testing, Barber Motorsports Park, paddle shifters, aero package, Iowa Speedway, Infineon Raceway
News
PHOTO GALLERY
BARBER TEST
CLICK HERE
VIDEO EXTRA
TESTING AT
BARBER
8 IndyCarSeries 2007 winterspecial
TESTING, TESTING, 1, 2, 3
IndyCar Series teams try Barber, new aero package
for Iowa and a bunch of stuff at Homestead
After a limited test at Iowa Speedway to
come up with a new wing package for the
IndyCar Series cars for the faster-thanexpected
oval, the series conducted an open
test at Barber Motorsports Park near
Birmingham, Ala., on Oct. 12.
That test was also the first real trial, on Scott
Dixon’s No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, of
the new paddle shifters that the drivers will use
in 2008. Seven drivers tested the circuit –
Dixon and Dan Wheldon forTCGR, Danica
Patrick, Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti for
AGR, Helio Castroneves forTeam Penske and
Vitor Meira for Panther. While Kanaan turned
the fastest lap at 118.722mph, the real
revelation was the track, and the crowd.
“It’s the best test facility we’ve been so far,
definitely,” said Meira. “There are several types
of corners – long corners, short corners, a lot of
elevation change, hard braking - it’s a perfect
test facility. Not only that, it’s beautiful, and
the track is very cool to run on. I think it’s an
A-plus for sure.”
Some 2000 fans showed up to watch the
proceedings on the Friday, a surprising
www.indycar.com
development to many on hand.
“What I really take from this is here we
are, 30 miles from Talladega, and look how
many people got to know the IndyCar
Series,” said Kanaan. “I bet all these guys will
watch us when they take the weekend off
from NASCAR. It took me 15 minutes to get
to the pit lane signing autographs. They saw
how much access they can get to us, they
saw how fast the cars are.”
As for Barber’s future with the series, the
organization has expressed interest in
holding an IndyCar Series race, but it’s
strictly talk at this point. Several drivers,
while praising the track for its testing
characteristics, indicated it’s not quite ready
for a whole field of fast open-wheelers all
heading into Turn 1 at once. Meira expressed
concerns over the width of pit lane, while
Castroneves wished for a longer straight.
In early December, some teams tested at
Homestead, while Scott Dixon and Ryan
Hunter-Reay tried out a new configuration
at Infineon Raceway. The next round of open
testing will be at Homestead in February.
Paul Webb/LAT
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.