List of Alternative Formula 1 World Drivers Champions

[TheMann]

Anyways, here is my 2012 Sports Car Series.....

PPG IMSA American Sportscar Championship presented by Shell

2012 Schedule

1) Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona presented by Gran Turismo (January 28-29)
Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida
24 Hours
Joint IMSA / World Sportscar Championship event

2) Repsol Sports Car Grand Prix of Argentina (February 19)
Potreiro de los Funes Circuit, San Luis, Argentina
1000 Kilometres
Joint IMSA / World Sportscar Championship / World Touring Car Championship event

3) Mil Milhas Brasil 2012 (February 26)
Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Sao Paulo, Brazil
1000 Miles
Joint IMSA / World Sportscar Championship event

4) Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring (March 11)
Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Florida
12 Hours
Joint IMSA / World Sportscar Championship event

5) Patron Southern Challenge (March 31-April 1)
Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama
500 Miles, Separate LMP and GT Races

6) IMSA Championship Series at Long Beach (April 13-14)
Long Beach Grand Prix Circuit, Long Beach, California
2 Hours 45 Minutes, Separate LMP and GT Races, held on Friday and Saturday evenings
Event alongside United States Grand Prix West and Indycar Grand Prix of Long Beach

7) RAC Tourist Trophy (May 20)
Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, United Kingdom
1000 Kilometres
Joint IMSA / World Sportscar Championship event

NC) 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans (June 16-17)
Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France
24 Hours
World Sportscar Championship Event (does NOT count for IMSA points - but many IMSA teams race there)

8) Norfolk Southern Virginia Classic (July 1)
Virginia International Raceway, Danville, Virginia
1000 Miles

9) The Atlantic Road Racing Trophy presented by Michelin (July 15)
Bridgehampton Raceway, Bridgehampton, New York
6 Hours

10) Under Armour Baltimore Grand Prix (July 21-22)
Camden Yards Racing Circuit, Baltimore, Maryland
2 Hours 45 Minutes, Separate LMP and GT Races

11) EMCO Gears Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge (August 5)
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio
2 Hours 45 Minutes, Separate LMP and GT Races

12) Scotiabank Mosport 1000 Kilometres (August 11-12)
Mosport International Raceway, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada
1000 Kilometres, Separate LMP and GT Races

13) Generac 500 at Road America (August 25)
Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
500 Miles
Joint IndyCar / IMSA Event

14) Havoline Grand Prix of Dallas (September 7-8)
Fair Park Grand Prix Circuit, Dallas, Texas
500 miles, Separate LMP and GT Races

15) Brickyard World Sportscar Challenge (September 22)
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, Indiana
1000 Kilometres

16) 15th Annual Petit Le Mans (October 20)
Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia, USA
1000 Miles or 10 Hours
IMSA / World Sportscar Championship joint event, Indycar Series also races as part of the weekend

17) Sasol Kyalami Nine Hours (November 4)
Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit, Midrand, South Africa
9 Hours
IMSA / World Sportscar Championship joint event

18) Shell V-Power Monterey Sports Car Challenge (November 25)
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, California
6 Hours

 

[President Al Bundy]

@ President Al Bundy: Great WTCC schedule, but I set up the Indycar race there in the (Northern Hemisphere) spring, and I rather doubt they would allow two races in one season there. Switch up Curitiba and Surfers Paradise and we're golden. If you don't want to do that, you could always throw a curveball and move the race to Mount Panorama or Albert Park in Melbourne....

Okay, then I guess we share the same universe.

Well, I thought that the WTCC would share the same weekend with the V8 Supercars race. But if the IndyCar race still exists in the spring, then I'll move the WTCC event to Adelaide. Actually it could be a consolation prize for Adelaide after they lost the Formula One race. Let's just say, the city department of Surfers doesn't allow two race weekends per year .

As for the Mount Panorama: The V8 Supercars still went on their own after the 1992 season, and as such the Bathurst 1000 isn't part of the World Championship anymore.

I even worked out making the event in Argentina a WSC / WTCC event, with the WTCC having the headliner on Sunday.

Yup, that'll fit. ITTL the FIA allows appearantly two of its world championships to race at the same weekend.

It looks to me like Group 1 is like the DTM, Group 2 is Super 2000 with more liberal engine rules and Group 3 is production-based cars like the old British Touring Car Production category. Am I fairly close, here? And with 500 km races, you'll certainly have two drivers to the car. Either way, it looks excellent. Touring Cars at Watkins Glen and Montreal......*licks lips*

Class 1 is actually OTLs new rule set for the V8 touring car series in New Zealand: http://www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=126947
But they had regs resembling OTLs DTM rules until 2011, but due to the economic situation, they went for cheaper rules, while still ensuring spectacular touring cars.
Class 2 is a mixture of Super2000 and GTE/GT3 regs. Class 3 is just like you guessed, but with no aerodynamics (OTLs BTC-P cars had (As far as I can recall) some aerodynamic devices).

As for your IMSA championship, what happened to Daytona? Did NASCAR lock the IMSA out? Or is it a WSC event? But why did the Americans give away their premier race to the FIA?

EDIT: And here's a first draft of the class 1 grid of the 2012 WTCC:

Schnitzer Motorsport (BMW M3)
- Augusto Farfus/Dirk Werner
- Jörg Müller/Dirk Müller

Racing Bart Mampaey (BMW M3)
- Andy Priaulx/Martin Tomczyk

ROAL Motorsport (BMW M3)
- Thomas Biagi/Bruno Spengler

AMG-Mercedes (Mercedes C-Class)
- Gary Paffett/Jamie Green
- Ralf Schumacher/Christian Vietoris

Persson Motorsport (Mercedes C-Class)
- Roberto Mehri/Sam Bird

Mücke Motorsport (Mercedes C-Class)
- Stefan Mücke/Nigel Melker

Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline (Audi A4)
- Timo Scheider/Miguel Molina
- Mattias Ekström/Edoardo Mortara

Audi Sport Team Phoenix (Audi A4)
- Oliver Jarvis/Filipe Albuquerque

Stuck-Reiter Racing (Audi A4)
- Johannes Stuck/Markus Winkelhock
- Ferdinand Stuck/Peter Kox

JR Motorsports (Infiniti G37)
- Lucas Luhr/Peter Dumbreck

NISMO (Infiniti G37)
- Satoshi Motoyama/Michael Krumm

MOLA (Infiniti G37)
- Masataka Yanagida/Jamie Campbell-Walter

Team Dynamics (Honda Accord)
- Matt Neal/Gordon Shedden

N.Technology (Honda Accord)
- James Thompson/Fabrizio Giovarnardi

Nakajima Racing (Honda Accord)
- Takuma Sato/Takashi Kogure

Zakspeed Racing (Ford Mondeo)
- Tom Coronel/Uwe Alzen
- Boris Said/Marcos Ambrose

Arena Motorsport (Ford Mondeo)
- Tom Chilton/Tom Onslow-Cole

Vita4One Racing (Ford Mondeo)
- Michael Bartels/Andrea Bertolini

888 Racing (MG ZS)
- Jason Plato/James Nash

West Surrey Racing (MG ZS)
- Colin Turkington/Rob Collard

Part-Time Entries:

Prototype Technology Group (BMW M3; Rds. 1, 2, 8, 13, 14 only)
- Joey Hand/Bill Auberlen

Turner Motorsport (BMW M3; Rds. 1, 2, 8, 13, 14 only)
- Paul Della Lana/Matt Plumb

Lexus Team TOM'S (Lexus IS-F; Rds. 8, 15, 16, 17 only)
- Andre Lotterer/Kazuki Nakajima

Lexus Team WedsSport (Lexus IS-F; Rds. 8, 15, 16, 17 only)
- Tatsuya Kataoka/Seiji Ara

Team RML (Chevrolet Cruze; Rd. 13 only)[1]
- Yvan Muller/Johnny O'Connell
- Rob Huff/Scott Pruett

OPC Team Holzer (Opel Insignia; Rd.7 only)[1]
- Manuel Reuter/Dominik Schwager

[1]After years of competing in class 2, GM decided to develop a class 1 touring car, over which either a Chevy (Cruze) or an Opel chassis (Insignia) could be put on. But the two races in 2012 are only glorified tests, to see how the car fares in competition.

 

[Chipperback]

2012 Formula 1: Competing Teams..

2012 FIA Formula One World Championship -- Who's In?

1-2) Jordan Mercedes Formula One
3-4) Stewart/Tyrrell Grand Prix Engineering
5-6) Bioptron Brabham BMW
7-8) Piquet Grand Prix
9-10) SuperAguri Honda
11-12) Prodrive Lotus Proton
14-41) Borgudd Konigsegg Formula 1
15-16) Brock Team Australia
17-18) Williams Grand Prix Engineering
19-20) Springbok Formula One
21-22) Team DOME Japan-Toyota
23-24) Minardi Motori Moderni
25-26) Prost EuroFrance Renault
27-28) Scuderia Ferrari
29-30) Arrows Grand Prix UK Ltd.
31-32) Fashionista ST Formula 1
33-34) ATS Superconfex Rennsport Deutschland
35-36) Scuderia Zanardi Rapide new team
37-38) Force India Formula 1
40-60) Vector Automotive USA Formula One
51-52) Team Cheever Grand Prix

21 teams will be a part of the 2012 Formula 1 season. The largest entry list since the late 1980s. With that in mind, the word "prequalifying" returns to the lexicon of F1. All competing teams from the previous season will automatically advance to the Saturday afternoon "knockout" qualifying sessions. Among the rest they will drive in a 1-hour traditional-style qualifying session on Saturday morning. Before the session, the number of drivers who will transfer to the knockout rounds will be pre-determined.

