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IndyCars Wreck in First Turn of Race
That used to be one of the generic news headlines we had here. The 2010 IndyCar season kicked off in much the same way as the 2009 season.
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IRL is opening their season with a road course? Internationally? When did this happen?
ReplyDeleteWell, they've been racing in Japan at Twin Ring Motegi since 2003, and have incorporated road courses into the schedule since 2005. St. Petersburg has been the second or third race each year since then, until last year when it was the first. CART raced in Rio from 1996-2000.
ReplyDeleteOne of the founding goals of the IRL was to be a lower-cost series than CART that only ran ovals in the USA. Now they do road courses and international races (still not as many int'l as CART), and have more or less morphed into the kind of racing that CART was.
How does IRL compare to F1?
ReplyDeleteBoth series have specific rules about car and engine design, but the technological bar in F1 is much, much higher. As a result, the cars are faster and much more expensive. Currently the F1 engine spec is a 2.4 liter V8 limited to 18,000 RPM, although in the past the limit has been as high as 20,000 RPM. Engines are supplied by multiple manufacturers. F1 only races on road courses, and it's very international: this year's 19 races are in 18 different countries. It's sort of like soccer in terms of worldwide popularity.
ReplyDeleteInycars are heavier, the engines are currently 3.5 liter normally aspirated V8s with a 10,300 RPM rev limit, and produce less power than the F1 engines, so the cars are a little slower. Both have impressive aerodynamics (capable of 5g lateral cornering grip).
I like watching both, although the style of racing can be very different.