Uh-Oh!

GP Racer · 27 Jan 2005, 22:37 (Ref:1211585)

Speed is reporting some disturbing news from the Homestead tests.

On oval day, it seems that the first six best times were all Honda powered cars, and who do you think was the seventh? If you said Thomas Enge in a Chevy, you are correct! But you know you didn't! The article states that both Penske drivers, Castroneves, and Hornish, are alittle upset at the results, and are hoping they won't see a repeat of last year. They are not confident right now.

So what do you think? I'd be very surprised if Toyota lets Honda flog them again, as I stupidly stated would never happen in another thread!

Kicking-back · 27 Jan 2005, 23:48 (Ref:1211662)

Testing's testing - we'll see once a few races have been run.

marcus · 28 Jan 2005, 01:41 (Ref:1211701)

well lets hope Toyota and Chevy have caught up but as KB rightly states (Gee that annoys when you do that KB !!!!!!!!!) its only testing.

we will have to wait and see what happens at round 1 to get a proper view I guess.

mac · 28 Jan 2005, 03:06 (Ref:1211719)

It is definitely a worry.

Testing is testing K-B, but for all the Toyotas to be way down the grid is a big concern!

Kicking-back · 28 Jan 2005, 10:10 (Ref:1211856)

But we're talking about tiny margins here.

If you only have three engine makes, and one of them is a tad slower at a particular track, then inevitably a lot of cars will be ahead.

It may be that an engine which is a smidgin quicker at Homestead is not quicker around Indy or whatever.

macdaddy · 28 Jan 2005, 10:35 (Ref:1211882)

The article to which I believe GP Racer is referring to, explains that the Penske team is concerned.

Quote:

Castro Neves:
There is a lot of work to be done on ovals before the season starts.

Quote:

Hornish:
We definitely need to improve to get the car ready for 2005.

In a series such as the IRL, "tiny margins" make up the difference between "Race Champion" and "#1 Loser". The Penske drivers seem to like Toyota's engines on the road courses, but that makes up such a small percentage of the overall schedule that I can see their cause for concern.

SpeedTV

BootsOntheSide · 28 Jan 2005, 10:47 (Ref:1211897)

It's a little too soon to really panic, but I accept that Honda still seem to have an advantage. As you say, even if Sam or Helio win all 3 road/street races as well as being the consistently best non-Honda on ovals, tehy would still have little hope of the title if the margin is the same as last year.

Kicking-back · 28 Jan 2005, 11:03 (Ref:1211909)

Absolutely - but at least the engine doesn't seem to be miles away from where it needs to be.

The drivers' comments could be seen as just giving the engineers a bit of a final push.

racer69 · 28 Jan 2005, 16:29 (Ref:1212102)

The only problem with thinking 'it's only testing' and 'it'll get better' is that we heard all this after Indy last year, that everyone will catch up to Honda and so on...

The bottom line is that it didn't happen. This is a new season, but we'll see if anything's changed

Dennis H. · 29 Jan 2005, 03:40 (Ref:1212430)

Emge was the fastest chevy on the road course test but on the oval Sheckter apparently raised some eyebrows with his time. Emge was pretty far off the pace on the oval, he said the wall still kind of spooks him.

indycool · 30 Jan 2005, 16:02 (Ref:1213195)

Think there may be some changes in how the grid looks on a road or street course vs. a short oval vs. a superspeedway as far as drivers are concerned, too. Some will be "that tenth better" on some kinds of tracks than others. As K-B said, time will tell.

mac · 30 Jan 2005, 21:32 (Ref:1213368)

Engine's make up such an importantly large percentage of just how quick you are going to be on an oval.

Far more than on a road course.

And as this series is predominantly ovals - for one engine to be consistently well down the list in an oval test is concerning.

It goes without saying, but Toyota have a long way to go to prevent another 2004.

Russfeld · 30 Jan 2005, 22:32 (Ref:1213395)

Im wondering if its not somethign Honda teams have found. At these speeds you need a hell of a HP advantage to get a little laptime. granted in ovals you only need a little lap time, but I was skeptical early on last year when a Rahal car was on pole and/or the front row for pretty much the first half of the season. It seemed specifically a Rahal-Honda thing so I wondered if that team didnt find the magic notesheet.

GP Racer · 31 Jan 2005, 02:02 (Ref:1213485)

I'm not sure if its Honda finding alittle extra, or that Toyota is to busy with its NASCAR truck program. Toyota said they found it difficult last year to give the IRL cars the time necessary because of it.

And forget it if they go Cup racing...