The following teams have earned a 1-year provisional place in knockout qualifying because they have won a drivers or constructors title in the last 10 years: Jordan, Stewart/Tyrrell, Brock Australia, Ferrari, Prost EuroFrance, Prodrive Proton

The following teams have earned a provisional slot in knockout qualifying through the first 6 races of 2012: SuperAguri, Williams, DOME, Minardi, Arrows, Vector

The following teams will start 2012 in prequalifying: Cheever, Zanardi, ATS, Fashionista, Springbok, Piquet, Brabham, Borgudd, Force India

After the 6th, 12th, and 18th races of the season, the prequalifying order will be reevaluated based on performance during the season.

"Prequalify to Pole" -- Any driver from a prequalifying team that earns a pole position for the race weekend removes the team from prequalifying for the next race. That team can keep the bonus for the rest of the 6-race period IF they get at least one team in the final knockout qualifying round for each subsequent race.

"Battlefield Commendation" -- Any driver from a prequalifying team that wins a race automatically removes that driver from prequalifying for the rest of the 6-race period and relegates the driver on the bubble for prequalifying for the rest of the 6-race period. The only exception to this rule involves teams that hold the 1-year "champions exemption".

next post -- The 2012 schedule, the points and we'll meet the drivers who will try to take Sebastian Vettel's crown

 

[TheMann]

^ 42 entrants for the Formula One World Championship? You'll need more than pre-qualifying for that bunch at many tracks. Trying to run 30+ cars at Monza or Suzuka or Silverstone would be easy, but that would be hard at places like Valencia or Melbourne or Montreal would be very difficult. Don't even attempt it at Monaco.

How many cars start each race? And what's the schedule?

Loving some of the teams, though. Minardi Motori Moderni? ATS? Seriously?

 

[Chipperback]

Formula 1 2012 -- The Sked. The Drivers. The Championship

2012 FIA Formula One World Championship -- The Circus

1. Sasol/Nelson Mandela National Trust Grand Prix of South Africa
March 16-18, 2012
New Kylami International Circuit
Midrand, Republic of South Africa
(26 competitors)

2. Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia
March 30-April 1, 2012
Sepang Circuit at Dr. Malathir Muhammad Sports Complex
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
(26 competitors)

3. Senna Foundation-Banco do Brasil Grand Prix of Brazil
April 13-15, 2012
Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace
Sao Paulo, Brazil
(26 competitors)

4. Mattel Intellivision HD U.S. Grand Prix West at Long Beach
April 27-29, 2012
The streets of Long Beach
Long Beach, California USA
(26 competitors)

5. Banco Santander Gran Premio de Espana
May 11-13, 2012
Circuit Montjuic de Barcelona (1)
Barcelona, Spain
(26 competitors)

6. 70th Grand Prix of Monaco
May 24-27, 2012
The street of Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo, Monaco
(22 competitors)

7. Labatt's Grand Prix of Canada
June 8-10, 2012
Circuit Rene Levesque (2)
Montreal, Quebec Canada
(26 competitors)

8. RBS Grand Prix of Scotland
June 22-24, 2012
Jim Clark Autodrome (3)
Edinburgh, Scotland
(30 competitors)

9. Curly Wurly British Grand Prix
June 29-31, 2012
Silverstone Circuit
Silverstone, England
(30 competitors)

10. La Vie Claire French Grand Prix (3)
July 6-8, 2012
Groupe Tapie Circuit at Paul Ricard
Le Castellet, France
(30 competitors)

11. Superconfex Grosser Preis von Deutschland
July 13-15, 2012
Superconfex Hockenheimring
Hockenheim, Germany
(26 competitors)

12. Eni Grand Prix of Hungary
July 20-22, 2012
Hungaroring
Budapest, Hungary
(26 competitors)

13. Saab Scania Grand Prix of Sweden
July 27-29, 2012
Koniggsegg Gotland Ring (4)
Kappelshamn, Sweden
(26 competitors)

14. Grand Prix of the European Union (5)
August 17-19, 2012
Deutsche Bank Nurburgring Nordschleife
Nurburg, Germany
(42 competitors)

15. Shell Grand Prix of Belgium
August 31-September 2, 2012
Circuit Spa-Francochamps
Spa-Francochamps, Belgium
(30 competitors)

16. Agip Petroli Grand Prix of Italy
September 7-9, 2012
Autodromo Nazionale Monza
Monza, Italy
(30 competitors)

17. Gurney Austin Rover United States Grand Prix at the Glen (6)
September 21-23, 2012
Watkins Glen International Circuit
Watkins Glen, New York USA
(26 competitors)

18. Lone Star F1 Grand Prix of the Americas presented by Pemex
September 28-30,2012
Circuit of the Americas
Austin, Texas USA
(26 competitors)

19. Fujisankei Communications Grand Prix of Japan
October 12-14, 2012
Ukyo Katayama International Circuit at Suzuka
Suzuka, Japan
(30 competitors)

20. Shanghai Bank Grand Prix of China
October 19-21, 2012
Shanghai Circuit
Shanghai, China
(26 competitors)

21. Tata Industrial Group Grand Prix of India
November 2-4, 2012
Buddh International Circuit
New Delhi, India
(26 competitors)

22. Singtel Singapore Grand Prix
November 9-11, 2012
Marina Bay Street Circuit
Singapore, Singapore Republic
(26 competitors/NIGHT RACE)

23. Ethiad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
November 16-18, 2012
Yas Marina Circuit
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
(26 competitors/DAY-NIGHT RACE)

24. Foster's Grand Prix of Australia
November 30-December 2, 2012
Adelaide Street Circuit
Adelaide, Australia
(26 competitors) (7)


So how do the points work?

1st --- 25
2nd --- 18
3rd ----15
4th ---- 12
5th -----10
6th ----- 8
7th ----- 6
8th ------4
9th -------2
10th -------1

Pole Position --- 5 points
Fastest Lap of the race bonus -- 1 point


2012 FIA Formula One Participating Teams

Jordan Mercedes Formula One
Chassis: EJ12
Engine: Mercedes-AMG V-10
Sponsors: Red Bull, Mercedes Benz, Ireland Ministry of Tourism
Drivers: 1- Sebastian Vettel (GER) 2- Jenson Button (GBR)
Outlook: Consistently at the front and coming off a 10-win season for World Champion Vettel. Eddie Jordan's team is the team to beat.

Stewart/Tyrrell Grand Prix Engineering
Chassis: SF012
Engine: Ford SuperSpec V-10
Sponsors: HSBC, Ford, Elf, Computervision, Visit Scotland, Curly Wurly
Drivers: 3- Lewis Hamilton (GBR) 4- Danica Patrick (USA)
Outlook: Hamilton says he's the fittest he's ever been an expects to challenge the Jordans for the championship. 2009 IndyCar champ Patrick is set to live a life's dream with her debut effort in Formula 1.

Bioptron Brabham BMW
Chassis: BT112
Engine: BMW W-12
Sponsors: Nacional, Parmalat, Under Armour, Trojan, Beats by Dre
Drivers 5- Bruno Senna (BRA) 6-Alex Rossi (USA)
Outlook: Gordon Murray returns to Formula 1 after a long struggle to regain ownership of the Brabham team name. Among his investment group is former champ Elio de Angelis, who will also serve as a driver coach.
The young wheelmen could make short work of prequalifying. Bruno Senna ran hard all last season for a deficient effort at Borgudd. American Alex Rossi was perhaps the best driver in GP2 last season, but bad luck got in the way of a title.

Piquet Grand Prix do Brasil
Chassis: NP212
Engine: BMW W-12
Sponsors: Banco do Brasil, Varig, Nike, Embraer
Drivers: 7-Rubens Barrichello (BRA) 8- Vitor Meira (BRA)
Outlook: The new Piquet team went after veterans for their debut. Barrichello leads all active drivers in most starts, and Meira was brought in from the IndyCar ranks to get the team good results. The question is? How long until Piquet Sr. signs Nelson Piquet Junior?

Super Aguri Honda
Chassis: SA012
Engine: Honda 12-Spec V-10
Sponsors: Autobacs, Honda, Nippondenso, Japan Air Lines, Sony Playstation, Footwork, Fondmetal
Drivers: 9-Kamui Kobayashi (JPN) 10-Nelson Piquet Jr. (BRA)
Outlook: Team principal Aguri Suzuki looks forward to having Nelsinho in the new SA012. "Best single talent to ever drive for SuperAguri outside of Uyko-san," Suzuki said.

