The Man from Sao Paulo - Senna to Williams in 1992

Track Revisions - Hockenheim

While I was a bit thrown off by how this would look from an airplane, I decided on something like this for two reasons:

-OTL will be similar to TTL, in that outside of Spa, there's going to be a push to shrink the tracks enough to get more laps for the paying attendees.

-The new OTL Hockenheim layout must have been the result of massive apathy. The Hockenheimring was designed for speed. Pure and simple speed, and even with the 20th century added chicanes and stadium section, it was still a speed track. This version uses this, and where the Clark chicane is, a copy of the original Ostkurve is mated to the original circuit, with a short straight connecting to one of the access roads. This curves off to follow the road which links the chicanes, into a more flowing back-and-forth section before rejoining the first access road mentioned. A hard left later, and it rejoins the short track. I'm assuming it's about 5.5 to 6km.

Yes, the Neue-Ostkurve at face value will sound like a slap in the face to Depailler's memory, but the new version would incorporate better runoff and barrier structures.

Hockenheim - Revised Layout.jpg
 
Track Revisions - Upper Marlboro

For those who didn't look it up, the track I mentioned earlier that Penske bought is in the DC suburb of Upper Marlboro, Maryland. This now-defunct track was the site of Penske's first professional win, and OTL, was a 1.7 mile road course. It fell into disrepair, and ITTL, Penske took it on as part of his merger with Bruton Smith's SMI.

By 1993 (also the year of this image,) Upper Marlboro will need a massive amount of work, even if it had been an IndyCar-tier track to begin with, (it wasn't.) Most of the original track was incorporated, with these changes:

-Creek Bend (Turn at about 10:30) was pulled in to allow for grandstands
-Straightaway after Creek was lengthened, and the TTL hairpin turns into the old OTL hairpin
-New track ITTL skips back and forth between segments of the OTL track, before diving into the infield of the old oval.
-Once splitting the oval, it's all-new, to provide two new overtaking areas and increasing the overall distance somewhere towards 2-2.25mi.

Notes:
-There is a river along the left edge, and what looks to be a swamp between 11 and 1 o'clock. Barriers would be set up accordingly, instead of grandstands
-Local highway is on the lower right corner

-Grandstand locations:
--Creek Bend (10:30 o'clock)
--Hairpin (actually would be a longer complex of stands to link up with the extended main-straight section
--Start/Finish

The OTL oval would be expanded from 1/3mi to 1/2mi, but as it wouldn't be used ITTL, I didn't bother including it.

Upper Marlboro - Revised Layout.jpg
 
On Upper Marlboro

When I get around to it, I'll be revising to take the kink out of the entry to The Boot (bottom left,) and convert Creek into a slightly sharper single-apex corner.
 
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Speedway, Indiana – 07 May 1993

Over the past few months, the negotiations were brought to a close with the final meeting at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mari Hulman-George had buried the family differences with Bill Stokkan for the day and made sure that he was sitting alongside her, knowing not to botch things so close to a resolution. Ueberroth had flanked Mari from the other side, and the three of them had compared the notes gathered over the winter and early spring in the hour before the team owners and selected drivers arrived. What they saw was the teams expecting a done deal, and had already moved in on facility ownership. The Penske juggernaut struck first, pre-empting the Foyt-George alliance by merging with Bruton Smith to become SMI, and purchasing Texas World Speedway and the obscure relic of Upper Marlboro Raceway just outside of Washington, DC. Penske’s move triggered Mario Andretti’s group effort, pulling in Paul Newman and Carl Haas into letting Andretti buy a stake in the team, and then coming hat in hand with Dale Coyne, Bobby Rahal, Pat Patrick, and Derrick Walker to Doc Mattoli. They also pulled in the board of Road America Inc. and the Trueman family to sweep up stakes in Pocono, Road America, and Mid-Ohio. Their tack was different, they had been open to other teams joining them.

Ueberroth had pulled from his notes one point of contention between all the factions, everyone had at least some desire to try to purchase the Corning shares of Watkins Glen, as all of them were wary of ISC’s desire to buy the track outright, potentially keeping IndyCar from racing there in the near term. Andretti’s faction had made the most headway, however - at the moment they were stretched thin on assets given their latest leap. To that, both Stokkan and Hulman-George decided to float the idea at the meeting for an organizational, factionless purchase. The three had been wary of Penske’s SMI taking too much territory, and a SMI fait accompli here would leave that organization with eight venues that could easily be raced by the end of the decade, if not sooner. Similar interest had been mentioned by a few owners towards Phoenix, which was in the same situation. The consensus was a possible turf war with NASCAR was on the horizon. Stock Cars were gaining in popularity and becoming less regional, so it would behoove the IndyCar teams to move fast. It would be tricky to name a price with the teams, the three discussed it briefly, and Mari suddenly looked like she swallowed a lemon.

“I’m about to announce publically that IMS will host a NASCAR race next year, with an option to race every-third year in the future. It’s a done deal, if we can draft a quick non-disclosure agreement here, I’ll donate 90% of the profits towards repayment. I know the schedule’s going to start to bounce around, so in return, I want a guarantee that Indianapolis will be the only venue in May through 1996. Give us three more years of a May monopoly, and cement the Speedway as the only venue raced in the last three months of May,” Mari said, to the surprised expressions of the other two. Stokkan and Ueberroth looked at each other in wonder knowing that Mari was inviting the young lion into the pasture.

“You’re not looking at making this a yearly event?” Stokkan asked.

“No. It would be good money, but it would ruin our brand,” Mari replied, “If it remains a novelty, we can keep it at arm’s reach and pocket the cash. I know what the France family has in mind. They’re dreaming of pushing us out of the market and I want to keep them from that dream.”

“Well then, what are you planning? How long do you think we have until they realize what we’re doing?” Ueberroth followed.

“We’ll get 1997. They won’t be back in 2000,” Mari said with a wry grin. “That’s fine by me. Tony didn’t see what they were up to, he was thinking about the money pouring into our pockets without thinking about the slow implosion of IndyCar. His logic was overtaken by his hope that bringing back the USAC days would win. While it pains me to admit it, I’ve seen how the CART era helped, we now have the most balanced schedule of any series. We need to protect our sport and try not to let recent errors derail us. Let’s do a little rope-a-dope.”

