From F1-live:

After one installation lap today on the 11-turn, 2.238 mile Mazda Raceway
Laguna Seca, Toyota F1 driver Ricardo Zonta easily set a new track record on
his second flying lap with at 1:07:587 at 119.206 mph. This time and speed
edges the previous record of 1:07.722 set by Helio Castroneves at the CART
Honda Grand Prix of Monterey in 2000.

Mark wrote:
2006 F1 car is significantly faster than a 2000 CART car; it should be.

Rolf

"Strictly Commercial" <maurerrnot (AT) telus (DOT) net> wrote

Good point. I was just assuming that they had run there in subsequent years,
but changes to the rules meant that the 2000 lap record was still standing.
Anyone know what the recent history of laguna seca is (as we're too lazy ass
to look it up on the internet for ourselves...).

Mark <nospam (AT) nospam (DOT) com> wrote:
So? Champcar's technical spec has essentially been frozen since 2000, in
fact they've deliberately detuned the engines a couple of times...

I would've been profoundly shocked if a new car on which the Gross National
Product of Afghanistan is spent every year can't do better than a six
year old customer car!

pete
--
pete (AT) fenelon (DOT) com "I once coaxed a dog into a library" - Tommy Saxondale

Not a cent...

It just has to reverse some of
it's [latest] restrictions!

s/s

"Pete Fenelon" <pete (AT) fenelon (DOT) com> wrote

You miss the point. A lot of people go and watch CART races as they are led
to believe that the cars are fast. The F1 demonstration indicates that they
aren't that fast, and if people really want to see a spectacle they need to
go to an F1 race.

Mark <nospam (AT) nospam (DOT) com> writes
They are fast, compared to what most people drive daily.

It's not all about what happens ion track, plus you seem to forget that
only one F1 race is held in America per year.

--
Emma - The Chocolate Monster
http://www.chocmonster.rules.it - new look!
"Someone told me that if you don't grow up by the age of 50
you never have to - I'm right on target!" - Stefan Johansson

"Marco Materazzi" <materazzi (AT) inter (DOT) it> wrote

I was commenting on how fast the cars are. Obviously you would expect the F1
cars to be faster given their budgets, but such a demonstration indicates
that there is no way that CART can claim to be the pinnacle of motorsport
(even though they would like to).

Your comments about F1 shaving two seconds off are just bizarre. You say
that CART can reduce lap times by two seconds by changing the pop-up valves.
However, this is changing the regulations of the cars. F1 cars could easily
be many seconds faster if the regulations were changed - eg, slick tyres,
more downforce, bigger engines, TURBOS. The FIA have been continually
changing the rules to try and slow the cars down.

On the other hand, F1 would have to spend massive amounts of money to shave
two seconds off lap times within the existing regulations, but this is
completely true of CART as well.

All of this doesn't change the fact that if an american asked you what they
should go and watch to see the fastest cars possible, then the demonstration
indicates that it is F1 cars hands down. In fact, I believe it indicates
that the performance differential between the two formulas is greater now
than in the past. F1 always had more money, but performance was limited by
more stringent regulations. But it looks like current F1 development has
meant that they have been able to take a step up in relative performance.

Mark <nospam (AT) nospam (DOT) com> wrote:
Depends what you're going for. If you want to see a *race*, go and watch
Champcar. If you want to see technology and egos, and pay homage to the
self-appointed, self-important "pinnacle" of the sport, go and see F1.

Give me Champcar any time. It still contains traces of humanity.

pete
--
pete (AT) fenelon (DOT) com "I once coaxed a dog into a library" - Tommy Saxondale

Mark <nospam (AT) nospam (DOT) com> wrote:
I could also point out that "CART" ceased to exist several years ago...

pete
--
pete (AT) fenelon (DOT) com "I once coaxed a dog into a library" - Tommy Saxondale