Prodrive Lotus Proton-EON
Chassis: P312/B1
Engine: Proton PERT V-10
Sponsors: rFactor, Proton-EON, Petronas, Epson, Dell, Virgin Atlantic
Drivers: 11-Alex Lloyd (GBR) 12-Nico Rosberg (FIN)
Outlook: David Richards was floored by losing Juan Pablo Montoya to Ferrari, but really likes aggressive Nico Rosberg, who had been rumored to be heading to the new Fashionista team before the surprise Montoya-to-Ferrari news. Young, hungry Alex Lloyd is expected to drive hard as well. "We got young, fast and chippy," Richards said.

Borgudd Konigsegg Formula 1
Chassis: SB32
Engine: Ford FR-11 V-10
Sponsors: Mama Mia, Konigsegg, Saab, TDK, Gibson, Nokia, Express
Drivers: 14-Nick Heidfeld (GER) 41-Heikki Kovalainen (FIN)
Outlook: The third season of running a team for F1's resident rocker. Slim Borgudd says he has heady vets who can run near the front. He'll need them to get out of pre- qualifying though. Heidfeld likes the new chassis. Kovalainen feels the team needs a better powerplant. He may get his wish. Konigsegg plans to have a radical W-12 engine ready in time for Brazil.

Brock Australia HDT Ltd.
Chassis: B05/12
Engine: Ilmor-Holden V-10
Sponsors: Holden, Mobil 1, Foster's, Thorpe Athletic, Adelaide Alive!, Supercheap International
Drivers: 15- Mark Webber (AUS) 16-Will Power (AUS)
Outlook: Peter Brock's little team that did got bigger in the offseason with a raft of new sponsors and adding IndyCar star Will Power. Webber is very confident about this team chances. "We finally have real capitalisation into the team and have Australia truly on board believing in what we can do in Formula 1," Webber said. "With myself and Will Power, Oz has a formidable team that can take a shot at Mercedes."

Williams Grand Prix Engineering
Chassis: FW30
Engine: RenaultSport V-10
Sponsors: Canon, British Airways, Q8, Rowntree's, Hawker-Siddeley/Sukhoi, Lada
Drivers: 17- Robert Kubica (POL) 18-Vitaly Petrov (RUS)
Outlook: Year #2 of Franks "Beasts of the East" driver line-up. Both put Williams on the podium. Getting engines from Renault could put one or both at the top of the podium.

Team Springbok Formula One
Chassis: S312T1
Engine: Ferrari V-10
Sponsors: South African Airways, SASOL, Sabeka, Lucozade, Sexwale Financial Group
Drivers 19- Tomas Scheketer (SAF) 20- Alan van der Merwe (SAF)
Outlook: Almost four decades after being banned from Formula One, South Africa has their own team in F1. Jody Scheketer's maiden F1 effort features son Tomas, who was a winner in the IndyCar ranks and World Endurance Championship ace Alan van der Merwe. "We wanted to be South Africa's team from the last nut and bolt on the car," Jody Scheketer said. "I want South Africans to see Springbok the way Italians see Ferrari."

DOME Team Japan
Chassis: D12
Engine: Proton V-10
Sponsors: Nintendo, Nippon Rail, Yakult, Suntory, Panasonic
Drivers: 21- Sakon Yamamoto (JPN) 22- Jerome d'Ambrosio (GBR)
Outlook: DOME and Toyota parted ways, leading DOME to receive Proton engines this season. Yamamoto is the stalwart Japanese in the team, but young, promising d'Ambrosio will have to bring in results and fast.

Minardi Motori Moderni
Chassis: M312
Engine: Ferrari V-10
Sponsors: Fondmetal, Agip, Puma, Kelemata, Candy, Chrysler American Motors
Drivers: 23-Jarno Trulli (ITA) 24- James Hinchcliffe (CAN)
Outlook: Everybody's second favorite team maybe on the way up. Rumors are swirling that Minardi and Abarth could be working on an engine deal. That could be why you see Chrysler American Motors logos on the car. Veteran shoe Trulli will be pushed by wild, fun, young Canadian talent James Hinchcliffe.

Prost EuroFrance Renault
Chassis: AP12
Engine: RenaultSport V-10
Sponsors: SNCF, Air France, Aerospatinale, EDF-Cogema, Renault, Elf
Drivers: 25- Sebastian Bourdais (FRA), 26- Roman Grosjean (FRA)
Outlook: At last, a team Alain Prost always wanted ALL FRENCH! After losing Fernando Alonso to his quest to match John Surtees, Prost locked in Bourdais and now adds GP2 Champion Grosjean, who many say is the best French talent since...well....Prost himself. Prost and Renault are high on beating their German and Italian rivals in '12

Scuderia Ferrari Agip
Chassis: F320T1
Engine: Ferrari flat-12
Sponsor: FIAT, Agip, Magnetti Marelli, Goodyear
Drivers: 27- Felipe Massa (BRA) 28-Juan Pablo Montoya (COL)
Outlook: Both Massa and Montoya have set the mark: Championship or Bust. A new car, an old-school/new-school flat-12 with the bugs worked out and two capable winners have Maranello thinking of dethroning Mercedes.
"This cavallini is ready to run," Ferrari board member Bobby Rahal said recently. "Mercedes time at the top will end in 2012."

Arrows Grand Prix UK Ltd.
Chassis: JS41
Engine: Ford V-10
Sponsor: Curly Wurly, Lucozade, Barclay's, PDVSA-Citgo, Marks and Spenser
Drivers: 29-Milka Duno (VEN) 30-Katherine Legge (GBR)
Outlook: A wild offseason for Arrows. First, Niko Hulkenberg leaves to go to ATS. Then Jackie Oliver gets 5 new co-owners, the reunited Spice Girls! Add Milka Duno, who brought sponsorship and an aggressive style to the team, and Marks and Spenser signing a 3-year deal with the team, and what you have is smiles on the faces of Oliver and competition director Theirry Boutsen. What hasn't changed. Determined, rock steady, Katherine Legge, who says this new Arrows is can put her back on the top of the podium.

Fashionista ST Formula 1
Chassis: F112/01
Engines: Mercedes V-10
Sponsor: DKNY, Kate Spade, Weetabix, RaceGirl, Nicola's Knicker Drawer , Hunt and Lumley, Susan Komen Foundation, Lady Under Armour
Drivers: 31-Simona de Silvestro (SWI) 32-Jacqueline Cevert (FRA)
Outlook: It supposed to be the tabloid headline of the offseason. Television Fashionistas Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine trading hemlines for the start-finish line. The founding mothers of "What Not To Wear" approached F1 the same way they approach the fashion-challenged. They surgically tackled the problem. Starting with Michele Mouton as team competition director, Bringing in Rob Marshall from Prodrive to design the car, and then getting two talents from left field. Budding IndyCar star Simona de Silvestro and GP2 runner-up Jacqueline Cevert, who same say is the best young French talent in the sport, not Roman Grosjean.
"Fashionista's goal is simple," Constantine said. "We want to win and we want to look good doing it."

ATS Superconfex Rennsport Deutschland
Chassis: D012
Engine: BMW V-10
Sponsors: ATS Wheels, Superconfex, Blauplunkt, Agfa
Drivers: 33- Niko Hulkenberg (GER) 34- Adrian Sutil (GER)
Outlook: Manfred and Jocquim Winkelhock revived the ATS name in F1 after a 2-decade absence. This time around they weren't just German guys out to have a good time. They got big funding from the Superconfex grocery chain to start with and then went after young, fast talents Hulkenberg and Sutil to build what they dub "Total Team Deutschland" with BMW power along for the ride.
Will the new ATS finally break into the podium? Stay tuned.

Scuderia Zanardi Rapide
Chassis: Z1
Engine: Honda V-10
Sponsor: Target-Super U, TDK, Mattel Intellivision HD, Electronic Arts, Honda
Drivers: 35-Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) 36-Marco Andretti (USA)
Outlook: Three-time world champ Alex Zanardi is off to a good start as a team principal. A good chassis. Honda power and a blend of experience and youth in the cockpit. Fisichella says coming to the new team has revived his career and Marco Andretti has been locked in from minute one after a hard-fought 2011 GP2 championship and selected IndyCar events.
"I like what I have so far," Zanardi said. "I'll tell you, we wont be in prequalifying for long with this crew."

Force India Formula One
Chassis: F1/12
Engine: Mercedes V-10
Sponsor: Tata, Kingfisher, Rockstar, Whyte and McKay, Medion, Rocawear
Drivers: 37-Karun Chandhok (IND) 38-Marc Davis (USA)
Outlook: Chandhok showed promise in his second F1 season. American Marc Davis won the '09 British F3 title and finally gets an F1 berth after 2 years near the front of GP2. Davis, who will the third African-American to make an F1 start, should he qualify for a race this season, also brings Rocafella sponsorship to the team.