“Agreed,” Ueberroth replied, “Bill?”

“Can we keep the secret long enough for it to work? Penske will be the problem, now that he has fingers deeper into both pies. I know my time is either quick to end or about to be extended and neutered, so whatever happens happens as far as I’m concerned,” Bill paused, “What’s to come when the teams see the announcement and think we’re selling out? We have to cut them in on the reasoning, which will get loose.”

“We have no other choice,” Ueberroth was quick to reply.

“Okay, well, let’s all take a few minutes, we’re actually early for the group. Let’s get this done,” Mari rose and left the room, while the other two nodded at each other and stood.

After everyone filed in, it quickly became apparent that this meeting was more of a formality than it easily could have been. Stokkan was incredulous to the fact that the teams could actually herd themselves, when Mari Hulman-George decided to use her nuclear ultimatum. Compared to her son’s plan of building a league on the sly, committing to it, and throwing the now-stillborn Indy Racing League in the face of the CART teams – the drunk of the previous winter did American open-wheel racing a gigantic favor. As expected, there was more than a little discomfort at the idea that for all the wrangling, NASCAR was invading the crown jewel, reinforcing their expansion into the Midwest. Here though, Roger Penske stood in front of the group and made his counteroffer. As a Winston Cup team and track owner, he’d heard the rumors that Indy was on the table, and had talked Bruton Smith into matching the move. What Roger had in mind was to bring IndyCar to Charlotte on the years that NASCAR raced at Indianapolis, with the hope that if the France family balked, the Indy deal would be off.

Murmoring followed Penske’s suggestion, and here, Ueberroth spoke over the din, “It would be a shot across the bow to do this so quickly, perhaps we should wait before acquiring other tracks. ISC could screw us to the wall at Watkins Glen and Phoenix, and what would we have to show for it? SMI has Charlotte, Atlanta, and Texas World,” (to which Foyt growled,) “but our expansion into the south would be blocked thereafter. We could have the Corning share of the Glen by midsummer, and Phoenix in full after next year’s Indy.”

Hulman-George quickly added, “If this is about money, Roger, we’ll back you increasing the schedule with a few of your tracks if you wait until we get those two. If the others agree, that is.” The din resumed, and Dale Coyne stood to make his point.

“Watkins Glen is behind the curve on safety. They’re improving, but their doing so to a NASCAR standard. We’ll need to make our own improvements once we get a stake on this, but it can be done. If we can acquire the Glen on schedule, we can get a race there by 1996, any earlier and we’d be rushing too many things there.” Coyne caught his breath and looked at Penske, continuing, “I can tell Roger just did the math here, and realized that despite his gains, he’s still only looking at two races on the schedule for the next few years, while all of the sudden another group has three. I don’t know what else to tell you but to wait until 1996, and you can easily double that. Adding Pocono, Watkins Glen, one of the NASCAR mile-and-a-half’s, and Texas World would bring us to twenty races three years from now. Is that too much too soon?”

That question stirred the conversation for another half an hour, as the team owners were trying to gauge who would get what share of the pie by when. Grudging consensus came between whispers, as the moves of Penske, (who had pulled Bettenhausen Motorsports into his SMI orbit,) and the Rahal-Andretti-Coyne-Walker alliance, (who had already talked upcoming debutant Gerry Forsythe to join in the following season,) had scared the other full-time team owners into two separate camps: The ones who could stand being aligned with Tony George, (who at this point was only Foyt and Dick Simon,) and every other major runner: Galles, Hall, and Ganassi, who were all just thrilled to be lumped together so quickly.

Another contentious issue was that while the other owners were already extended as far as they could manage at the present moment, Hulman-George was still in a position to lock up the remaining tracks. If IMS was also to provide the management infrastructure, then they would be in a position to crowd out the field along with the other big teams and keep the minnows from a means to a track. Unbeknownst to anyone in the room but Hulman-George and Ueberroth, it had already been decided by Mari to focus on her current assets and not upturn the apple cart as her son had planned. She wasn’t fond of the self-restraint, but realized more than anyone how much everyone’s fortunes were reliant on the brand, and HER track IS the brand. She couldn’t let herself forget that, and so, she agreed immediately, with the caveat that she have a weighted vote towards deciding the balance of the schedule, and where the expansion would be targeted. The other owners went along, with the addendum that Tony wouldn’t have a vote in those proceedings. To that, Tony George was furious, but knew how close the deal was and consented – his face still full of color.

Rehashing the meeting was straightforward, with only several addenda:

-With the exception of Pocono, a freeze on schedule expansion would last through the 1995 season.

-In exchange for SMI’s restraint, they would receive four races in 1996, and five in two following seasons.

-Likewise, in exchange for holding back over the coming years, the Andretti-Coyne-Rahal-Walker faction would be given three races annually through 1998.

-The Hulman-George family would not expand outside of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, however they would be given additional consideration in management, development, and the ladder series.

-IndyCar would target Watkins Glen and Phoenix for short-term acquisitions, and consider other venues thereafter.

-The draft for driver numbers would be held after the conclusion of the 1993 season.

-IndyCar management would form and consolidate promotional and safety wings as soon as possible.

-Contracts for an official IndyCar Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis game to cover the 1994 season had been signed. All tracks, drivers, and teams were to be included.

-All centrally-organized events would result in across-the-board Tier 1 considerations.

-Mari Hulman-George, Bill Stokkan, and Peter Ueberroth would share power through the 1993 season, after which an election would be held. (To this, Stokkan decided he wanted to stick with IndyCar in whatever capacity he would be allowed, more out of curiosity than anything. Ueberroth’s impartiality showed enough to convince the CART teams not to bail in a power-sharing arrangement. Hulman-George was too busy looking to the future to worry about 1993, more out of concern about what her still-recovering son would attempt to pull out of his hat than anything.)

