Did Champ Car drivers forget how to drive in one week?

UPDATE If I may respond to Bernie Martin, Having driven both ovals and road courses, I can say that it does take considerable skill to drive an oval. Coming out of a turn at over 200mph (I didn’t go that fast) with a concrete wall staring you in the face just inches to your right is not something most people can identify with. However, it does take more overall driving skill to drive a road course. One could argue that the two have become quite specialized and it's rare that you see a driver that can truly do both. I am inclined to believe that.

The real deal is that on an oval, the driver still does make a difference as the driver must be able to take the car to its limits. When a car is set up and powered sufficiently, that bar is raised, requiring more of the driver. Even at 100% throttle, there are faster ways around a track that a good driver will find. The differences are very small however. So even a really good driver cannot make much of a difference with a car that is not properly set up and handling. However, with a car that is properly set up and handling, don't think that the driver doesn't make a difference at that point, especially in a wheel-to-wheel dice at over 200 mph. Also, a major part of the driver's job is communicating effectively and providing input to enable the team to set the car up properly. But if the crew does not have test data to work with, the chain is broken and the whole system breaks down and you are slow. All of the pieces need to be in place and working at their optimum.

Generally, you will see a road racer adapt to oval racing much more quickly than the other way around.

The reason you see the Champ Car teams doing well on the road courses is that the physics and dynamics of road racing are something they are familiar with. Though the cars are quite different to the seasoned racer, they still share many of the same basic types of parts that behave basically the same way from one type of formula racing car to the next. Additionally, the driver makes a much bigger difference on a road course, and can do more to make up for a less-than-ideal handling car. However, it should be noted that an ill-handling car will still be at the back, no matter who is in the seat.

There are two ways to get grip, and racing cars use varying levels of both. Downforce is aerodynamic grip from the tunnels under the car and the wings. Mechanical grip comes from the suspension geometry, springs, shocks, tires pressures, stagger and other intricacies. If you can't get the grip mechanically, you have to get it by cranking the wings up a bit. The problem is that cranking the wings up, also creates drag, which slows you down.

It's just speculation on my part, but I suspect that the Champ Car teams are running more downforce to get the car to handle comfortably, because they have not yet figured out the intricacies of getting the car to handle just right by using less downforce. On an oval, downforce is a fickle lady. Downforce keeps the car glued to the track in the turns, but kills you on the straights. So the trick is to get the car to grip as much as possible in a mechanical way, requiring less downforce to do the job. The Champ Car teams are years behind in experience with ovals and these cars. I expected to see a little more improvement this race, but it looks like they will likely be out of it for most of the season on the ovals. Indy might be an exception because all the teams have a lot of track time there during the month of May. Also the turns are not banked much, so it's more like driving a four-turn road course. I believe Nigel Mansell said something to that effect several years back. So I am predicting that these things should help. Also, over the course of a 500 mile race, the team and driver have more time to sort the car out as the race progresses. That, coupled with good pit and fuel strategy, can win you a nice cold drink of milk.

I think you would see an instant validation of this if one of the Champ Car drivers get picked up by a seasoned IRL team. Let's see what happens if and when Franck Perera gets picked up by Penske for that TBA car he has entered at Indy. That might be interesting…Lance Freespeed

04/26/08 A reader writes, Dear AutoRacing1.com, I see that the Champ Car teams and drivers are all at the back of the grid for the Kansas IRL race after dominating in St. Pete and strong runs in Long Beach. Did they forget how to drive since the last races? Of course the answer is no. Ovals have and always will be 100 percent car and zero percent driver on 100 percent throttle tracks. Until the Champ Car teams figure out the IRL car on the ovals their drivers will be nowhere. Bernie Martin