Vector Automotive USA Formula One
Chassis: W312
Engine: Ilmor V-10
Sponsor: Big League Chew, Sony Playstation, Nos, M&Ms, Boeing, Rock and Revolution, Petro-Canada
Drivers: 40-Kyle Busch (USA) 60-Andrew Ranger (CAN)
Outlook: The company that builds F-16s on wheels started in Formula 1 in 2009 with a clean sheet of a paper and a dream. Now they think thay have the people who can win races. Mechanical issues kept Kyle Busch just short of winning three times last season, before he was suspended two races for being over-aggressive, one of those time with equally aggressive Lewis Hamilton. Canadian newcomer Andrew Ranger has varied experience in IndyCars, stock cars and endurance cars. He also has a big-time patron in multiple- LeMans winner Ron Fellows.

Cheever Grand Prix
Chassis: C112
Engine: RenaultSport V-10
Sponsor: Kelloggs, Motorola, Waste Management, Timex, Cannondale, Izod, Elf, Renault
Drivers: 51-Ryan Hunter-Reay (USA), 52- Loic Duval (FRA)
Outlook: In the 1980s workmanlike Eddie Cheever willed himself to 8 career Formula 1 victories, including the win that would make him a trivia answer forever (Who won the first Formula 1 Grand Prix of the Soviet Union? Eddie Cheever, 1987) Now Cheever has put together his own team and thanks to some old friends from his competition days, he got Renault power. American Ryan Hunter-Reay is seen by some as a champion in the making. "I'm pretty sure I wont have Reay on this team very long," Cheever said. "Unless I become one of the big teams in F1. Loic Duval has the same type of talent." Duval, a former All Nippon F3000 champion, is finally getting a break in Formula 1 after test driving stints for Super Aguri and Brock Australia.

Next -- Formula 1 Training Camp 2012 powered by Rockstar Games
Session 1 -- February 10-12, 2012 -- Estoril, Portugal

 

[TheMann]

One problem I can see - we have the F1 race at Long Beach and the Indycar/ALMS round on separate weekends. Kinda a problem, that, but its not a severe problem.

Jim Clark Autodrome? What the heck is that? And can Britain sustain two Grands Prix? Three GPs in the United States?

 

[Chipperback]

Well exactly how can Formula 1 fit into an Indycar ALMS weekend at the same facility. If we can make that work...We'll throw out Scotland..

Scotland...Jimmy Clark after he retired got together with some big Scottish money and built a nice facility outside of Edinburgh

But if that commits an ASB violation we can always dump it...But don't forget we have a much healthier economy in this 2012 as opposed to our 2012.

 

[TheMann]

I wouldn't say its ASB trritory, but I would say that the US is unlikely to have three Grands Prix. Possible, but unlikely. Likewise for Scotland, though if you have arranged for Sir Clark (I can quite easily see a knighthood for him if he has a long and successful career) to set up a major facility in Scotland, then we can run with it, and you are correct in pointing out the greater prosperity of this world.

As for Long Beach, one option might be the "month of racing" idea I pointed out earlier, using a circuit that is open for regular use when nobody is racing on it. That being the case, Long Beach can stay right where it is, and I'll move the ALMS race back a week, allowing Indycars to run on the 15th, ALMS on the 21st and 22nd and Formula One on the 29th. I think we'd have to charge the Long Beach layout a bit, but with the greater prosperity of this world and the fact that this would surely be one of the finest of ALMS and Indycar events, that's easy, especially as you have a pile of Indycar drivers in your 2012 Formula One season. (I'm gonna have to figure out who is there and who isn't for the 2012 Indycar World Series grid. I'm minus Marco Andretti, Danica Patrick, Katherine Legge, Tomas Schekter, Alex Lloyd, Will Power, Vitaly Petrov, James Hinchcliffe, Sebastien Bourdais, Simona de Silvestro, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Kyle Busch. Have to work around that. )

 

[TheMann]

The 2012 Indycar World Series Championship Entries

Team Penske

Chassis: Dallara IC12
Bodywork: Penske P5
Engine: Chevrolet IR22 2.65 Turbo V8
Tires: Firestone Firehawk
Sponsors: Shell V-Power, Verizon Wireless, Izod, New Balance, Penske Truck Lines, Forgeline, GE Capital, Brahma
#3 Helio Castroneves (BR), #6 Ryan Briscoe (AUS), #12 Steven Wallace (USA)

Team Penske enters 2012 after a narrow loss to Danica Patrick in the 2011 Championship, but as both Danica and Power are headed off to Formula, the game is back afoot. Steven Wallace, the highly-talented son of NASCAR legend Rusty Wallace, takes over Will Power's seat in the #12, and Chevrolet is not keen on losing again.

Chip Ganassi Racing

Chassis: Riley and Scott Mark XVI
Bodywork: Veilside MB2
Engine: Toyota R11 3.5 V12
Tires: Firestone Firehawk
Sponsors: Target, Energizer, Dr. Pepper, AXE, STP, Fujifilm, Planters, Service Central, Trust Power, Enkei Wheels
#4 Tony Kanaan (BR), #12 Dario Franchitti (UK), #38 Charlie Kimball (USA), #83 Graham Rahal (USA)

Chip Ganassi had an abysmal 2011 and does not seek to have that be repeated. Scott Dixon swapped seats with Tony Kanaan, and both Kimball and Rahal are around to learn from him and Franchitti, two of the best raw talents in Indycar Racing learning from two of the best. Add to that better cars from Riley and Scott and Veilside and more powerful Toyota R11 engines, and Ganassi hopes to have a better 2012.

Newman-Haas-Cruise Racing

Chassis: Swift 054.i
Bodywork: Boeing RC797
Engine: Ford Cosworth 3.5 SuperSpec V10
Tires: Goodyear Eagle
Sponsors: McDonald's, Boeing, Havoline, K-Mart, American Airlines, Rain-X, Telstra Bigpond, Anglo American
#6 David Brabham (AUS), #11 Al Unser III (USA), #26 Sam Hornish Jr (USA)

The addition of famed actor Tom Cruise and NFL football legend Tom Brady to the ownership of the legendary Newman-Haas Racing Team has added to the financial security, and Boeing's discovery of the success of its marketing efforts in Indycars has led them to jump them to jump in as bodywork makers, using the program as a way of teaching its newcomers about aerodynamics. Formula One-bound Sebastien Bourdais was replaced in car #11 by newcomer Al "Just Al" Unser III, son of little Al and grandson of Big Al - and as such, he has a big rep behind him - when your father and grandfather are both Indy 500 legends, you tend to end up racing, and Al has proven himself worthy in three years of winning in Indy Lights. NHCR is expected to be one of the competitors for the 2012 championship, especially as road racing legend David Brabham has taught Sam Hornish Jr. much about road racing, and many of Sam's tricks on ovals have rubbed off on Brabham.

Andretti-Green Autosport

Chassis: Dallara IC12
Bodywork: Dallara Andretti V5
Engine: Honda R18 2.65 Turbo V8
Tires: Firestone Firehawk
Sponsors: Mobil 1, Motorola, DHL Express, GoDaddy.com, Klein Tools, Mugen Power, Montgomery Ward, Asus Technology
#7 Ashley Taws (CDN), #25 Buddy Rice (USA), #27 Takuma Sato (JPN), #28 J.R. Hildebrand (USA)

Andretti-Green were victorious in the 2011 season, only to see Marco Andretti and champion Danica Patrick head up into the Formula One ranks. Rebuilding from that, Japanese legend Takuma Sato and two-time Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice were brought on board to help tutor drivers, and J.R. Hildebrand, whose disastrous last-lap crash cost him the 2011 Indy 500, was joined by talented Canadian model-turned-racer Ashley Taws, who also became the new face of GoDaddy's racy marketing efforts. Rumors continue to swirl about Michael Andretti making a comeback, but so far, that had not come to anything, but Michael, it has to be said, has been working out recently.

KV Racing Technology

Chassis: Swift 054.i
Bodywork: KV-BAT M01
Engine: Chevrolet IR22 2.65 Turbo V8
Tires: Goodyear Eagle
Sponsors: Budweiser, Cingular Wireless, Adidas, British Petroleum, Bell Micro, General Dynamics
#9 Townsend Bell (USA), #19 Jacques Villeneuve (CDN), #24 Jimmy Vasser (USA)

KV Racing Technology's acrimonious split with Lotus did cause some trouble for them after 2011, and the departure of the "Russian Rocket" Vitaly Petrov caused more trouble, and the late-season problems forced team owners Jacques Villeneuve and Jimmy Vasser back to driving duties. KVRT is looking at 2012 as a rebuilding year, but they are not troubled by that. One alliance is heavily in their favor - Vasser and new F1 team boss Alex Zanardi are great friends, and two share data on aerodynamics and other information often, which if Zanardi is successful, should help KVRT get back going quickly.

A.J. Foyt Enterprises

Chassis: Coyote R4
Bodywork: Coyote RB4
Engine: Chevrolet IR22 2.65 Turbo V8
Tires: Goodyear Eagle
Sponsors: United States Navy, Hewlett-Packard, ABC Supply Company, Atari Spirit, Delta Air Lines, Copenhagen, Wrangler
#14 A.J. Foyt IV (USA), #41 Ana Beatriz (BR)

2011 was a year to remember for AJ Foyt's rag-tag, Texas-tough team. After Beatriz's shocking win in the Indy 500, the Coyote proved to be amazingly good as a race car, and Foyt IV, or Quattro as he is popularly known for his wild driving style, became a regular force. Quattro's marriage to Casey Irsay, daughter of NFL team owner Jim Irsay, had the added effect of bringing a lot of the Indianapolis Colts' team into knowledge and interest in Indycar. Rumors of Irsay and/or Peyton Manning being involved in the team grew after one of Manning's rivals, New England's Tom Brady, bought into the Newman-Haas squad, but so far Super Tex keeps his team his. They are expected to be very good in 2012, but just how good nobody yet knows.

