Dixon Makes A Change...

[GP Racer]

Speed is reporting that Ganassi driver, Scott Dixon, will be switching from his usual Panoz/Toyota, and driving a Dallara/Toyota for the Motegi 300. Ganassi claims that there isn't enough data from the Panoz/Toyota package, because he is the only team running that combination. There are alot more teams running the Dallara/Toyota. Both Manning and Briscoe will be running there usual Panoz chassis.

Well, the move certainly can't make things any worse for this team that has been struggling since Dixon's 03 championship season. Will it be enough to stem the Honda tide, and will we finally see Dixon running up-front?

[Dennis H.]

I think what they will find out is that Penske does have some more horsepower for whatever reason and it is not the chassis. At least that is what RBTC thinks.

[climb]

Penske's stronger horsepower is undisputable, nonetheless it has to be noticed that, among honda-shod cars, Dallara are steadily doing better than Panoz, thus some improvement is expectable.
After 2nd session at Motegi, in a general poor situation for Ganassi, Dixon is the fastest.

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally Posted by Dennis H.

I think what they will find out is that Penske does have some more horsepower for whatever reason and it is not the chassis. At least that is what RBTC thinks.

Penske builds his own Toyota engines....he is the only Toyota team that does not run the TRD-built and tweaked powerplants....and Penske has found some things that they have changed that have made them better than the TRD-built engines...

Toyota will incorporate those changes discovered by Penske, and other Toyota teams will get the Penske-improved updates....that was reported a few weeks ago...

Toyota's domination in 2003 came when Penske was creating qualifying engines for the Indy 500 in his own shops, and found that the higher horsepower engine he produced would also be reliable and could easily go race distances....Toyota made those changes to all of their engines as well, and that was what put Toyota on top that year...

[gttouring]

penske will share the toyota info, after he solidifies a good place in the championship, afterall it is still a race to the finish and the less rivals the better... perhaps after indy?

[Tim Northcutt]

I'd have to go back to where I read that...can't remember if it was in the IRL site or in something like Auto Racing Daily.com

But I do recall that teams would be getting the changes, and I don't know if there is a pecking order behind it or what...

That is the way the Chevy teams got the "Chevy-worth" in 2003...it was based on season points and it was strung out over a period of 3 races or so....it would be tough for either Penske or TRD to make massive changes to supply all of their teams all at once...

But I do know that when Penske found the reliability for the Qual Engines, that Toyota humped it to get the new engines to Ganassi and others, and Toyota was very, very strong across the board at Indy that year....

I don't know how this one will work out this time around....

[climb]

Originally Posted by gttouring

penske will share the toyota info, after he solidifies a good place in the championship, afterall it is still a race to the finish and the less rivals the better... perhaps after indy?

Surely not before...

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally Posted by gttouring

penske will share the toyota info, after he solidifies a good place in the championship, afterall it is still a race to the finish and the less rivals the better... perhaps after indy?

It is obvious from last night's qualifying that Penske hasn't shared those modifications yet....

Huge difference between the Penske speeds and the other Toyotas at Motegi

[GP Racer]

I'll tell you one person that has to be extremely disappointed this year is Eddie Cheever.

I'm sure he was expecting to have a banner year this season with veteran Alex Barron, and the signing of Carpentier, and also going with Toyota power. Well, Carp and Barron have done as well as their car's will let him, and I'm sure Eddie knows that, but as far as Toyota goes, he must be reading them the riot act by now! Imagine being no better this year than he was with the Chevies, and Ed Carpenter from last year. Thats got to hurt!

I'm also surprised that a big time team like Ganassi has to wait for Penske to give him some engine "tips" before he can run up front...

[GP Racer]

Well, that strategy certainly didn't work, now did it?

Nice run from Manning today. You could tell he was pushing pretty hard today, taking some real risks, probably frustrated as hell about how bad this team is doing. He's a racer. Briscoe was nowhere to be found today...

[Snrub]

I hadn't heard that Penske builds his own engines. That's quiet interesting (thanks Tim!). I think that has to say a lot about Toyota.

I didn't see the race, but the chasis change didn't seem to help Dixon, or am I wrong?

[Kicking-back]

Well he crashed out on lap one, so we never really found out!

[mac]

Didn't really improve his pace throughout the weekend though. As has been mentioned, I don't think the biggest problem with the Ganassi package is the chassis.