To most of the parties in attendance, optimism jockeyed with annoyance, but all them signed the 1993 IndyCar Constitution. The following day, the cars would roll off the trucks and practice would begin.

Indianapolis 500 Time Trials – 08-23 May 1993 – Speedway

Following the announced signing of the IndyCar Constitution, the usually electric mood at the start of Indianapolis 500 practice was magnified. Immediately, the Newman-Haas cars were the quickest in practice, as both Andrettis were over 222mph on the first day. As opening week progressed, the other major teams dialed their cars in, but it looked as if the Rahal-Hogan cars could not compete for the pole. No matter how much downforce they tried to scrub off of their setup, they still could not lean out their modified Lolas to get laps in clean air above 220. They did have one advantage, though, in that despite the increase in tire wear, they were better on a heavily-rubbered track. The irony of their catch 22 wasn’t unnoticed, as Rahal fretted over the knowledge that he and Groff would likely qualify somewhere in the high 20’s, just at the right place to be collected in early crashes, yet if they could survive, they would be strong towards the latter half of the race. Damned in all regards but one, he pressed on and accepted the mission to make the field on pole day while knowing he wouldn’t see the provisional pole unless he was the first to take the track.

Nelson Piquet’s luck was the opposite of what he found in 1992, putting his long recovery to a good showing throughout the first week, running as high as 11th at the end of the third day of practice, and no lower than 32nd. Without a crash, he knew he could put his Menard on the grid, and focused on bringing the car home every day.

Piquet’s Menard teammate Geoff Brabham wasn’t as fortunate, spinning hard into the northern short-chute, and leaving him with two hairline fractures in his wrist. He would be able to attempt a qualification run, but Menard signed Gary Bettenhausen to hedge their bets.

King Racing’s expanded team held their own through May, as Big Al Unser returned to fight for a fifth Borg-Warner trophy, and Jim Crawford joined him and Roberto Guerrero. While Unser looked like a lock for the field, Crawford would spend some time near the bubble.

When Pole Day came around, the major teams nearly had the rug pulled out from them by strong runs by Dick Simon’s Raul Boesel, and Ganassi’s Luyendyk. However, it was Michael Andretti who took the pole from Boesel, while the elder Andretti was on the outside of Row One. Al Unser Jr. nearly cracked into the front row, but had been denied by a hundredth of a second, settling for fourth inside of Luyendyk and Goodyear. Tracy put his Penske behind his teammate, while Fittipaldi had an uncharacteristic stumble, requiring him to abort his run. Roberto Guerrero and Stefan Johannson filled out the third row, while the Foyt-Vision cars came close to filling the fourth row, with Adrian Fernandez splitting Pruett and Gordon, with Stanley following in thirteenth. Danny Sullivan and Scott Brayton joined him on the provisional fifth row, with Teo Fabi and Jimmy Vasser adding a sixth before the day was called.

On the second day, the frontrunners Fittipaldi and Rahal were stuck with the realization that they could be bumped out of the field, and turned laps that were eventually good enough for 18th and 22nd, respectively. Jeff Andretti, Lyn St. James, and Al Unser, Sr. filled the row between them, while Stéphan Grégoire and Nelson Piquet slotted to Rahal’s outside. Rahal had worried through the rest of that Sunday that he would need to buy a normal Lola for Groff, as the afternoon grew later, Groff was in bump territory. Willy T. Ribbs, Eddie Cheever, and Gary Bettenhausen filled the ninth row, while John Andretti, Mike Groff, Mark Smith, Stan Fox, Didier Theys, and Tony Bettenhausen Jr. were all too close to the bubble to be truly considered until the next week.

The following week of practice saw more unfortunate action. Stan Fox managed to crash one car and blow the engine of his backup in consecutive days, forcing his Delta Faucets team to mix and match with only one day to put it all together. Scott Sharp came on strong through the week, enough to look like a sure bet to bump his way into the field. A.J. Foyt tempted to renege from his retirement, an idea that went up in smoke as Pruett’s engine let go down the front straightaway that Wednesday. There was now only one spare engine left for each Foyt-Vision runner, so the first four-time champion sat back down behind the wall.

By the end of the second weekend of Time Trials, Sharp had indeed bumped himself up all the way to 29th, and even Olivier Groulliard managed to hang on by the final gun that Sunday – barely making the final spot on the grid, with Walker’s Hiro Matsushita to his inside. Bobby Rahal was about to pull Groff’s modified Lola when his teammate put in a great four-lap run, bumping Gary Bettenhausen down to 28th. John Andretti managed to hold on at 30th, while both Tony Bettenhausen Jr and Stan Fox voided times that would have kept them in the running, and failing to make the cut with their new ones, which allowed Robbie Buhl to grab the inside of the final row. At the end of two weekends of qualifying, the field was set, with Bettenhausen and Smith as the alternates.

IndyCar Round 4: 77th Indianapolis 500 – 30 May 1993 – Speedway

Thirty-three cars rolled through their parade lap, a long day about to begin in Speedway, Indiana. Forming up in the three-wide rows, Michael and Mario Andretti made quick work of Raul Boesel after the green flag dropped. Michael led his father through the first two turns, with Mario tucking in a few lengths aft. Little Al lined up Boesel on the backstraight, getting him on the entry to turn three, but couldn’t build a gap past the front Simon entry. Out of all the movers on the first lap, the biggest gain came from Jimmy Vasser, who climbed from his 17th grid spot to claim 12th by the end of two and a half miles, nearly taking Emerson Fittipaldi with him. As the first stint settled down, the Bettenhausen lack of luck continued, as Scott Sharp’s engine didn’t last fifty miles. The oil dropped on-track brought out the first yellow of the day. Several runners stopped, but the green didn’t last a mile as Stephan Gregoire and Jeff Andretti came together into turn one, collecting Groff along with them. The longer yellow brought in everyone else, and by the time the green came out again, they were on lap thirty-two, with Michael Andretti leading his father, Unser Jr., Goodyear getting by Boesel for fourth, followed by Tracy, Johannson, Pruett, Guerrero, and Luyendyk in the top ten.