Dreyer and Reinbold Team Lotus

Chassis: Lotus Type 134
Bodywork: Lotus R6I
Engine: Lotus-Proton Type 988 3.5 V12
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport
Sponsors: Lotus, Under Armour, Rockstar Energy Drink, Loctite, Interstate Batteries, Harrod's, Norfolk Southern
#55 Casey Mears (USA), #59 Ernesto "E.J." Viso (VZ), #65 Mike Conway (UK)

Dreyer and Reinbold now carries Lotus' flag as their chief team, along with Derrick Walker and Bryan Herta's outfits, and their primary aim is to show that KVRT's leaving them as a big, big mistake. Unlike most team, the drivers for the team - EJ Viso, Casey Mears and Mike Conway - haven't changed from 2011, and the team has improved its staff, and they feel a championship for them is very much possible.

Stewart-Haas Racing

Chassis: Lola IC12/90
Bodywork: Lola Haas M20
Engine: Chevrolet IR22 2.65 Turbo V8
Tires: Firestone Firehawk
Sponsors: Pepsi, The Home Depot, Old Spice, Square D, Forgeline, William Rast, Gran Turismo
#20 Tony Stewart (USA), #40 Kenny Irwin Jr. (USA)

Stewart Haas rolls high into 2012 after a successful 2011, with Stewart taking the championship for the fifth time and winning four times, showing that the "Smoke and Kenny Show", as Sebastien Bourdais called it in 2011, is still very much alive and kicking. Stewart is one of the remaining teams using both Lola chassis and bodywork, but Lola claims to have found a revolution in how to improve the car's drag numbers, which will likely give them a big edge.

Walker Team Lotus

Chassis: Lotus Type 134
Bodywork: Lotus R6I
Engine: Lotus-Proton Type 988 3.5 V12
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport
Sponsors: Valvoline, Lotus, Cummins Diesel, Zerex, Centrix Financial, Rockford Fosgate, Lenovo
#5 Justin Wilson (UK), #15 Memo Gidley (USA)

2011 was the end of an era for one of the longest team-driver pairings in modern times, as Robby Gordon retired from Indycar racing, splitting with Derrick Walker after driving Walker's #5 car since 1994. Replacing Gordon, or attempting to in any case, is lanky Brit Justin Wilson, who also brings his engineers and long-time manager and strategist Jonathan Palmer to Walker with him. The number of Scots in this team has led it to be nicknamed "The Flying Scotsmen", and their involvement with Lotus and Wilson's arrival haven't reduced that view.

Forsythe Championship Racing

Chassis: Dallara IC12
Bodywork: Veilside MB5
Engine: Toyota R11 3.5 V12
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport
Sponsors: AMD, Geico, Indeck Technology, Electronic Arts, Labatt Blue, Monster Energy Drink, Motegi Wheels, EnCana, Royal Bank of Canada
#33 Paul Tracy (CDN), #55 Robert Wickens (CDN)

Gerry Forsythe's squad enters 2012 with a new Canadian to replace NASCAR-bound Patrick Carpentier in young guy Robert Wickens, who tore up the GP2 ranks in Europe in 2010 and 2011. With their usual substantial sponsorship and team organization, Forsythe's team is known for being steady improvers, which does somewhat terrify rivals, knowing that any real success they get will not be flash in the pan. Tracy says the 2012 team is the best he's ever had behind him, and few doubt that.

Team Menard

Chassis: Riley and Scott Mark XVI
Bodywork: Menard Veilside MB4M
Engine: McLaren-Chrysler-Menard VR3 2.65 Turbo V6
Tires: Firestone Firehawk
Sponsors: Menard's, Johns-Manville, Quaker State, Ryobi, Glidden, Alcoa, Sandisk, Dark Dog Energy
#60: Tony Renna (USA), #80: Sebastien Saveedra (COL)

John Menard's team returns in 2012 without his son Paul, who is headed off to try his luck in the World Sportscar Championship, and with Indy Lights top gun Sebastien Saveedra as his replacement. Menard's homebuilt Chrysler turbo engines proved in 2011 to be stupidly powerful but quite unreliable and prone to spectacular failures, best manifested by the red flag that had to come out after Menard's engine failure at Road America in 2011. However, the team is confident that their improved engines, highly-advanced new McLaren electronic engine controls and improved engine designs can keep the power but gain reliability. Most of the field is hoping that isn't true. Renna is a proven winner, Saveedra has a big reputation and the team is often called "country boys with skills". If Menard's engines are good, this team will be as well.

Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing

Chassis: Swift 054.i
Bodywork: Rahal RBV2
Engine: Ferrari IEV11 3.5 Flat-12
Tires: Firestone Firehawk
Sponsors: Miller Lite, Wal-Mart, AMP Energy Drink, Mi-Jack, Archer Daniels Midland, Yellow-Roadway, Tide, Agip
#8 AJ Allmendinger (USA), #17 Colin Braun (USA), #31 Pippa Mann (UK)

Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan is on a roll coming into 2012 after massively improving in 2011, and they have landed a big surprise in getting Ferrari to agree to allow the usage of its wild Flat-12 Formula One motor in an Indycar. Some have said that the engine is likely to be much too fragile for use on big ovals, but Rahal doesn't think so. Team co-owner David Letterman has said that this is the year he thinks he'll be having his Indycar champ on his highly-rated late-night TV show, and with huge sponsorship from Wal-Mart, PepsiCo and SABMiller, money is not lacking in any way, and AJ Allmendinger is a proven hot shoe, and sportscar gun Braun and the beautiful touring car ace Mann come with big reputations.

Panther Motorsport

Chassis: Riley and Scott Mark XVI
Bodywork: Riley and Scott RB4
Engine: Chevrolet IR22 2.65 Turbo V8
Tires: Goodyear Eagle
Sponsors: Pennzoil Platinum, Blackberry, Meijer, Bryant Company, Saputo, Bowers and Wilkins, Snapple, Lincoln Tech, Rays Engineering
#44 Scott Speed (USA), #66 Wade Cunningham (AUS), #77 Alex Tagliani (CDN)

Panther may be without J.R. Hildebrand and Sam Hornish Jr. now, but don't count these guys out of anything. Scott Speed's dash for glory in the Indy 500 made a legend out of the lead-footed young man, and veteran Alex Tagliani is there to make sure him and teammate Wade Cunningham are able to run successfully. Panther has always been well-regarded, especially on ovals, but this team is one which many believe is capable of contending for a championship.

All American Racers

Chassis: Riley and Scott Mark XVI
Bodywork: Eagle RAS V3
Engine: Toyota R11 3.5 V12
Tires: Goodyear Eagle
Sponsors: Castrol Syntec, Subway, FedEx, Quiksilver, Konica Minolta, Kobalt Tools, Denso
#36 Alex Gurney (USA), #98 Dan Wheldon (UK)

Dan Gurney's legendary team drives into 2012 in its second year after switching from their own Eagle chassis to Riley and Scott chassis, but the development of them has made them better every year, and the team of Dan's talented son Alex and veteran series champ Dan Wheldon is not a team to take lightly. Many have said that the AAR effort leaves much to be desired, but many people aren't so sure, and as the R&S chassis is now common in the field (also used by Ganassi, Menard and Panther), the team says its efforts won't be in vain.

Sarah Fisher Racing

Chassis: Coyote R4
Bodywork: Coyote RB4
Engine: Chevrolet IR22 2.65 Turbo V8
Tires: Goodyear Eagle
Sponsors: Walgreens, Lululemon Athletica, Calsonic Visteon, Dollar General, ADT, Nordica, AEM
#57 Anthony Lazzaro (USA), #67 Sarah Fisher (USA)

Sarah Fisher's third-year team now has their boss back in the car after the birth of her second child late in 2011 - apparently, Sarah just likes racing too much, it seems. Fisher, one of the first female winners in Indycars, has what is very much a family-based team but a professonal one, and one that has impressed much of the field, so much so that when AJ Foyt went looking for a B-Team to help with the development of his Coyote chassis project, Fisher was the most logical choice. Sarah herself has plenty of unfinished business in the series, and new teammate Anthony Lazzaro, nicknamed the "Southern Boy" by Foyt, is known for his heavy right foot. Small team be damned, these guys mean business.

