New car revealed.

[jc_nl]

I assume you guys know that mister Saward is on the Caterham board of directors? So whatever he says that is connected to Lotus should be taken with a grain of salt.

[Paradise City]

I haven't seen anything misreported/fabricated by Saward on Group Lotus.

Recently Proton has been sold off and there are question marks about what the new management will do regarding Lotus. Certainly the extravagant spending envisaged by Danny Bahar has been dramatically scaled back, thoughts of being a fabulous constructor across world motorsports have been in the main shelved to be replaced by a rather sheepish campaign of stickering everything in sight. We don't need Joe Saward to tell us about these antics. It's all been happening in plain sight.

[Purist]

Robin Miller addresses the topic in the latest mailbag.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...rs-mailbag-328

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Purist

Robin Miller addresses the topic in the latest mailbag.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...rs-mailbag-328

I couldn't find where in the article he deals with the Ltus problem. Is it at the top of page 3@?

[Purist]

Yes, his response at the top of Page 3. His mention that it sounds like the new owners are committed to motorsport is a promising sign from that quarter.

[NaBUru38]

The Lotus engines are a little behind. But not that much. I mean, Bourdais and Serviá could run closer to the front back if they had better powertrains. But they are no Fortis or Hispanias, they don't lose a lap every 20. Their performance is worse, but it's far from a catastrophe.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

The Lotus engines are a little behind. But not that much. I mean, Bourdais and Serviá could run closer to the front back if they had better powertrains. But they are no Fortis or Hispanias, they don't lose a lap every 20. Their performance is worse, but it's far from a catastrophe.

I'm waiting to see how these DW12s run on an oval.

[Down F0rce]

Lotus are skipping the upcoming April test at Indy. I hear we may have a repeat of 2003 on our hands, where Honda and Toyota occupied the front of the field and Chevrolet were at the back...

If this does happen though, I don't think they will be miles off the pace as Chevy were that year.

[Catingaround]

Whats up the the fenders failing to keep Marco from launching?

[bjohnsonsmith]

The more I see this car race the more I dislike it.

[Paradise City]

The racing is fine but that Long Beach car flip from young Andretti was pause for thought. I must admit, I thought putting all that flab on the back and covering the rear as some sort of anti-airbourne device was a solution that was a bit too easy for my liking.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

The racing is fine but that Long Beach car flip from young Andretti was pause for thought. I must admit, I thought putting all that flab on the back and covering the rear as some sort of anti-airbourne device was a solution that was a bit too easy for my liking.

Definitely a car designed by a committee or an absentee constructor who's heart wasn't in it. It's why competition is so important to keep products on the marketplace with quality.

The chatter I hear about the car is that the car construction is very crude and has poor quality control. Again why competition is so important to keep people on their toes.

All I can say is I told you so and stuff like this is going to keep happening.

[bjohnsonsmith]

If IndyCar were going to go down the single chassis route, they should have gone with Lola. They came up with aero-kits and a universal tub that Indy Lights could have used and retained if teams wished to race in IndyCar; a missed opportunity from a manufacturer whose pedigree eclipses Dallara's.



They even look the part.

[Jonerz]

I think the bumpers have done one thing, they've allowed some of the shoves up the back to result not in a flat tire, but damaged wing endplates on the offending car (even if it was just a stack-up/concertina and not poor driving on the offender's part).

I think the Andretti flight was caused by the left front wheel touching Rahal's right rear. Unless IndyCar's next direction is IMSA GTP of the 80's, there is nothing they can do to fix that... further wide bodywork and undertrays may be the next answer, but who knows. If they further accentuate the training wheel-like bodywork, the questionable look of the cars that I'm really only starting to like the appearance of from the head on looking down on the car - will be almost as bad looking as the old car.

Overall I was impressed with the racing at TGPLB (as I was with the Barber contest). IndyCar is definitely defining a new and entertaining style of motor racing, something that the old IRL lacked. It's not CART, but the leading indicators of growth (driver talent, depth of field and quality of racing) are there so far in 2012. I hope the money starts coming back and the DW12 can evolve or be replaced by a superior car and horsepower numbers start creeping over 750 to 8 and 900.

But I can dream...

Chris

[Purist]

Mountainstar, in this country at least, market competition most often just seems to produce ever more inexpensive crap. I haven't seen the "market" do anything positive specifically for product quality on many things in some time.

I realize that racing cars are a different beast in some ways, but that's not going to prevent participants from trying to cut corners in a competitive marketplace.

I think the answer is to get the drivers to be less careless behind the wheel. Even with full fenders, cars have been known to launch, and Indy Cars weigh a lot less than tin-tops. Also, I don't think that the expanded undertray necessarily helps keep the cars on the ground.