It was after this restart where Boesel started to climb his way back, swiping fourth back from Goodyear two laps later, followed by a pass on lap 36 on Unser, and began his attack on the Andrettis on lap 38. The three leaders formed a tight pack for six laps, but Boesel turned up his boost to the maximum after saving fuel running in the draft, and slipped by both black-and-white Newman-Haas cars on lap 44. After he took the lead and got a second-long margin, giving him enough of a reprieve to drop his boost back down and stretch his fuel for the second half of his stint. Unfortunately for him, his orange and black Lola-Chevrolet burned enough fuel in his charge, then in clear air, for him to need to pit two laps before Michael Andretti, and another lap ahead of Mario. By the end of the green-flag cycle, he was back in third, two tenths ahead of Unser.

Another yellow came out on lap 66 when Hiro Matsushita came into turn four in a solo incident, giving those who pitted first, (Vasser, Stanley, Rahal, Piquet, Ribbs,) a chance to come in under yellow and get back some track position. The restart saw Boesel’s battle with Unser resume, who had just taken out a turn of wing and was able to hold him off. Further back, Rahal’s charge on fresh tires started, and he climbed from 24th, and managed to take advantage of the others pitting earlier and led four laps before it was his turn to pit. As the green continued past the halfway point, Unser Jr.’s rise continued, taking the lead on lap 112 shortly after his pit stop. Stanley, Piquet, and Ribbs were gifted another yellow when Goodyear’s front wing came into the rear of Guerrero in turn two. Both cars pitted under their own power, but the damage to both of their races was done, despite the yellow, they rejoined at the back of the field, everyone effectively on sequence.

The restart saw another Andretti push, with first Michael, then Mario getting by Unser Jr, with his teammate Tracy in fourth, followed by Pruett, Gordon, Fittipaldi, Rahal, Johannson, and Stanley. Luyendyk had a lengthy pit stop, he had been fighting overheating issues all day – finally retiring seven laps later. Vasser took a penalty for exceeding the pit lane speed limit, dropping from sixth to fifteenth, at the tail end of the lead lap. After the fuel run settled down, there was little action, each of the survivors of the first three hundred miles hunkering down and protecting their cars for the final push. Little action came from the following fifty laps, as the final pit window began to open up. Of the leaders, Gordon, Fittipaldi, and Johannson broke first, gambling that a yellow would come out and let them stretch their fuel.

For those three, they were in luck, but the wrong kind as Big Al’s engine let go on lap 174, bringing out the yellow just in time for the remainder of the field to grab their final set of tires and tank of gas. Pruett made his move on the restart – helped by a great pit stop by the Foyt-Vision crew, seizing the lead on lap 182, followed by Fittipaldi, Gordon, Johannson, Mario Andretti, Unser Jr., Tracy, Michael Andretti, Stanley, and Rahal. With the leaders good on fuel, it came down to setup and tires, and those who pitted late made quick work of those who didn’t. Mario, Little Al, and Michael were in a pack of just over one second apart behind Pruett, who had overtaxed his car too soon and became a moving chicane, allowing Unser to steal two places with eight laps to go, breaking inside just before Mario committed, the both fading past Pruett, who was quickly knocked back to fourth by Michael Andretti.

Five laps to go, and Mario was joined by his son once again, and the three were picking their way through traffic. Vasser, who had been fighting to remain on the lead lap after his penalty, was fast enough to prove a burden to Little Al, holding him up at the end of the front straight. Three laps left, and Vasser’s blue flag was too late for Unser. As Vasser dropped outside, Mario dived to the inside, earning a roar from the stands as he zoomed past into turn one. Seven miles left, and Unser was quickly on the rebound, but Michael was filling his mirrors. Both were going for the win, but their fight slowed them down enough to give Mario a half-second advantage when the white flag flew. Michael had a little more left in his car, though, and dove within six inches of the new rumble strips. As the checkered flew, the Andretti Curse wasn’t just broken, it was shattered with the one-two finish of Mario over Michael. The points finishers behind were Pruett (who stopped the bleeding behind the top three to hang on,) Rahal (his car dialed into the cloud-cooled and clag-coated track,) Tracy, Stanley (earning the Indy Rookie of the Year honor,) Boesel, Fittipaldi, Gordon, Fabi, and triple-WDC Piquet earned his first point as an IndyCar driver back in twelfth.

Victory Lane’s celebration left the attending fans on their feet, as Mario Andretti avenged the last twenty-four years of Indianapolis misfortune, clutching the Borg-Warner trophy in tears. The burden on his shoulders disappeared after weighing more and more heavily since his 1969 win. That he could win with his eldest son behind him was double the blessing, knowing in the back of his mind that Michael’s fight with Little Al took a lot of the heat off of him. As ABC’s Jack Arute came to him, a visibly shaking Andretti was trying to clutch his bottle of milk, and Arute asked him, “Aren’t you going to drink the milk?

Mario looked down, and saw he held the bottle without yet taking a swig, how on earth could he forget? Looking Arute in the eye, he quickly gathered himself and said, “You better believe it!” A long swig was followed by Mario drenching himself, and the winners wreath, as his sons and nephew surrounded him. The tears of joy washed off his face, the monkey was off the family’s back.

Indianapolis, Indiana – 30 May 1993

Tony George came home that evening still in shock. The conclusion of this whirlwind over the past several months broke his ego further than even last year’s accident could have. Humbled, he saw what happened when a legend with so much history slain his inner dragon, and knew that where he had charted his course before would only lead to rocky shores. To think he’d already made incredible progress from the inside, Foyt-Vision grabbed three top-tens in the 500, with yet another solid performance by Robbie Stanley. That Stanley was ahead of Gordon on points in half the starts only channeled his optimism.

While Tony still smarted from his mother’s reversal, he painfully admitted she’d been right all along.

TMfSP-1993 Standings after Indianapolis.jpg
 
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Mario gets his second Borg-Warner at last! Talk about a way for the new era in Indycars to get off like a shot. Fantastic work. :D
 
That's catches up the Indy with the Formula, when is the next F1 update?

Unknown. Expecting no later than middle of next week.