Adrian Fernandez Racing

Chassis: Lola IC12/90
Bodywork: Lola M20
Engine: Honda R18 2.65 Turbo V8
Tires: Firestone Firehawk
Sponsors: Tecate, Telmex, Pemex, Televisa, Herdez, Corona Extra, Soriana
#32 Adrian Fernandez (MEX), #48 Memo Rojas (MEX), #76 Mario Dominguez (MEX), #82 Michel Jourdain Jr. (MEX)

When Adrian Fernandez became an owner-driver in 2000, not many people were impressed with the idea of an all-Mexican team. Those people aren't laughing anymore. Fernandez' team now has four drivers, all Mexicans, and a raft of sponsorship from the native country they all share. Memo Rojas is the young gun of the team and a serious wheelman, and Fernandez, Dominguez and Jourdain are all guys who know how to win. Their 2012 designation as Honda's second factory squad adds to this, as it means Honda's prodigious support is now easily available to them. Fernandez has stated he wants to be a champion before he retires, and even nearing age 50 as he is, he's still got the skill to win.

Vector Automotive Indycar Team

Chassis: Swift 054.i
Bodywork: Boeing RC797
Engine: Chevrolet IR22 2.65 Turbo V8
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport
Sponsors: Caterpillar, Sony Playstation, NAPA Auto Parts, Petro-Canada, Rock and Revolution, Republic Services, Southern Pacific Lines
#21 Kurt Busch (USA), #42 Ariel Hill (CDN), #83 Scott Dixon (NZ)

Vector Automotive continues its wicked expansion into Indycars for 2012, namely getting in to groom its future F1 drivers. Kyle Busch's similarly-aggressive brother Kurt, after years in the NASCAR arena, moves to Indycars, with Half-Native Canadian woman Ariel Hill and veteran Scott Dixon as teammates. The former Bettenhausen team is nothing to scoff at, and all American race fans are well aware of the exploits of Vector in the Formula One World Championship. New or not, this team is not to be discounted under any circumstances.

Payton / Coyne Racing

Chassis: Dallara IC12
Bodywork: Veilside MB5
Engine: Toyota R11 3.5 V12
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport
Sponsors: Bacardi Red, Powerade, LG Electronics, Virgin Mobile, Irwin Tools, NTN Bearings, Simple Green
#34 Nelson Phillipe (FRA), #63 Michael McDowell (USA), #91 Robert Doornbos (NED)

Dale Coyne's team, once upon a time, was the bottom-feeder of the Indycar paddock, barely hanging on......but dedication and passion paid well for both Coyne and his co-owner, NFL legend Walter Payton, who is a very passionate supporter of the sport and has served to introduce it to many markets it would otherwise never have been known in. Coyne's 2012 driver lineup is said to be the strongest ever, with persistent Frenchman Nelson Phillipe, fast-footed Dutchman Robert Doornbos and American racer Michael McDowell, all of which have extensive open wheel car experience, and sponsorship has not been hard to find for them, with the team's excellent results in 2011.

How The Field Lines Up

The way drivers qualify for events is simple. For the first four races, the only guaranteed entry into the field is the defending champion (in this case, Tony Stewart). Every other car must pre-qualify on Thursday morning, with the number of cars in each field being set by the promoter, though most like large fields. (Small tracks like Barber Park only allow 28 cars, but the biggest superspeedways allow as many as 42 cars to race.) This sets the provisional field, but on Friday only the top twenty-four are in for sure, any car below that can be "bumped" from the field by another entry. At the end of the "Bump" session, the cars in the race are set but not their order.

Saturday morning qualifying determines the field. Every car in the race runs their qualifying, and the top twelve go into the "Super Session", where every car has four laps to put up their best time. Fastest here is the polesitter, and no matter if the top twelve Super Session times are faster than the cars, those top twelve make up the top 12 of the field.

The only exceptions to this qualifying procedure are Indianapolis and Michigan, which use their own four-lap qualifying system.

At the road/street/airport events at Mexico City, Miller Park, Detroit, Cleveland, Edmonton, Road America and Bridgehampton, the field starts in a standing start. It is only done at these events because the start/finish straight is wide enough to allow it to be done safely, and in large part because all of these tracks have frequent problems with first-corner crashes. This also adds an additional element of a challenge to drivers, as traction and launch control systems are explicitly illegal in Indycar racing. Debate is on on whether starting cars on longer brackstraights at Mid-Ohio, Toronto and Road Atlanta would allow for the standing starts there, too.

At the large-oval events (Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Michigan, Kentucky, Chicago and California) the field starts three across - this is not done at Texas Motor Speedway because the track is too narrow for it to be done safely. All cars are required to be fitted with bodywork that makes wheel-touching incidents impossible, this done after a rash of crashes in the 2000s that had ugly results for the drivers involved.

 

[President Al Bundy]

Newman-Haas-Cruise-Racing? Noooo, please! Don't let one of my favorite IndyCar team be run by a scientologist.

Otherwise, yours and Chipperbacks grids look good. Although I wonder where Mclaren ended up ITTL.

 

[TheMann]

Newman-Haas-Cruise-Racing? Noooo, please! Don't let one of my favorite IndyCar team be run by a scientologist.

He's an investor, not the primary team owner. He was looking at buying into a team during the Champ Car days, but it didn't happen.

Otherwise, yours and Chipperbacks grids look good. Although I wonder where Mclaren ended up ITTL.

A good question, that. Chipperback?

 

[President Al Bundy]

He's an investor, not the primary team owner. He was looking at buying into a team during the Champ Car days, but it didn't happen.

Okay. I gotta accept that, I guess. As long as he's not doing ads for you-know-what.

 

[Chipperback]

The lay of the land...sort of

" I wonder where Mclaren ended up ITTL.

First, what happened to McLaren?

McLaren became more of a constructor along the lines of March Engineering in OTL. The three of the men who would have created March, Alan Rees, Graham Coker and Robin Herd, all eventually would find their way to McLaren. March was never formed.

The fourth, Max Mosley, met Bernie Eccelstone at a meeting of interested parties among the teams at the end of the 1969 season. Mosley became Eccelstone's legal man, just like he did in OTL.


By the late 70s McLaren was looking at being more of an automotive technology consultant firm and a customer builder than a forming a full-on race team. McLaren did build some pretty awesome race cars. Their M23 concept was a hit of the go-go early 1970s for team looking to compete at the highest level in the budget. It was also the early technical blueprint for the evolution of the Hesketh BRM cars that won the 1975 and 1979 World Drivers' Championships and shared a lot of the DNA with the Lotus 72 which became the Australopithicus of the modern Formula 1 and IndyCar.

McLaren research also aided Colin Chapman in creating the ground effect concept that built the Lotus 78 and 79.

By 1979, McLaren was a serious technical liaison to many major manufacturers and was beginning branch into technology investment in a manner to TAG in the OTL (in fact McLaren was a minority shareholder in ITTL version of Techniques d'Avant Garde and developed the prototype on what would become the Porsche 956-962-962LM-971WEC family of endurance racing cars that dominated the 1980s and early 1990s)

When Ron Dennis was looking for a technical partner for his Project Four initiative in late '79, McLaren balk firstly because of Dennis' insistance that F-1 become a core business. That is not what McLaren Cars and Engineering wanted.

And there was "The Split"

The FISA-FOCA Three Years' War (1979-1982), really turned McLaren cold to Formula 1 because of their relationships with a number of automakers involved and teams involved. For McLaren, picking a side meant leaving hundreds of millions of pounds sterling on the table. Pounds sterlings that was there for the taking in endurance racing and in IndyCar racing, which was rapidly getting their house in order.

In 1980, Ron Dennis found a dance partner in Ken Tyrrell. McLaren went on to building winning IndyCars, Endurance cars and making engine management computers that later ended up on everybody's Formula 1 cars by 1984.

Today McLaren is in the design business, the supercar business and the business of alternative fuels and energy performance research. Their two biggest projects involve fuel injection systems for NASCAR Sprint Cup, advanced multi-hybrid technology for LeMans and a next-gen KERS system for Formula 1, and in addition to a Brabham-badged, BMW-powered supercar line designed by Gordon Murray.

Next up...The 2011 Izod IndyCar champion was NOT Danica Patrick. She won it in 2009. Tony Stewart won his 5th IndyCar Championship this past season with a wild comeback win in the final race, after Danica Patrick mounted a 3-race win streak to force the final deciding confrontation in her farewell to Formula 1.

(for more-- Check out the Tony Stewart entry under Indy 500 winners -- My apologies for not making that more clear )

"but I would say that the US is unlikely to have three Grands Prix."

In OTL timeline. I'd agree. But this timeline is different because of the racing-cultural and economic realities of the times. Also, the Austin, Texas event is co-sponsored by Texan and Mexican promoters (Adrian Fernandez's PR firm is doing the bulk of the work. They got Pemex on board).

Cue up "I.G.Y" by Donald Fagen and read on.

I'll start with the latter first. The broad economic and political framework of this timeline will be based mainly along TheMann's brilliant "Transport America TL" with some minor differences but the major points carry over. On that train of graphite and glitter. Undersea by rail.

The ITTL 2012 has a greater level of technical innovation, industrial and economic prosperity in the United States and much of the industrialized world. I'm even hopeful to think that perhaps this innovation and ingenuity has and spread around the globe

What does this mean to the gearhead/petrolhead. It means he or she has a pretty good job and at a good wage. A way to get to work in many cases that not only isn't tackling his or her pocketbook its decreasing his or her "carbon footprint", too. Now what does that mean? It probably means that race fan has a little more money to spend and is more willing to travel to see a race, whether that race is in Rockingham, North Carolina or Rockingham, England.

