2007 Rule Changes

drewdawg727 · 11 Dec 2006, 21:58 (Ref:1788383)

AR1 has an article up detailing new rules for the 2007 season.

For those without a subscription, here's an overview of part 1 of their article...

- All races will now be timed races instead of distance races (1h40m - 1h45m)

- Standing starts will be implemented during the season at suitable tracks. It's Tony Cotman's plan to use a standing start for the first race at Vegas.

- Testing will now be mileage based instead of day based. Each team will have 600 miles of in season testing to be used when ever they want (not to exceed 6 total days). Each team with a rookie driver will have an additional 300 miles of in season testing.

- No wind tunnel testing will be permitted

- Shaker rig testing will be allowed

- New flag rules: No more white flag signifying the last lap; the white flag will be used to inform drivers of a slow moving race car on track; white flag with red cross will inform drivers of an emergency or safety vehicle on track; blue flag will be used to tell backmarkers to get out of the way.

- Officials taken out of pit stalls, instead will be behind the wall

- Entrants will only be able to switch cars (spare car) once during an event.

- Maximum fine increased from $100,000 to $250,000

- Saturday morning practice increased from 60 to 75 minutes

- No changes allowed on new car. Only OEM parts allowed.

- Minimum weight stays at 1565 lbs +/- driver weight variance.

- Each team will recieve an additonal set of regular tires for an event from 6 sets to 7.

- Each car will have an onboard starter. Teams can only use the starter supplied by Panoz.

- Cars must have more readable car numbers. They will be on the rear wing end-plates and must be a minimum of 8 inches high.

luke · 11 Dec 2006, 22:05 (Ref:1788390)

What with standing starts, spare cars, the white flag becoming now in use for a slow car they may as well base Champ Car in Europe.

I don't agree with the 1:45hr race limit. Only in wet races should that apply IMO.
I guess its down to the TV deal and the best they could do.

mac · 12 Dec 2006, 00:18 (Ref:1788500)

- All races will now be timed races instead of distance races (1h40m - 1h45m)
Bad

- Standing starts will be implemented during the season at suitable tracks. It's Tony Cotman's plan to use a standing start for the first race at Vegas.
Bad

- Testing will now be mileage based instead of day based. Each team will have 600 miles of in season testing to be used when ever they want (not to exceed 6 total days). Each team with a rookie driver will have an additional 300 miles of in season testing.
Good

- No wind tunnel testing will be permitted
Good

- Shaker rig testing will be allowed
Good

- New flag rules: No more white flag signifying the last lap; the white flag will be used to inform drivers of a slow moving race car on track; white flag with red cross will inform drivers of an emergency or safety vehicle on track; blue flag will be used to tell backmarkers to get out of the way.
Who cares

- Officials taken out of pit stalls, instead will be behind the wall
Good

- Entrants will only be able to switch cars (spare car) once during an event.
Good

- Maximum fine increased from $100,000 to $250,000
Can't make my mind up

- Saturday morning practice increased from 60 to 75 minutes
Good

- No changes allowed on new car. Only OEM parts allowed.
Good

- Minimum weight stays at 1565 lbs +/- driver weight variance.
Who cares

- Each team will recieve an additonal set of regular tires for an event from 6 sets to 7.
Good

- Each car will have an onboard starter. Teams can only use the starter supplied by Panoz.
Good

- Cars must have more readable car numbers. They will be on the rear wing end-plates and must be a minimum of 8 inches high.
Good

racinthestreets · 12 Dec 2006, 19:04 (Ref:1789154)

What will signal the last lap? Since it is timed, not everyone may have the same time - they need some flag to signal the last lap!!!

thebear · 13 Dec 2006, 00:29 (Ref:1789408)

Quote:

Originally Posted by racinthestreets

What will signal the last lap? Since it is timed, not everyone may have the same time - they need some flag to signal the last lap!!!

The "Signal" has yet to be described. . .

See THIS for additional information. . .

**Adam43** · 12 Dec 2006, 19:37 (Ref:1789189)

Why do they need to know? Just keep racing until the chequered. It stops them getting it wrong too.