Next up (chronologically,) is IndyCar West Allis (Milwaukee Mile,) F1 Gilles Villeneuve, and IndyCar Belle Isle (Detroit.)

Any thoughts on the proposed track edits? Here's another draft of the Hockenheim revisions. As much as I like the flow of the first one I put up here, there's that birds-eye view problem.

Other courses that could/will see layout changes:
IndyCar:
Portland, Watkins Glen, Cleveland, Surfers Paradise

Formula One:
Any Tilke Track save Sepang - that was his masterstroke, IMHO. (I'm still looking for TTL events to butterfly his track design philosophy.)

Silverstone, (different than OTL, VERY open to suggestions.)

Interlagos (different than current proposed changes IOTL.)

Estimated length of track below: Appx 5km.

Hockenheim - Revised Layout - 2.jpg
 
A bigger faster Hockenheimring? Hmm, PassFest '93!

I like seeing Mario win the 500-Mile Race...I can hear Bob Jenkins and Gary Lee now :)

Can't wait to see what develops next.
 
A bigger faster Hockenheimring? Hmm, PassFest '93!

I like seeing Mario win the 500-Mile Race...I can hear Bob Jenkins and Gary Lee now :)

Can't wait to see what develops next.

Bigger than the OTL changes in the early part of last decade, but still much shorter than what was raced beforehand. Really, a one or two races with with significant passing away from from grandstands would be a catalyst.

It'll be a few years down the line for any F1 track, but IndyCar will see multiple layout changes by the end of the 90's.
 
That's a pretty great layout for Hockenheim. I can see one putting up grandstands on the outside of the complex on the bottom right and clearing the trees away from it so that the fans there can see everything going through the whole complex.

If I may make one suggestion, to make the new Ostkurve one that is tightest at the beginning and then opens up. At F1 speeds, that will alone make accelerating out of it a challenge (thus also effecting the speeds on the straight that follows) and will allowing passing maneuvers into it. Making the approach to that corner quite wide would also be a good idea, allowing different lines through that corner. I can see several legitimate passing opportunities in an F1 car there, which is a very good thing. The greenies will hate all of the trees torn down, but I may also make the suggestion of keeping the old track intact for sports car and touring car racing where speeds are lower and thus safety is less of a concern.

As far as layout changes, I mentioned what I'd do with Surfers Paradise. I don't know what you'd do with Cleveland, Watkins Glen doesn't need it in all honesty and Portland had the problem of the fact that the track is in a park, with a highway to the east, a river to the south, a golf course to the west and a preserved wetland to the north. Adjusting through the golf course is the only one of those you could do, and that would completely mess up the layout. As far as the Tilkedromes, you just have to have him do less of the slow corners. Your proposed lower-downforce F1 cars will be better for racing and won't turn as fast in high-speed corners in any case, so the faster corners won't be as much of a safety hazard or racing impediment.
 
That's a pretty great layout for Hockenheim. I can see one putting up grandstands on the outside of the complex on the bottom right and clearing the trees away from it so that the fans there can see everything going through the whole complex.

I wouldn't need to clear that many, considering the clearing created for the (OTL named, forget pre-1994 name) Senna chicane. That was the general plan, btw.

If I may make one suggestion, to make the new Ostkurve one that is tightest at the beginning and then opens up. At F1 speeds, that will alone make accelerating out of it a challenge (thus also effecting the speeds on the straight that follows) and will allowing passing maneuvers into it. Making the approach to that corner quite wide would also be a good idea, allowing different lines through that corner. I can see several legitimate passing opportunities in an F1 car there, which is a very good thing.

I had been toying with using the first half of the Clark chicane as part of Neue-Ostkurve, so consider that part of the canon layout circa late-90's TTL. I'll just delete the first 1/5 or so of the "transplanted" turn, and use that sharp right-hander (albeit widened) as the opening segment of the turn. That'll involve pulling back the radius of the whole turn, and I'll be making a more curvy "straight" from that to the right at OTL-Senna

The greenies will hate all of the trees torn down, but I may also make the suggestion of keeping the old track intact for sports car and touring car racing where speeds are lower and thus safety is less of a concern.

Come up with a plausible (and generous) sop to the Greens and I'll make that canon, too. I've been stumped, the closest idead I've had on that score was to find some rich entity pay to demolish a large run-down neighborhood and fill it with trees, or purchase any neighboring properties to the forest and reclaim that area.

I actually admire the German Greens making a stand about Hockenheim, though. I've been there, and the woods out that way are worth putting some spine into protecting.

Personally, if Bernie and the FIA weren't so keen on shorter tracks and sub-two hour races, I'd have "Mosleystone" tell the teams to make their cars more crashworthy and have better endurance, with better runoff and safer barriers around the turns, and turn the German, Italian, and Belgian GPs into 500km races with all chicanes removed. Folks in the stands would see a couple dozen more laps, the fun way! I don't see that as plausible ITTL, the POD is too recent and the momentum towards what we have now is already present.

As far as layout changes, I mentioned what I'd do with Surfers Paradise.

I'm pretty much doing it that way.

I don't know what you'd do with Cleveland,

Flip the front straight and the pit lane to delete the chicane.

Watkins Glen doesn't need it in all honesty

Minor changes here: Lengthen the straightaways between 9 and 10 and 11 and 1, (at the expense of a sharper turns 10 and 11. The exit of 10 would branch off to pit-in.) This will be to increase the length of the pitlane, which I'd want to do to fit a modern F1 paddock in for a bid to bring Watkins Glen back on the F1 calendar, without having to rush the job trying to get construction between races and inclement weather. I want to have IndyCar's war chest preserved for other expenditures, so such a move would have to be done right the first time.

Portland had the problem of the fact that the track is in a park, with a highway to the east, a river to the south, a golf course to the west and a preserved wetland to the north. Adjusting through the golf course is the only one of those you could do, and that would completely mess up the layout.

