's Penske for you....

Scott

Steve113

You guys missed my point.....I did say “power to weight was for those that do not need to compensate "Obviously those examples above are sickkkk power to weight. That was my whole point its power to weight and not the fact that some street car has more HP but weighs twice as much.

Don’t take it so personal Uber your car has good power to weight

ubercooper

oh, thank you

didnt think you were talking about street cars, but I get your point now.

Van

In PCA racing, the pace cars *always* have more power than the cars in my race group...

924RACR

Armchair racers talk about power.

Real racers talk about downforce.

hacker-pschorr

Then failed to qualify for Indy the next year.

J richard

It would be good to have a series that pulls out all the stops. Indie could (of) been that. It would set it aside from F1 take it back from a spec series and blow the top off. In an age where most performance street cars are capable of 150, higher end near 200, you have to ask how do you push limits anymore. F1 only pushes the limits of/within the rules. How do you challenge the limits of physics? On the safety side DW issues were as much organizational as anything else including speed.

Build a 1000+ hp car with aero AND the capacity to stop (aero braking anyone?) and handle (active air surfaces) at those speeds? Now your talking...more cowbell baby...