Alonso's Indy Performance

Alonso 4th quickest for the week at 231.8+ mph. Tomorrow should be interesting ...

 

'Just got in...with or without tow?

 

Obviously, Fred is fitting in fine with the Hoosier crowd.

 

Lookin' real good on day 4. Making moves in traffic and coming up to the wall real nicely. Hanging back with the front pack. This could actually work out nicely.

-F

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKDX6dgrSAA[/ame]

 

Looking at the guys in front at the moment,Alonso must be thinking he can eat Sato and Bourdais for breakfast,Montoya might be a bit tougher, needs to chew on him a little first

 

Looks as though things are going to plan for Alonso so far. Great!

He's got a wealth of experience behind him with Gil de Ferran and Mario Andretti in his
corner giving advice. One thing they've certainly been telling him is to respect the place
because as easy as it looks, Indy can come up and bite you fast the instant you don't.

The thing with Indy Cars is how much set-up affects speed and finding the difference between
finding the sweet spot and being completely off is razor thin. Perhaps more than any other
circuit, conditions affect how the cars run and how the teams are able to react, a couple of
degrees temperature change may seriously compromise how a car is running.

Alonso seems to be handling it all in stride though. With all the media and fan attention
(that is) focused on him, he appears to be enjoying it. Hope it continues.

BHW

 

Daaaaay-amn!!!

I'm amazed. Your assessment is spot on so we agree on sumpin'....

 

(I gotta....it's genetic.)

What makes you think those're his thoughts? I believe he's more intelligent and less narcissistic than that myself.....

He's no clue whether or not his setup will be correct 'til the race begins nor those of the others.

 

Here we go......

 

Very fast so far.

 

Third fastest. Awesome.

 

Not bad, Fred.

 

Third is pretty darn awesome.

 

They pretty well nailed the setup for him. 'Lucky and good for him.

 

I changed the channel on the Lobby big screen, at the Leasing Office.....


And I am camping in the Business Center so I can see you guys!
Hi everybody!

Foyt held a really nice ceremony for Jack Starne.
I shared it on FB.
He has been with AJ 50 years!
Shop Manager

 

Very hard hit for Bourdais...

Indy is statistically much more dangerous than F1...

 

Forza Rossi!

 

You have to think that pre soft wall that would probably would have been fatal.
I can't imagine what the telemetry looks like.

 

Could have easily been 80+ Gs!!

 

His progress is incredible. I just hope Alonso doesn't get too confident or he'll end up in the wall.

 

Forza Fernando, he looks right at home. Hope for a speedy recovery for Bourdais.

 

Incredible? Bah, humbug. 'Another race track, 'just happen to be four high speed lefts. Being given the means to do it (his Dallara/Honda), set up near, if not, perfectly is his good fortune.

Methinks he's too intelligent for overconfidence. He's been displaying that from the get-go...

 

As an F1 fan, I'm finding alonsos Indy 500 adventure fascinating. The cars may be more basic technically, but the tiny margins required to win mean everything at Indy is pushed right to the limit. And the speeds are incredible.

This will be a fascinating race to watch.

Best wishes to Bourdais for a full recovery. Miraculous that he survived that. When I went in, I feared the worst. So relieved for him and his family that the wall tech pioneered at Indy and now spreading around the globe did its job beautifully.

 

It shows how much safer tracks and cars have become. Bourdais' accident reminded me a lot of Gordon Smiley's back in 1982. The circumstances were the same: the back end stepped out, the driver over-corrected, and the car suddenly gripped and went almost straight into the wall.

The difference was that Smiley's car completely disintegrated and the driver was killed instantly, whereas Bourdais' car remained remarkably intact - particularly the central tub - and the driver not only survived, but never lost consciousness.

Also note that Bourdais was certainly going much faster than Smiley was. I don't know how much of the improvement was in the construction of the car and how much was in the presence of the SAFER barrier, but in any case, we (and Sebastien) should be very grateful.

 

not to mention the neck-shoulder harness that the helmet clips onto instead of not having it where his head, neck vertabrae would be flailing and torque-ing in all directions...hence that is why he never lost consciousness.....plus the raised sides in cockpit head area.