-Flip the direction (all turn references are OTL so a wiki map won't lead to confusion, though.)
-The complex of 10 through 12 would be tightened up in the 11-12 end to create a passing zone, and loosening up between 10-11 to create a technical section which will impact battles down the straight.
-Delete turn 8 and straighten out the section between 7 and 9.
-Lengthen the straight between 6 and 7 slightly, and tighten 6 accordingly to feed into the 4-5 section.
-Possibly, (leaving this up for debate,) rounding off 4-5.
-Delete 1-3.

(Appearance by Captain Obvious) I hate chicanes breaking up straightaways or used to replace what would be a good 90-degree or hairpin turn. When used in a slower section, they're freaking awesome.

As far as the Tilkedromes, you just have to have him do less of the slow corners. Your proposed lower-downforce F1 cars will be better for racing and won't turn as fast in high-speed corners in any case, so the faster corners won't be as much of a safety hazard or racing impediment.

I have nothing against slow corners, as long as they're used properly, and don't make the races sterile and processional. Take Sepang, personally, the only thing I'd change about it if I could would be to lengthen the straight between 8 and 9. The corners work because they flow together. Same for Shanghai (I forgot he did that one when I posted earlier about Tilke.) Now for the others: (warming up for a rant.)

A1 Ring: Broke a great track, not enough passing opportunites. Westschelief proposal looks awesome, though.
Sakhir: Uninspired but has potential with minor tweaks.
Marina Bay: Seriously, turn 10? Too many point-squirt-brake-repeat with not enough passing.
Valencia: *yawn* Release the Grosjean!
Yas Marina: Can be made middle-of-road to good track with minor tweaks, but in current form it's sterile.
Yeongam: About the same as Marina Bay. The only reasons I remember anything about any races (last year was the only one I think I stayed awake through lights to flag,) was Hamilton picking up the astroturf and Massa getting told to back off. Seriously, it's like Tilke wanted to make a great track, and gave up after turn 6.
Buddh: Minor improvements needed to greatly improve the track. Delete 7-9, and round off 6 to line up to 10, then reverse the direction, and it could be epic.
COTA: "Oh, the Americans won't know better that I just decided to cut-and-paste a track together. All they know is left turns." Of course, you put a turn like Hill in, add Maggots-Becketts-Chapel, throw in Hockenheim's Stadion, and drop in the Diabolica, it's pretty hard for there to be bad racing. The obvious ripoff just comes across as insulting.
Port Imperial: Looks worse than Valencia. Reversing direction would put it in Marina Bay territory.
Sochi: Could use deleting 15 and 16, we'll see how it is next year.
 
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spdoyle said:
When I looked more into The Mann's idea for the Nurburgring, I realized some city streets would have been taken over for the revised venue. So, here's something that's a little bit new version, mixed with some Nordschlief and a segment of esses using current access roads.

Ideally, the direction would be reversed to use the downhill runs for overtaking, but the primary idea was to remove some of the sterility of the current GP layout.

Thoughts?

(I have zero skills in trying to trace a trail on Google Earth so I can measure it. I figure we'd be looking at something around the realm of 6.5-7.5km.)
I'm not a particular fan of long laps. I'd pinch off the "foot" at the "knee", maybe put in a dip into the infield. I'd also put a curve in the blue backstretch, &, at a minimum, a chicane in the front stretch. (This may be contrary to maximum interest of fans on-site, however...)
 
I'm not a particular fan of long laps. I'd pinch off the "foot" at the "knee", maybe put in a dip into the infield. I'd also put a curve in the blue backstretch, &, at a minimum, a chicane in the front stretch. (This may be contrary to maximum interest of fans on-site, however...)

Regarding cutting off the "foot" (Dunlop,) I'm down for that, but I don't know how that'd go over with other fans. I had seats at Dunlop in '07, and it's worth killing off. There's a configuration in place already that has a hairpin at the top of the hill leading down to Dunlop, and either using that or rounding off the front straight to meet up with the post-Dunlop section is absolutely fine by me.

Looking at it again, rounding off between RTL and Haug-Haken is what I'll be doing if there's no significant objection here. That'd drop the overall distance down to the mid-5km range, which is only a little bit longer than the current OTL layout. In a counterclockwise orientation, we're looking at three overtaking zones with a lap distance that under current OTL regs would give a 53-59 lap race.

Honestly, if at all possible, Hockenheim will be the sole host of the German GP, while the "Neue-Sudschlief" and plenty of endurance racing, DTM, and V8 Supercar appearances, and probably an F1 summer test date (say the week between Hockenheim and France/Hungary/Austria/Spa - whichever is on the calendar and closer.)
 
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Honestly, if at all possible, Hockenheim will be the sole host of the German GP, while the "Neue-Sudschlief" and plenty of endurance racing, DTM, and V8 Supercar appearances, and probably an F1 summer test date (say the week between Hockenheim and France/Hungary/Austria/Spa - whichever is on the calendar and closer.)

V8 Supercars? At a track in Germany? I love the big Aussie musclecars too, but that'a massively pushing the boundaries of possibility. No point, IMO. DTM and Endurance racing, do lots of it, of course.

Are you planning on covering endurance racing in this TL, out of curiosity?
 
V8 Supercars? At a track in Germany? I love the big Aussie musclecars too, but that'a massively pushing the boundaries of possibility. No point, IMO. DTM and Endurance racing, do lots of it, of course.

Are you planning on covering endurance racing in this TL, out of curiosity?

I doubt I'll have the time. Let me get through mid-'95, (yeah, that'll take awhile,) and anyone interested just PM me if you want to add an endurance racing contribution.

Big thing I want to accomplish, is safer cars without ruining tracks, ITTL.
 
I doubt I'll have the time. Let me get through mid-'95, (yeah, that'll take awhile,) and anyone interested just PM me if you want to add an endurance racing contribution.

Big thing I want to accomplish, is safer cars without ruining tracks, ITTL.

The big PODs for a wild sports car world don't come around until mid-1995 in any case, so no biggie. Let me know, because I can help with that one.
 
I just got back from a temporary duty trip
Code:
, and didn't get a chance to write as much as I wanted, so the next update will be a bit longer. Sorry, all.
 
