BOURDAIS to race at Indy ?!

zerO · 7 Jan 2004, 18:29 (Ref:830787)

JUST IN: according to this Italian blur in addition to Carl Haas fielding a car for Junky at Indy this may - there might be a Newman/Haas entry for Sebastien Bourdais ?! :confused:

Don't beleive that Paul Newman went through a heart "transplant" or suffered a massive stroke over the Holidays, but it doesn't sound right to me... according to that write-up Bourdais' primary sponsor is pushing for that to happen... we shall see...

zerO

macdaddy · 7 Jan 2004, 18:36 (Ref:830796)

Quickly ran the article through Google's "Translator"...

Sebastien Bourdais dreams the 500 Miles of Indianapolis
Sebastien Bourdais is trying the sponsors in order to run the 500 Miles of Indianapolis with the second single-seater of the Newman-Haas team. A French, legacy to the hollywoodiano dell?attore team also for season 2004 in the Champ Car, means therefore to place side by side also in the dell?Indiana contest l?abituale companion of Bruno Junqueira. For the Newman-Haas team it would be the debut in the Indycar.

- The only thing I editted was "Bruno", which somehow translated to "Tawny square".

macdaddy · 7 Jan 2004, 18:39 (Ref:830801)

The tentative OWRS schedule has the boys racing during Indy quals.

GP Racer · 7 Jan 2004, 19:31 (Ref:830835)

Quote:

Originally posted by macdaddy
The tentative OWRS schedule has the boys racing during Indy quals.

The key word is tentative there mac. So many things are still up in the air!

The Snout · 7 Jan 2004, 20:16 (Ref:830871)

Quote:

Originally posted by macdaddy
- The only thing I editted was "Bruno", which somehow translated to "Tawny square".

Bruno's new nickname should be 'Tawny'

MLM · 7 Jan 2004, 21:30 (Ref:830928)

Quote:

Originally posted by The Snout

Bruno's new nickname should be 'Tawny'

I think not, Snout LOL

Actually,when I've run something in Portuguese through Alta Vista (mostly to check verb tenses), Bruno comes up as "the brown one", hehe (well, he does have brown hair and eyes

).
Back to the topic, we all know Bruno tested an IRL car in November (Phoenix). We all know N-H might take a stab at Indy, if they can.
Given "The Brown One's" experience at Indy(

), N-H would definitely put him in.
Also, Seb. learns tracks quickly (ie: Lausitzring last May), and, given Lily's money (and don't forget, they are based in Indy) and/or McDonald's, putting 2 cars in the field is feasible.

Now, this is all speculation on my part....but, it could be a possibility.
Plus, the OWRS schedule is still a work in progress.
Who know's what will happen...but, I think, our specualtion is just as good (and as interesting) as the "so called experts"

cos · 7 Jan 2004, 21:35 (Ref:830935)

Quote:

Originally posted by macdaddy
The tentative OWRS schedule has the boys racing during Indy quals.

But someone else can qualify the car for Seb, no?

MLM · 7 Jan 2004, 21:42 (Ref:830941)

Quote:

Originally posted by cos
But someone else can qualify the car for Seb, no?

Yes, it can happen. Someone else qualified the car for Mario (1978) because he was in Europe during quals.
Now, that car has to start in the back of the field but that may not be too much of a problem for N-H (given the quality of the car/driver, pit stop strategy, attrition, etc....)

Tim Northcutt · 7 Jan 2004, 21:52 (Ref:830949)

500 Miles (200 laps) is a long race at Indy....

At various times drivers have started in the very back and within 10 laps or so were in the Top 10 if their car was strong...

My question would concern how they will do the set-ups, get Bourdais acclimated to Indy, etc., when they will not be spending that much time there....they will be practicing and qualifying at the two OWRS venues during at least half of those weeks...and last year, the Indy shut down for a couple of days right after the 1st qualifying weekend before resuming practice in mid-week....

It's not as easy as you may think to qualify or race at Indy....small changes in air temps, humidity, amount of sunshine, etc. make that track run very differently, and it changes throughout the course of a day....

Thus it takes a few laps in varying conditions to get a feel for what the car will or won't do in a given situation...

Dov · 7 Jan 2004, 22:31 (Ref:830973)

Quote:

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt
It's not as easy as you may think to qualify or race at Indy....

Tell that to Juan Montoya!

Jordi · 7 Jan 2004, 23:06 (Ref:831006)

It just depends on the driver, though... Some drivers just blow the doors off Indy and need no second invitation, like Monty, but some others just languish in the middle.

Snrub · 7 Jan 2004, 23:46 (Ref:831046)

The main thing NH would need is someone there over the month to get the setup right. For Bourdais it shouldn't make a substantial difference whether his experience level is quiet up to par with his competitors. On the other hand IRL drivers lift at Indy (unlike CART drivers in Germany!) so it's not setup work alone.

JPM doesn't seem to need time to become accustom on any circuit.

MLM · 8 Jan 2004, 01:21 (Ref:831127)

Don't forget Bruno.....he's the one who has more experience at Indy (over Seb.).
I think both of them could pose a major threat.
True, that track can change...not to mention the weather, set-ups, etc....
However, it didn't take Helio or Gil long to figure that place out in 2001, 2002, or 2003.

Dov · 8 Jan 2004, 02:09 (Ref:831146)

For most ChampCar drivers it didn't & doesn't take very long to figure out Indy.

Mags · 13 Jan 2004, 23:48 (Ref:837298)

It certainly would explain why NH were at an Indy event in Sept last year. But Seb can't set a car up. Interesting.

Raven · 14 Jan 2004, 14:37 (Ref:837981)

Really?

He's got the look of a technical driver.

macdaddy · 14 Jan 2004, 15:14 (Ref:838010)

I think Mags was being sarcastic...
Bruno made a similar comment late in the season regarding his teammate. It was laughable, made Bruno look the phoole.

Tim Northcutt · 14 Jan 2004, 20:12 (Ref:838370)

Helio & Gil drove for Penske...a guy who knows the place like the back of his hand...as do his engineers....with Rick Mears (a 4-time winner) coaching them on the quick way around....

My point is that with the OWRS schedule as it stands now, they will get only a couple of days or a few days at Indy to work on set-ups....

If Mario is their "coach," they might have an up that would help them...

But there are so many ways of being slow there...it takes some time to figure out what the car will do in given conditions...especially if you're not racing tose chassis on a regular basis...

Team Green (the year Paul Tracy "really" won Indy) struggled the entire month and barely made the race in the final hours on "Bump Day"

They had experienced so many different forms of "Bad" over the month that they knew what "not to do" on Race Day to get in the hunt near the end of the race....

One of the reasons they didn't come back (besides getting screwed on the final result) was that the headaches weren't worth it to compete there when they didn't race those cars at any other time of the year....

MLM · 14 Jan 2004, 23:34 (Ref:838610)

Suppose N-H enters an IRL race before April (which is possible given the IRL starts in late Feb.)? They have the equipment and running a race or 2 would give them some idea on setups.

Mags · 14 Jan 2004, 23:38 (Ref:838612)

I wonder what the whole point is. I'll have to ask them when I see them at Long Beach.

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