Knowlesy · 12 Dec 2006, 19:44 (Ref:1789197)

Timed races is perhaps a bad idea I feel. We could feasibly have a yellow flag fest with two full racing laps!

Onboard starters though! F1, please adopt this!

Tenoch · 12 Dec 2006, 19:50 (Ref:1789206)

Whats a Shaker Rig?

Onboard starters thats really good, no more whole field yellows to get a stalled car going again, also means people who stall wont loose a whole lap or more waiting for the restart.

Leighton Irwin · 12 Dec 2006, 20:48 (Ref:1789258)

I am sure most teams will start a stop watch as the green drops or more likely enter it into a computer.
On board starters probably will not work most of the time. Hot racing engines are not easy to start and the on board batteries are small. Been there, done that! Good idea though and hopefully they will work.
The time rule does confirm that TV rules!

thebear · 13 Dec 2006, 00:23 (Ref:1789406)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tenoch

Whats a Shaker Rig?

A machine that mounts the entire car in the air, fastened by it's wheel spindles or some other suitable moving suspension component. The `rig' is hydraulically operated and programed to shake the instrumented car in various excursions and frequencies to stress the chassis and suspension components.

. .

drewdawg727 · 13 Dec 2006, 02:39 (Ref:1789486)

I think instead of bashing all of these rules, and saying how much we hate them, lets see how successful they are in the racing. We never know what will or will not work in the series until we actually see it.

D.R.T. · 13 Dec 2006, 12:11 (Ref:1789792)

I like seeing the white flag for the final lap. All motor racing should have it.

Mystery · 13 Dec 2006, 12:47 (Ref:1789813)

Quote:

Originally Posted by drewdawg727

- Entrants will only be able to switch cars (spare car) once during an event

I was reading Autosport's report of the changes earlier and they have pointed out that if a car switch takes place after qualifying then the times will be deleted.

Isn't it therefore a bit rich saying that some of the changes have been designed in order to improve the level of on-track action in qualifying and practice when this rule change alone will surely put off some drivers from going out in the Sunday morning warm-up at all.

Otherwise, most of the changes look interesting and cause no concern to me.

Snrub · 13 Dec 2006, 18:09 (Ref:1789998)

The lack of shaker rigs and wind tunnel testing should really level the playing field between the bottom and top teams. With a new car, no one will have any data as to how it performs.

Teams use shock dynos to determine how their their dampers react to different adjustments to help determine what setups will work best. A shaker rig tests the reaction of the entire car's suspension to inputs. Essentially it simulates bumps in the road and helps the engineer(s) to determine how to make the car handle better. The poorest teams can't afford to do this at all, while the weathier teams can afford to do it fairly often. I'm not sure if any of the teams have these in their shops anymore.

F1 teams use "rolling roads" in their wind tunnels which allows them to dynamically simulate running any track using recorded data. Between this and the track testing they do they are able to develop very good setups before the arrive at a track for a race. Historically CC teams have worked more heavily on setup because of their limited simulation/testing abilities and more equal equipment.

I'm not sure how I feel about standing starts for CC. They certainly work in F1.

norman-normal · 13 Dec 2006, 19:27 (Ref:1790039)

Judging from these comments, it would seem that not too many read the rule change on www.champcarworldseries.com: It doesn't say that there will be no "white flag" rather, "no white flag from the starter box, signifying one more lap" white flags will be shown all around the track when the leader starts the final lap.

Also, standing starts will display a driver talent that few, if any of you have ever seen: Champ cars have no 'traction control' and will test the ability of the driver to get away quick and smooth and that is not easy in a 1500 lbs car with 800 turbo HP. There will be varying degrees of success for sure.

**Adam43** · 13 Dec 2006, 19:47 (Ref:1790053)

Quote:

Originally Posted by norman-normal

Judging from these comments, it would seem that not too many read the rule change on www.champcarworldseries.com: It doesn't say that there will be no "white flag" rather, "no white flag from the starter box, signifying one more lap" white flags will be shown all around the track when the leader starts the final lap.

Has reading that atually helped in this case though

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/N...e.asp?ID=11159

Quote:

Originally Posted by champcar

The white flag will not be shown from the starter's stand and will be used more in line with international FIA guidelines around the course.

