If Indy Car made the fuel cells large enough to go the race distance without stopping and made the drivers qualify with the fuel load they plan to start the race with. I think it would certainly add another element to the racing. And it would certainly bring more strategy into the race I know it sounds like F1 but I really like that cat and mouse guessing game they play over there.
Well its probably a safety issue not to have the cars carrying 100+ gallons of fuel. After firey crashes and deaths in the 60s, CART/IRL/CCWS ran methanol up until very recently because it isn't explosive, and carrying excess amount of fuel in the sidepods was banned.
There is less strategy like that because the cars weigh much more than F1 cars. The Dallara with driver and fuel is about 1800lbs and an F1 car is more like 1250lbs. The weight of the fuel doesn't affect the car as much.
(fuel weight does nearly nothing to a 3500lb nascar)
Also the IRL insists on throwing a full course caution everytime someone spins out, which closes up the field ruining any lead that the leader has built up, and also the cars use much less fuel when running slower through the caution. In F1 many races go without a single full course caution. Personally I believe that the cautions in the IndyCar are thrown too frequently and take way too long.
These two factors make it more worthwhile for the teams to load the cars full of fuel and attempt to make it one less stop than the competition rather than running lighter and trying to outrun the field with one more fuel stop. It does seem odd to see the driver in 19th place win on saving fuel for 90% of the race, again getting rid of most of the unnecessary full course cautions would help this and force drivers to pit under green.
I think also the tires that Firestone supplies to the IRL are much more durable than they are given credit for and there isn't that big of a performance drop off during a long run. Compare to F1 where the announcers and drivers say that the soft optional compound of Bridgestone only give one lap at optimum before they drop off and this would make for more pit stops for more frequent tire changes.
Pit strategy has always been part of racing and I really don't see the benefit of loading a car up with fuel to lap under the yellow. I have to agree with Shovelerlx that the IRL throws far too many full course yellows for too long on a road course. AL though I think all racing rubber falls off dramatically within three laps on a road course unless you start running some really hard compounds which Michelin used to do(They were called "woodies" in the '70s). If the race is to be of any duration you need pit stops
If they are going to change something in the fuel rules I would rather they made them start the race with whatever fuel load they qualified with on the RC's. You might have some teams going for the pole and only having enough fuel for X # of laps and other teams running a full fuel load to go longer in the race.
If they are going to change something in the fuel rules I would rather they made them start the race with whatever fuel load they qualified with on the RC's. You might have some teams going for the pole and only having enough fuel for X # of laps and other teams running a full fuel load to go longer in the race.
Thats a pretty cool idea, combined with less full course cautions could make the race strategy much more interesting.
I wonder if anyone from the IRL reads these boards and if they take anything from them? Or do they think we just complain too much.
I would say the answer to your questions is probably yes and yes and yes! Someone probably reads some of it. Some is probably taken from it. They surely think we complain too much.
ChrisR is a consultant who works for the league on some things. I doubt this would be one of them, but I am sure there are people from the league who at least read, but probably don't reply.
If they are going to change something in the fuel rules I would rather they made them start the race with whatever fuel load they qualified with on the RC's. You might have some teams going for the pole and only having enough fuel for X # of laps and other teams running a full fuel load to go longer in the race.
Thats a pretty cool idea, combined with less full course cautions could make the race strategy much more interesting.
I wonder if anyone from the IRL reads these boards and if they take anything from them? Or do they think we just complain too much.
What if people stopped whining about strategy and either started dealing with it or watching go-karts or something? It's been part of racing from the very beginning, and I personally think it helps make it more exciting. Face it, you're not going to have wheel-to-wheel action for 200 miles. How exactly would 100-gallon fuel cells help that?
What if people stopped whining about strategy and either started dealing with it or watching go-karts or something? It's been part of racing from the very beginning, and I personally think it helps make it more exciting. Face it, you're not going to have wheel-to-wheel action for 200 miles. How exactly would 100-gallon fuel cells help that?
Why can't someone have an opinion about a change they would like to see without being labeled a whiner? I don't see a need for larger fuel cells but it is still an interesting discussion. Go back and read the OP and tell us what part you perceive to be in any way whiny or negative.
I think also the tires that Firestone supplies to the IRL are much more durable than they are given credit for and there isn't that big of a performance drop off during a long run. Compare to F1 where the announcers and drivers say that the soft optional compound of Bridgestone only give one lap at optimum before they drop off and this would make for more pit stops for more frequent tire changes.
All race tires drop off at least a bit after their first full temp lap; ever notice that in Nascar qualifying second laps (other than restrictor plate tracks or when a guy makes a mistake on the first lap) are almost never faster than first laps?
All race tires drop off at least a bit after their first full temp lap; ever notice that in Nascar qualifying second laps (other than restrictor plate tracks or when a guy makes a mistake on the first lap) are almost never faster than first laps?
You're absolutely right and this is why you're not going to see fuel cells large enough to hold a full race's worth of fuel. It is a safety issue, but not because of fire potential. Fuel cells now aren't the rigid tanks that were used in the 60's, they're rupture-proof bladders. When was the last time you ever saw a fuel spill after even the most horrendous IndyCar crash in recent years? Even Quattro's problems at Indy this year weren't because of a ruptured fuel cell, but because of a fill nozzle malfunction. The safety concern is more about the tires. In fact, this is why the league reduced the size of the fuel cell when they made the switch from methanol to ethanol. Ethanol fuel resulted in greater mileage and to prevent drivers from overextending the tires, they dropped the fuel cell size so that tire wear and fuel usage were matched.