And lets consider the racing-culture of America, and in some ways our total culture. The American Race Fan ITTL 2012 is more plugged into world motorsport than most racing fans would be OTL, and the same works in the other direction.

The origins of this? Read the lists of champions we have here. ITTL 2012 is a time where the history of racing has seen Dan Gurney win multiple championships in Formula 1 and LeMans, along with A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, the Unsers, etc.winning international races. The Indianapolis 500 to this day is considered an International event and gets a worldwide audience. You've had 6 foreign-born Daytona 500 winners, one of which came all the way from Finland. In many ways Americans have earned a place in the racing world equal to the respect Americans earned in FIM Grand Prix motorcycling racing in the 1970s and 1980s.

A.J. Foyt was as much a hero to young Eddie Irvine growing up in Northern Ireland, as he was to young Tony Stewart growing up in Indiana. And that works the other way, too. When I was a kid going to NASCAR races ITTL (You think I could only exist in a post-nuclear hellhole and not in what would be a nirvana for me?! LOL!), I had a Keke Rosberg #15 T-Shirt, and I liked seeing "The Yankee James Hunt"...and watching Willy T. Ribbs win in Trans Am and IndyCar...and saw Gilles Villenueve do that 4-wheel drift at Watkins Glen in 1983 past Alain Prost...and I got to meet Dr. Ayrton Senna at a symposium at Boston College last year...He signed my picture of him winning the 1988 Detroit Grand Prix, and then gave me an instant lecture on Infrastructural Microlending and Social Justice.

Lewis Hamilton's favorite driver growing up in go-karts? His future teammate Jeff Gordon.

You've had a greater American involvement in the sport worldwide and a greater global involvement in the sport here in America, right down to the manufacturers. In many ways that was one of the dreams OTL that a great driver-constructor named Dan Gurney had.

That dream was realized ITTL with Mr. Gurney, as a racer, constructor, and later as a Penske-esque industralist.

"especially as you have a pile of Indycar drivers in your 2012 Formula One season."

Well, the Formula 1 teams know where the talent is (lol!).

But actually the advantage is in IndyCar's court. More and more European, Brazillian and Asian drivers are looking at America, because ITTL, the development streams are stronger and are more open and diverse. Something that FOA Chairman Damon Hill is trying to work on in greater detail for FIA Championships, The WRC has the right idea, and that championship is becoming quite popular with more and more young drivers.

Even with the expense and sacrifice that goes into it, it is a good time to be a young race driver there is a lot of options, and you don't necessarily have to look like the drivers of the past to get a shot....

But it doesn't hurt to have a name....as long as you have talent...

And there some serious young talent. Grahame Rahal and Chase Elliott, Darrell Wallace Jr....and Jacqueline Cevert....and there was this cute little 13-year old girl in a quarter midget....and she was kicking butt and she had that smile...just like her wild daddy did a while ago.

What a wonderful world this will be.

 

[TheMann]

So Tony Stewart was the 2011 Indycar Champ, then. OK, I'll adjust the comments to fix that.

Anyways, I did write Transport America with the goal of not just improving America's transportation but also its wealth. America's current OTL state rather disgusts me, not because of the people, who are just as hardworking and intelligent as they ever were, but because the business and political leaders are such short-sighted, all-about-the-Benjamins assclowns. In Transport America, of course, that isn't the case any more, and you are correct in pointing out that America's middle class, through better paying jobs, lower energy and transportation costs and the fact that they don't need to worry about paying high health insurance premiums, have quite a lot more money to spend as disposable income. The better air travel of that would probably add to that, too, and you are correct that said innovation and wealth has spread to much of the world, which in turn is forcing humanity to deal with carbon dioxide emissions and global warming much more seriously - though as usual, the Americans are ahead of the curve, with General Motors, Ford and Chrysler-AMC all being some of the world's biggest makers of hybrids, GM having pioneered the series hybrid - who else could other than the world's largest diesel locomotive manufacturer? - and both Ford and GM being open supporters of the development of high-powered clean diesels, cellulosic ethanol-fueled vehicles and, of course, hydrogen fuel cells. The overall result would indeed be a much bigger base for sponsors and much more interest for manufacturers, which also means racing in Indycars, or indeed NASCAR, IMSA or even smaller series like Trans-Am or the SCCA World Challenge, would be big business. That would draw in plenty of foreigners for racing in America and have the best American wheelmen be more respected abroad, but I still very much figure that Americans will want to root for their own, just as fans from nearly everywhere do.

You are quite right that international success by American drivers would grow the knowledge of European and Asian racing in America. (I'm still having to get my head around an AJ Foyt-Mario Andretti Formula One team. Anybody who knows Indycars knows that Foyt and Mario were each others' greatest rival for a very long time. The idea of them as teammates is, well, surprising, though it would probably get the fans to shut up from time to time about who is the better one. Or then again, it might just make them argue over who was the better F1 driver....) If the Indy 500 is as big an international race and you're saying it is, they may have by now bit the bullet and built the world's biggest sports facility out of it by building grandstands all the way around, though you wouldn't be able to see much from the backstraight stands.

 

[TheMann]

So, what are the rules for the sportscar world in your world, Chipperback?

 

[Chipperback]

I only have two

1. LeMans is an off weekend for every other major series if possible.

2. Petit LeMans in Atlanta is called "Petit" because its considered a Little Brother to the 24 Heures. Petit LeMans is still a 24-hour race.

Other than that the FIA World Endurance Championship is whatever you or anybody who takes up putting that series together wants it to be.

 

[TheMann]

1. LeMans is an off weekend for every other major series if possible.

It's an off-weekend for Indycar, you made it that way for Formula One and I think it's that way for Al Bundy's WTCC.

2. Petit LeMans in Atlanta is called "Petit" because its considered a Little Brother to the 24 Heures. Petit LeMans is still a 24-hour race.

Petit Le Mans IOTL has always been a 10 Hour / 1000 mile event. Did you change that somewhere? Holding a 24-Hour race at Road Atlanta isn't possible because the locals would complain about the noise on Sunday Morning. (A problem Road America discovered IOTL.)

Other than that the FIA World Endurance Championship is whatever you or anybody who takes up putting that series together wants it to be.

OK, so I can say its about a series that runs on all six continents, with about 16 rounds, and is divided up into Prototype 1, Prototype 2, Prototype GT, GT1 and GT2 elements then.

Prototype 1
This category is the real prototypes here and is a pretty wide-open category, but require open-topped cars. This is the big bucks and big speed category, with major manufacturers being the most common (but not exclusive) entrants.
Vehicle Rules:
- Maximum car size: 4875 mm (191.93 in) in length, 2000 mm (78.74 in) in width and 1250 mm (49.21 in) in height
- All cars must be designed to carry two people and have a provision for a second seat
- Only open-roof cars are allowed
- Minimum weight (with driver and required fluids, but not fuel): 900 kg (1984 lb)
- Maximum engine displacement of 7000cc for naturally-aspirated production-based engines, 6000cc for naturally-aspirated racing engines, 4000cc for forced-induction engines of all fuels. Equivalency formula used for engines using gas turbine or rotary engines
- No limit on number of cylinders in an engine, as long as it meets displacement rules
- Engines restricted using intake restrictors to roughly 700 horsepower
- Fuel capacity limits of 90L for gasoline engines, 75L for diesels, 80L for natural gas, 110L for E85 ethanol, 83L for hybrid diesel, 85L for hybrid gasoline
- Maximum wheel diameter of 29 inches (including tires) and maximum width of 16 inches
- Rear wing width limited to 2000 mm or the width of the car
- Bodywork must cover all mechanical portions of the car, so it cannot be viewed from the top, front or sides

Prototype 2
These cars are also real prototypes, but subject to a few extra rules. Manufacturer entrants are not allowed in Prototype 2, and all cars must be available for any comer to purchase and with a price limit. These cars are slower than P1 category entrants, but not that much slower. This category only allows production-based engines, though production-based diesel and/or rotary engines are legal and the use of E85 Ethanol in the Prototype 2 category is legal
Vehicle Rules:
- Maximum car size: 4400 mm (173.23 in) in length, 2000 mm (78.74 in) in width and 1250 mm (49.21 in) in height
- All cars must be designed to carry two people and have a provision for a second seat
- Only open-roof cars are allowed
- Minimum weight (with driver and required fluids, but not fuel): 800 kg (1764 lb)
- Only production-based engines allowed
- Maximum engine displacement of 5000cc for naturally-aspirated engines, 3200cc for forced-induction engines, 4400cc for diesel engines, equivalency formula used for rotary engines
- No limit on number of cylinders in an engine, as long as it meets displacement rules
- Engines restricted using intake restrictors to roughly 520 horsepower
- Fuel capacity limits of 90L for gasoline engines, 75L for diesels, 110L for E85 ethanol
- Maximum wheel diameter of 25.5 inches (including tires) and maximum width of 14 inches
- Rear wing width limited to 2000 mm or the width of the car
- Bodywork must cover all mechanical portions of the car, so it cannot be viewed from the top, front or sides
- Chassis has a price limit for a rolling chassis (minus engine and electronics) of $220,000
- Engine has a price limit (minus electronics) of $40,000

