Hello everyone!
There are 75 days ‘til the season opener in Las Vegas and today marks the first official day of three days of team testing for the Panoz DP01 Chassis down in Sebring, Florida.
Here is a list of the cars and drivers in attendance at today’s test. We will know just who is testing where at the end of today, and not all drivers who are testing have been officially signed on to drive in 2007.
Newman Haas Racing, car 1 - Sebastien Bourdais
Newman Haas Racing, car 2 - Graham Rahal
Forsythe Racing, car 3 - Paul Tracy
Minardi Team USA, car 4 - Robert Doornbos
Team Australia, car 5 - Simon Pagenaud
Rocketsports Racing, car 8 - Alex Tagliani
RuSPORT, car 9 - Justin Wilson
RuSPORT, car 10 - Mario Dominguez
Dale Coyne Racing, car 11 - TBA
Dale Coyne Racing, car 19 - Katherine Legge
PKV Racing, car 12 - Jimmy Vasser
PKV Racing, car 21 - Neel Jani
Pacific Coast Motorsports, car 28 - Ryan Dalziel
Pacific Coast Motorsports, car 29 - Alex Figge
I’m sure if you look into the CCWS website later today there will be times posted. And you can click on a link that will let you watch live timing as well. You can also read Robin Miller’s ideas and speculations as to who else may be driving a Champ Car come the opener on Easter Sunday. You can also learn a little about what the teams have and will expect to encounter as the new chassis gets worked in this week:
http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=11199
This week is the first test, and the Champ Cars will also visit MSR Houston Feb 12 & 13, with our final “Spring Preview” along with the Atlantic Series at Laguna Seca March 7-10. The last day, Saturday, at Laguna Seca will also be open to the public. I am told that both the MSR Houston Test and the Laguna Seca test will feature… brace yourselves… steady… practice standing starts for the Champ Cars! Could be our season starts off in Vegas with a bang, as the front straight there will be plenty wide – we shall see.
FIA FLAGGING
A few weeks ago there was an article on the Champ Car website that quoted Race Director Tony Cotman announcing some changes in our flagging procedures, namely, moving closer to FIA standards. I understand it created a few waves of interest among our volunteer Marshals, but in reality the immediate impact will be very slight. Tony and Champ Car are leading the charge in the US to move closer toward our foreign brethren in the way we do things, as most of our drivers were obviously brought up that way, and we may see more overseas events on our schedule in the future.
Tony will soon be attending an FIA meeting of Worldwide Race Directors, including those from ALMS, Grand Am, IRL and representatives from the SCCA. I can say that we will move towards FIA flagging in stages, rather than all at once, as the verdict is actually still out on full-course yellows vs. Safety Car Boards and the like. For now, we shall keep our current yellow flag standards intact, i.e., standing yellow, waved yellow and double yellows for full course. When you look back our series’ operational history, Champ Car/CART have always been at the forefront in innovation in the US, and we have been gradually moving toward the standard we now have (which is very close to FIA, except for the yellows) In fact, I can just about name every significant change and either the incident or driver who brought it about since I started with the series (Roberto Guerrero first suggested the double yellow so he could tell immediately without being radioed that the whole course was yellow.) Our effort right now is to get our other US-based sanctioning bodies to go along with us as well.
What we will be doing differently this year is: 1) the blue flag will be the solid color blue, as used outside the US. Champ Car will supply these new blue flags for all events that do not have them; 2) during the race, the blue flags from the corners will still be regarded as advice, but all blue flags from the start stand will be COMMANDS, replacing the double blue we have recently used. This puts more onus on you blue flaggers out there to be sharp!!!; 3) the white flag will no longer be waved from the start stand to signify one lap remaining, a carryover from our oval days. So the white flag will mean a slow vehicle ahead, no matter where it appears (no truth to the rumor that JD Wilbur will be using a foam #1finger to show one more lap. Well, maybe, but only on his last day, which is whenever he decides to do it!) So essentially, that’s it for now. We have actually given the starter’s signals more weight by reducing the number of signals he gives, and the rest is riding on you all. In my mind, that speaks volumes for what Tony Cotman trusts you can easily handle!
If you have any further questions, please drop me a line at jhs@champcar.ws and I’ll do my best to answer them. I am working on a 2007 version of our Flagging, Communication & Intervention Standards, and I hope to post them here before the season starts!
NEW SERIES LOGO
The long-threatened new series logo was unveiled today and you can have a look at it here:
http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=11207
Yes, and I am working hard on a deal to make patches available to all our Marshals, so this is what the wait was all about!!
DENVER
Some folks have asked so I will only share with you what is out among the other news websites about the Denver Race. This from AutoRacing1 and the Denver Post:
In addition to lacking a local promoter and title sponsor, the annual street race on the Pepsi Center grounds has been bumped from its 2008 August weekend because the arena will be preparing for the Democratic National Convention.
“We have some challenges that we have to solve for the event, and there are a number of challenges - from the promoter, to the sponsor, to even the event date," Johnson said. "We are in contact with a number of people to see if we can pull this off."
Pepsi Center spokesman Brian Kitts confirmed that the arena has revoked Champ Car's 2008 race date.
"It doesn't give us much flexibility from a date standpoint," Johnson said. "Dealing with the folks at the Pepsi Center, with all the things they have going on, you have to be flexible."
Champ Car's European expansion races that were added Sept. 2 and Sept. 9 could have a negative impact on saving the Denver race, which has been held in mid-August the past three years.
Champ Car's 2007 schedule features back-to-back races in Elkhart Lake, Wis. (Aug. 12), and Denver (Aug. 19), then the series heads to Europe. With the DNC conflict in 2008, the race likely would have to be moved to June or July.
Kitts said the Pepsi Center is willing to work with Champ Car to find a 2008 date, but it won't be easy.
"The Grand Prix is the biggest event that we ever have done," Kitts said. "It has so many moving parts, it will always be the biggest thing that we do. So it would be difficult to just slide it in and out.
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So that is all for now. Watch those practice times and we will see what happens next!
JHS