Does that say what you say it does? How does "white flags will be shown all around the track when the leader starts the final lap" agree with the AR1 site saying:

Quote:

Originally Posted by drewdawg727

- New flag rules: No more white flag signifying the last lap; the white flag will be used to inform drivers of a slow moving race car on track; white flag with red cross will inform drivers of an emergency or safety vehicle on track; blue flag will be used to tell backmarkers to get out of the way.

SALEEN S7R · 14 Dec 2006, 04:05 (Ref:1790253)

All in all most of the changes I think sound good. Changing the flags to the FIA set of rules is a good thing as the series is becoming more International it will help the marshalls when the series visits other countries to know 100% what is going on when you consider that a lot of the marshalls in Shanghai for example will be used to the FIA flag system.

The standing start format I think is a good thing too, it adds a extra element to the starts and means that things can get a bit more mixed up. Should make things more interesting for the driver too.

As for the time limit on the races, I dont know if this is a good or a bad thing. The only real reason I can see for implimenting a time limit is to keep the TV stations happy. Still providing there isnt a lot of yellow flags during most of the races it shoudnt really be a big factor. Ideally though id rather not have the time limit too.

theracegypsy · 19 Feb 2007, 22:30 (Ref:1845877)

Quote:

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

All in all most of the changes I think sound good. Changing the flags to the FIA set of rules is a good thing as the series is becoming more International it will help the marshalls when the series visits other countries to know 100% what is going on when you consider that a lot of the marshalls in Shanghai for example will be used to the FIA flag system.

.

It makes sense now, even if the races do not go outside the US - which of course they do.

The marshal force for Champ Car is already an international team.

Apart from the fact the Race Director is a Kiwi, 40 of the 124 Flag and Comms guys at Vegas are from outside the USA, and are as used to FIA rules as Champ Car or ALMS, both of whom are trying to standardise on near FIA procedures.

Peter Ford · 14 Dec 2006, 04:27 (Ref:1790265)

I think having standing starts instead of rollonh ones is a good thing as we normally have 2 laps before all the cars in ready to start the race.some of the new rules i like and some i dont like.

Matt · 14 Dec 2006, 15:12 (Ref:1790671)

White Flag rule=NO.

norman-normal · 14 Dec 2006, 16:14 (Ref:1790695)

Adding a time limit allows TV viewers to see the end of the race; is that bad?

dedalus5150 · 14 Dec 2006, 16:35 (Ref:1790704)

The white flag rule is a mixed bag. Displaying the white flag from the starters stand is used frequently in America, but not much elsewhere in the world. It does work well in getting drivers' attention. I personally like the rule.

However, consistency in flag use makes officiating easier and more organized. As a flag marshal I can appreciate the strength of more consistent adherence to FIA flagging regs (in one weekend at Lime Rock we had to use FIA flagging for a couple race groups, SCCA Club flagging for one race group, and SCCA Pro flagging for another! Yikes!) Flag marshals will do their jobs much more consistently if they adhere to one set of rules - one they are familiar with. It may not seem like much, but it has a big impact on how well we do our jobs which in turn can have a big impact on how well the race is run.

Snrub · 14 Dec 2006, 17:48 (Ref:1790739)

A good point is made about driver skill and the standing starts. PT has to be thrilled about this (given his abilities in these kinds of situations), while rookies should be worried.

Tag has to be thrilled by the fact that teams will struggle with setting up the new car. Recall that he did all of his own setups for at least most of 2005. At some points he did a heck of a job. I think it was Cleveland when he was as fast or faster than Bourdais (Craig Hampson must have been worried for his job). I think certain drivers will struggle (eg. rookies), while others will gain an advantage.

drewdawg727 · 16 Dec 2006, 20:30 (Ref:1792302)

We'll have to see if Tag will even be around next year..

Hazard · 16 Dec 2006, 21:51 (Ref:1792351)

Aren't the races already timed? It's a distance limit or a time limit, so surely that's 'longer races' next year? Will make a weird change to strategy.

Dropping the white flag makes sense in timed races, as you'd always be guessing what the last lap would be otherwise. What if average laps were 1m30, and the leader comes round with about that amount of time left?

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