Overheard in Toronto

UPDATE #2 With regard to the rumor note below on Paul Tracy, there’s a possibility of doing more races this year with Dreyer & Reinbold. Talks between Tracy’s sponsors , mainly Motegi Wheels and Monster Energy Drink are ongoing. Representatives from Motegi Racing were in Toronto over the race weekend and are said to be interested in partnering up with the 2003 Champ Car World Series champion, we hear for another race or two this year, but more importantly full-time next year. They sat in a suite right behind Tracy's pits in Toronto.

07/17/10 We spoke to a Honda spokesperson who took issue with what we had to say below regarding the IRL giving in to Honda and allowing a 6-cyclinder engine. Honda's position is that you cannot hit the cost, HP and durability requirements that the IRL was looking for with a 4-cyclinder engine. And as far as the Global Racing Engine, "we have not seen any manufacturer step up and say they will build one."

Regardless, the consensus in the paddock by the majority of the team owners is that IndyCar will remain a Dallara-Honda spec series (which is what Brian Barnhart wanted all along anyway) because the value is not there for another engine manufacturer to develop an all-new engine for IndyCar to compete head-to-head with Honda. One team owner told AR1.com "I have spoken to all the manufacturers and not a single one is interested."

And another car manufacturer is not going to put their name on the chassis by developing the aero package as long as there is a Honda engine in the car. A Ford-Honda winning the race would simply not cut it for Ford (or with any other car manufacturer for that matter).

07/16/10

Free Friday crowd

On a warm and sunny day in Toronto the fans took advantage of the free admission and turned out in big numbers at least twice as many as Friday last year. Word in the paddock is that everyone was extremely impressed with Tony Purnell's work on the ICONIC committee and that he was one of the smartest guy they've seen in racing Word is that Randy Bernard had already talked to him about coming aboard and Purnell really wants to do it once he wraps up a few loose ends in Europe. Purnell is a former FIA technical consultant the former boss of Jaguar's F1 team……….Roger Penske has been out of the country and hence has not yet made a comment on the new Indy Car…….Other team owners said it was a bit too early to comment because not enough details are known yet. For example, will the car parts be locked down so the rich teams cannot modify them to gain an advantage? Can you mix and match parts between two different aero kits? Who gets the first 28 discounted cars – the first 28 takers, or will the existing full-time teams get first dibs? Is there enough profit in a $70K aero kit for companies like Lola and Swift to compete? Will, say Ford, develop an aero kit for a car that will have their name on it but a Honda engine? Besides Honda, will any other engine manufacturers come into the series? The general consensus on that is no because the IRL did not adopt the Global Racing engine (GRE). By allowing Honda to get their way on 6 cylinders instead of 4, they drove away all the manufacturers (around 10) who will be making a GRE engine in F1 and other series. A turbo 6 is going to beat a Turbo 4 every day, so why bother? The drivers felt the new car was the best compromise the IRL could have come up with given the economy and lack of money in the series. They are all OK with Dallara as the chassis builder to reduce cost yet have diversity with various aero kits…….The new car has a push-rod front suspension which is better for road courses and easier to work on when suspension changes are required……….We ran into Star Mazda ace Conor Daly (USA) who appears headed the Star Mazda title this year. He tells us he would like to follow in his father's footstep and do GP3 next year, then GP2a and eventually F1. He would consider Indy Lights if there is a requirement that is where the money he gets from winning the Star Mazda title must go……We hear Paul Tracy is trying to put together a full-time IndyCar ride in 2011. "We are obviously trying to find sponsors and put a deal together for next year," Tracy admitted. “We don’t have anything signed yet but we have commitments for what we’ve done this year, whether it be the Indy 500 and the Canadian races. That’s far short of a full season, and if that can happen it would be great and, if it doesn’t, we will just pick and choose what we can do."….Sebastien Bourdais has quit the Superleague team he was racing for. Will he make a move back to IndyCar? "There was just no other way out of this situation," Bourdais told AUTOSPORT. "LRS was never a race team before, we started the program really late and the car wasn't race-ready when they got it. Despite that, we had a really good weekend at Silverstone, which was a big surprise to me, but since then we've gone from one problem to another. I've stopped for the moment and I'm not pointing fingers at anyone or anything, but I don't see it getting any better. The team doesn't have the time, the equipment or money to compete against structured, experienced teams. We wanted to do well, but we were struggling along and breaking down every weekend. It's frustrating."………..CEO Randy Bernard said he has had no indication Danica Patrick is ready to follow other IndyCar drivers such as Tony Stewart, Sam Hornish Jr and Juan Pablo Montoya and make the jump to racing stock cars full-time. He acknowledged that if Patrick were to defect it would be blow to a series. "Anyone would tell you that if she’s going to be a huge asset she is going to have to win," Bernard told Reuters. "She knows that. There would be a little deflation at first (if Patrick were to leave) but the series needs winners and champions and people who are going to grow our sport. The series would go on, we have too much momentum right now. But for sure she is a tremendous asset." Mark C. reporting from Toronto