Sorry for the delay. Month-plus of midnight shift, followed by a week of days out in the Florida humidity, and back to mids, (with 14hr nonstop drives in between,) burnt me out. I'll try to get another update done before more traveling.

IndyCar Round Five: MGD 200 – 06 June 1993 – West Allis

Just one week after Mario Andretti’s long-awaited return to the Indy winner’s circle, the IndyCars came to Wisconsin State Fair park and it’s Milwaukee Mile. The track was celebrating its ninetieth year of motorsports, bringing with it the fans looking to enjoy the first hints of summer on the Great Lakes.

As had been the case through the year so far, the newly renamed Newman-Haas-Andretti, (NHA) cars were on form, but it wasn’t enough to get past Raul Boesel, whose pole speed of 165.746 was enough to continue the qualifying momentum of his Dick Simon Lola-Chevrolet. Rahal’s oval qualification efforts improved with a fifth-row speed as he was able to piece together what he’d gathered from the late-race runs at Phoenix and Indy. Robbie Stanley’s luck, on the other hand, went in the other direction, with light contact Friday costing him practice time, leading to back-row qualifying spot. Up front, Tracy started alongside Boesel, followed by Michael Andretti, Unser Jr., Mario Andretti, Sullivan, Goodyear, Pruett, Luyendyk, and Rahal.

Boesel took the start with a good run into the first corner, easily keeping Tracy behind him. Little Al avenged the stifled near-blocking maneuvers at Indianapolis with an outside-line pass of Michael Andretti, while Luyendyk had an impressive first lap, sliding into fifth. The first stint was marred by cautions; Stanley’s luck failed to improve as he wrecked into turn three trying to make a pass before more of the leaders forced the blue flag on him. His errors claimed Goodyear and Fabi’s runs, a rookie mistake which blighted the run he had in his first two races. Adrian Fernandez’s Galles engine let go early – more a team-coaching error than anything as he’d been told to keep the boost up to make up for a poor qualifying effort, but the oil spread over the low line of the second turn was enough to bring out the safety team. With the lap 49 restart, Scott Brayton and Williy T. Ribbs made light contact, which at first didn’t seem to need a yellow, but Brayton’s wing failed after he made further contact with an off-strategy Mario Andretti – ending the Indy winner’s bid for back-to-back wins, while Ribbs was able to swap wings under the yellow.

The NHA cars’ luck went from bad to worse, as Michael’s transmission failed before the halfway point when he was leading, surrendering P1 to an awaiting Unser Jr., who had Boesel in pursuit. After another round of stops, Unser’s efforts were undone by an overaggressive adjustment to his wings, and he fell back to seventh steadily, leaving a fight for his teammate as Boesel regained the lead. Only one more yellow came out on lap 163, for a solo crash by Pruett which was the result of a cut tire. With everyone good on fuel and tires with the yellow, the race came down to a Tracy-Boesel duel. with Raul Boesel coming on top by two tenths of a second, sweeping the points with gaining the bonus for most laps led, a milestone for Dick Simon’s team. Fittipaldi and Unser each did their best to make a 1-2-3 for Penske, but with Boesel’s Duracell car, they were each one step behind. Luyendyk, Rahal, Sullivan, Vasser, Johannson, and St. James rounded out the top ten, while Ribbs and Grouillard earned their first points of the year, and career, respectively.

Long Pond, PA – 08 June 1993

Joseph “Doc” Mattioli stood beside his annoyance-cum-partners Mario Andrettiand Dale Coyne overlooking sketches of the improvements the other two were going to fund. While Pocono Raceway made a decent profit off of the NASCAR races, Doc realized – now that he was talking to the others as peers instead of “the talent,” that the track as it stood was indeed no longer a good fit for IndyCars – and may even spell disaster for NASCAR in the future. Thus, his new partners would spend their stake immediately on improvements, denying Doc more than a meager sum, while defraying a long-needed expense. After the end of the 1993 races at Pocono, concrete walls would be installed and repaving would be completed in time for the first Winston Cup race. Mattioli had been woolgathering as Coyne said something that went past his ears, and asked Dale to repeat himself.

“Doc, I’m thinking we have an opportunity here to do better than just simple concrete, why not design something that can redirect impact energy – like a crumple-zone in a car? We could shop around for ideas, say get some college engineering programs in on it, and at least one of them will bite. If we’re going to redo the walls, we might as well do it right. Don’t worry, Doc, I’m sure you can keep your hand off your wallet on this one, and I wouldn’t be surprised if IndyCar picks up the tab if the research pays off,” Coyne said.

“Crumple zones?” Mattioli pondered for a moment, “Obviously we’re not talking about the walls sustaining dents, so, some sort of double-layer configuration with shock absorbers, right? It’d have to be flush if you put it here, I can only imagine an overlapping approach backfiring.”

“Exactly,” Andretti piped in. “The physics are sound, and I’m sure it can be done without damaging the walls too badly, it’s just a matter of figuring out the right way and paying for it. Since it’s something we can only afford to do once, it might be a couple of years, but Dale and I are open to it. In any case, it’d have to be a design that could be retrofitted on other tracks so we could have economy of scale, which means we’d set up the normal concrete walls first and run the ’94 races no problem.”

“As long as the research doesn’t impede the progress of the repaving and wall construction, I don’t see any problem with this. I am looking forward to seeing the IndyCars back in action,” Mattioli said, and stared once again at the designs. Yes, it was fitting that IndyCar owned up to the snubs a few years back, they could return, since they were paying to fix the problems.

F1 Round Seven – Canadian Grand Prix – 13 June 1993

While IndyCar had a different winner for each of their five races so far, it was assumed that only fool luck of triple-DNFs would permit a fourth driver to win the Canadian Grand Prix. Mansell took his second pole of the season, ahead of Senna, Schumacher, Hakkinen, Berger, Brundle, Alesi, Herbert, Hill, and Capelli.

Mansell’s start was textbook perfect, and crept away from a determined but utterly helpless Senna, the teammates once again leapt away from the rest of the field from the lights. Berger dueled with Hakkinen through the early stages, picking off the superior Benetton at the East Hairpin. Berger’s battle with the Finn lasted long enough to give Schumacher of a three-second cushion in the first laps, and settled in for the long haul, his own private, frustrated balance of keeping the FW-15’s honest without overdriving his Benetton. As of the start, he was in a three-way tie for second in the standings, but as long as he was P3 behind Mansell, there was nothing he could do. Brundle was dispatched by Alesi, Herbert, and Hill on the first lap, only to be taken out in a botched pass by Capelli on the second lap in turn nine. His teammate’s luck was better, climbing into the points after harrying Herbert and Alesi into mistakes by the mid-race, but Hill abruptly falling out of contention when a spin flat spotted his tires and forced him to make another stop.

Alesi’s engine let go shortly after Hill’s spin, elevating Herbert’s Lotus to sixth for several laps – until he fell into the clutches of Barrichello’s Jordan, who had the Saubers of Wendlinger and Lehto also on his tail. While Wendlinger’s chances of consecutive points finishes vanished with electrical issues, Lehto hung on, snagging his first point of the season with a pass on Herbert made with four laps left. Mansell won from Senna, having only surrendered the lead during pit stops in a comfortable win for the Manxman. Nine races to go, and atop the podium, Mansell planned for Europe.

Grove, England – 15 June 1993

Nigel Mansell had just pulled into the parking lot at the Williams complex, to hear over BBC that James Hunt had suffered a significant heart attack at the age of 45, and nearly died from it if not for the attentions of his quick-acting fiancée Helen Dyson. The champion that partied as hard as he raced had mellowed in recent years, and – according to the report, just proposed to Helen before his medical emergency occurred. A distraught Helen had recounted that James had, just before showing signs of distress, asked Helen to be his third bride, and had mentioned in hospital this morning that he was glad he didn’t follow through with his original plan of asking her over the phone. Nigel didn’t know what to think, as Hunt had left the sport before his own arrival at Lotus, and didn’t have much of a chance to know him professionally. Still, Mansell – though knowing he led a far more boring life than the previous British champion, started to think more about his mortality, and his career so far. Formula One was no longer the sport one could excel at through their forties, and Mansell would be celebrating his fortieth birthday in just a month and a half.

Nigel knew he could win, and he was certain that he could overcome his deficit to Senna should his teammate run into the same amount of bad luck that he had earlier in the season. Taking the keys out of the ignition, Nigel was even more content with leaving Formula One once the season was decided, and was ready to leave it all out on the track. The politics and other headaches were building once again. Twenty-one back, ninety left to go.

IndyCar Round Six: Grand Prix of Belle Isle – 13 June 1993 – Detroit

Optimism for a good viewers’ race was lacking as the field rolled off for their pace laps in Belle Isle Park. The narrow circuit combined with the short straightaways equalized the cars, however the canyons of concrete and Armco made aggressiveness pay. Boesel couldn’t repeat for the pole, but nestled himself behind Rahal and Fittipaldi in third. Beside Boesel was Unser, followed by Michael Andretti, Sullivan, Tracy, Gordon, Mario, and Luyendyk. The day was sunny, lighting the scenic but stifling circuit across the river from Detroit beautifully.

Rahal took the flag, and like in Australia, his house-tweaked Lola didn’t suffer as it had on the ovals. Fittipaldi immediately got on Rahal’s gearbox, staying with the black-and-yellow Miller Genuine Draft car. The Penske could not pass, though, as Rahal’s was tuned far better for road courses. Unser got a good jump on Boesel through the first turn, but behind the Simon entry the field backed up when Michael’s attempt at following Unser past Boesel ran out of room, enhancing the accordion effect into the second turn, and as Tracy swung wide, it left Sullivan with nowhere to go, leading to a broken suspension for him and chassis damage for Michael Andretti as well as an immediate full-course yellow.

The restart was more of the same at the front, Rahal escaping another challenge by Fittipaldi, his teammates running third and fifth. Mario kept the pressure on Gordon, but the confines of the track made it difficult, and the backup allowed Luyendk to pass with Johannson following through. It took Mario until the end of the run to make it by the Swede on worn tires, experience trumping youth. Fabi and Vasser became shadows on Johannson’s tail, but Goodyear rose from a poor qualifying run of sixteenth to turn this into a four-car train.

After the first round of stops, Luyendyk was able to get by Gordon, and Fabi was penalized for a speed-limit violation. Adrian Fernandez went into the tire barrier on cold rubber, followed shortly by Mark Smith, their cars separated only by several feet into the same barrier. Another caution period faded, but the Detroit River Attrition Festival resumed only a few laps later. Gachot, Grouilliard, and Brayton each had solo collisions which were fortunate enough to bring out local yellows, but when Buhl was being lapped by Groff (who had steadily crept into the top ten,) Groff clipped Buhl’s wing, sending Buhl into the wall as debris cut his tire, with Groff escaping damage. A good pit stop and restart by Tracy brought him first past Unser, then Fittipaldi, letting the Canadian smell the lead and push. With sixteen laps to go, Tracy pounced on Rahal, who had shut the door, with the Penske quickly cooking his tires and leading to an uncomfortable vibration from the flat spots, ending his charge for the day.

With no further full-course yellows, the race remained fairly static from the end, Rahal winning from Fittipaldi, Unser, Luyendyk, Tracy, Boesel, Mario Andretti, Gordon, Groff, Johannson, Vasser, and Goodyear.

file:///C:/Users/Sean/Documents/TMFSP/The Man from Sao Paulo - Chapter 03 - 1993 Season.docx#_ednref1 IOTL, Hunt had succumbed to his heart attack, and had proposed to Dyson over the phone. ITTL, he will recover and would continue not only to be a presenter alongside Murray Walker during race coverage, but mentor drivers racing with Marlboro sponsorship until his death.

TMfSP - Indycar 1993 Standings Post Detroit.jpg
 
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I have the F1 section of the next update written, (Magny-Cours and Silverstone, plus insights at McLaren,) hopefully I can get the next two IndyCar races written quickly as well, but I'll go a bit out of chronological order here and get the F1 update posted tonight once I do a quick proofread.
 
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