Prototype GT
This category is for GT1 cars with bodywork resembling road cars, and all cars in this category are required to be closed-roof chassis with a windshield and two doors. The weight limit rises slightly to counteract this, but the wheels are slightly bigger to help counteract the extra weight. This category also requires the cars that are being mimicked to share the basic engine architecture of their road-going counterparts, as well as the limits in displacement. Many of the other prototype rules are the same as Prototype 1 though.
Vehicle Rules:
- Maximum car size: 4875 mm (191.93 in) in length, 2000 mm (78.74 in) in width and 1250 mm (49.21 in) in height
- All cars must be designed to carry two people and have a provision for a second seat
- Only closed-roof cars are allowed
- Minimum weight (with driver and required fluids, but not fuel): 950 kg (2094 lb)
- Only production-based engines allowed, must be the same engine architecture as the road-going version of the GT car
- Maximum engine displacement of 7000cc for naturally-aspirated production-based engines, 4000cc for forced-induction engines, 5000cc for diesels, equivalency formula for gas turbine and hybrid powered vehicles
- No limit on number of cylinders in an engine, as long as it meets displacement rules
- Engines restricted using intake restrictors to roughly 700 horsepower
- Fuel capacity limits of 90L for gasoline engines, 75L for diesels, 110L for E85 ethanol
- Maximum wheel diameter of 29 inches (including tires) and maximum width of 17 inches
- Rear wing width limited to 2000 mm or the width of the car
- Bodywork must cover all mechanical portions of the car, so it cannot be viewed from the top, front or sides

GT1
GT1 cars are the biggest and fastest of the four categories of GT entrants, the biggest of big dogs and all are based on the most exotic of road cars, including the Ferrari 599 Fiorano, Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, Aston Martin DBS, Nissan GT-R, Lamborghini Aventador, Saleen S7 and Pagani Zonda. Factory support for teams here is nearly universal, with departments such as Chevrolet's Corvette Competition Department and Ferrari's Corsa Clienti programs providing plenty of support to the entrants, though the runners in GT2 tend to be the closer to true privateer entrants. Most cars in this field use naturally-aspirated engines, though Nissan has been steadfast in sticking with their twin-turbocharged V6 engine.
Vehicle Rules:
- Maximum car size: 4875 mm (191.93 in) in length, 2000 mm (78.74 in) in width and 1400 mm (55.12 in) in height
- All cars must be designed to carry two people and have a provision for a second seat
- Only closed-roof cars are allowed
- Cars must be based off of a vehicle that has been homologated for use in the GT category, with a minimum production of 50 cars in one calendar year, and the vehicles in question being fully legal for use on public roadways in its nation of manufacture
- Minimum weight (with driver and required fluids, but not fuel): 1200 kg (2646 lb)
- Only production-based engines allowed, must be the same engine architecture as the road-going version of the GT car
- Maximum engine displacement of 8000cc for naturally-aspirated production-based engines, 4500cc for forced-induction engines, 5000cc for diesels, equivalency formula for gas turbine and hybrid powered vehicles
- No limit on number of cylinders in an engine, as long as it meets displacement rules
- Engines restricted using intake restrictors to roughly 750 horsepower
- Fuel capacity limits of 90L for gasoline engines, 75L for diesels, 110L for E85 ethanol
- Maximum wheel diameter of 29 inches (including tires) and maximum width of 15.5 inches front, 18 inches rear
- Rear wing width limited to 2000 mm or the width of the car
- Bodywork must cover all mechanical portions of the car, so it cannot be viewed from any angle
- Vehicles are only allowed to be rear-wheel-drive, regardless of the drivetrain of the vehicle of which the racing car is based off of
- Vehicles must retain the same floorpan to roof dimension, with chopping of the roof in the vehicle being explicitly illegal

Examples of GT1 Cars:
- Lamborghini Aventador XR
- Ferrari 599 Fiorano GTS
- Chevrolet Corvette ZR1.R2
- Saleen S7-R
- Nissan GT-R Spec VR
- Pagani Zonda C12GT
- Chrysler Viper SR-GT
- Aston Martin DBR9
- Lexus LFA GT

GT2
Smaller and slower but still capable of putting on a show, the GT2 category is for very serious road cars that do not meet the standards of the GT1 hypercars. GT2 cars are also considerably less expensive, and thanks to considerable support by Porsche, Ferrari, Corvette, Ford and Lotus, the GT2 field is a big one, with tons of well-supported private entrants in both Europe and North America.
Vehicle Rules:
- Maximum car size: 4875 mm (191.93 in) in length, 2000 mm (78.74 in) in width and 1400 mm (55.12 in) in height
- All cars must be designed to carry two people and have a provision for a second seat
- Only closed-roof cars are allowed
- Cars must be based off of a vehicle that has been homologated for use in the GT category, with a minimum production of 200 cars in one calendar year, and the vehicles in question being fully legal for use on public roadways in its nation of manufacture
- Minimum weight (with driver and required fluids, but not fuel): 1200 kg (2646 lb)
- Only production-based engines allowed, must be the same engine architecture as the road-going version of the GT car
- Maximum engine displacement of 6000cc for naturally-aspirated production-based engines, 3500cc for forced-induction engines, 5000cc for diesels, equivalency formula for gas turbine and hybrid powered vehicles
- No limit on number of cylinders in an engine, as long as it meets displacement rules
- Engines restricted using intake restrictors to roughly 520 horsepower
- Fuel capacity limits of 90L for gasoline engines, 75L for diesels, 110L for E85 ethanol
- Maximum wheel diameter of 26.5 inches (including tires) and maximum width of 14 inches front, 17 inches rear
- Rear wing width limited to 2000 mm or the width of the car
- Bodywork must cover all mechanical portions of the car, so it cannot be viewed from any angle
- Vehicles are only allowed to be rear-wheel-drive, regardless of the drivetrain of the vehicle of which the racing car is based off of
- Vehicles must retain the same floorpan to roof dimension, with chopping of the roof in the vehicle being explicitly illegal

Examples of GT2 Cars:
- Porsche 911 GT3-RSR
- Ferrari 458 Italia GTC
- Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
- Chrysler Viper Competition Coupe GT2 (Comp Coupe GT2s are allowed an exception to use a 6000cc variant of the Hemi V8)
- Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 LM
- BMW M3 GT2
- Lexus LFA GT2
- Jaguar XKR GT
- Lotus Evora GTE
- Aston Martin V12 Vanquish GT
- Mosler MT900R
- Cadillac CTS-V Coupe GT

 

[TheMann]

In case anyone is wondering, this is what a Corvette in Prototype GT trim looks like:

 

[Chipperback]

"Holding a 24-Hour race at Road Atlanta isn't possible because the locals would complain about the noise on Sunday Morning. (A problem Road America discovered IOTL.)

Well that's a 24-hour race Jacky and Vanina Ickx can't do this year. It won't exist

 

[President Al Bundy]

In case anyone is wondering, this is what a Corvette in Prototype GT trim looks like:

I thought more about something along the lines of SuperGT, but this one also looks good.

I need some more part-time entries, especially for the rounds in the Americas (plus Spa). I imagine that some NASCAR/IndyCar/IMSA teams have affiliates in either Trans-AM (Which runs according to class 1 rules) or the ATCC (Classes 2 and 3 then), who would like to contest the world championship rounds.

I decided to do a rough line-up of TTLs touring car scene:

List of championships that run on class 1 regulations (apart from WTCC)
- Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft
- Japanese Touring Car Championship
- Trans-AM
- Campeonato Turismo Sudamericano/Campeonato Turismo Sul Americano[1]
- New Zealand Touring Car Championship

List of championships that run on class 2/class 3 regulations (apart from WTCC)
- British Touring Car Championship
- Scandinavian Touring Car Championship
- Russian Touring Car Championship
- Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (2nd and 3rd Division)
- BNL Touring Car Series[2]
- Championnat Français de Voiture de Tourisme
- Campionato Italiano Turismo
- Campeonato Turismo de Ibérico[3]
- South African Touring Car Championship
- Turismo Competición Argentina
- Competição de turismo Brazil
- Campeonato Turismo de Mexico
- American Touring Car Championship
- Canadian Touring Car Championship
- CanAm Touring Car Cup[4]
- Japanese Touring Car Championship (2nd and 3rd Division)
- Chinese Touring Car Championship
- South-East Asian Touring Car Cup
- Indian Touring Car Challenge
- Australian Procar Cup[5]
- New Zealand Touring Car Championship (2nd and 3rd Division)

[1] The result of the merger between Turismo Carratera from Argentina and Stock Car Brazil.
[2] The BNL Touring Car Series was the result of a merger between the Belgian and Dutch touring car series. Nowadays the series does four races in the Netherlands and Belgium each, two in Luxemburg, one in France and one in Germany (usually at the Nürburgring).
[3] Result of the merger between both Iberian touring car championships.
[4] An off-season series which runs on three Canadian and three American circuit and is contested by teams and drivers from both series (Although some guest starters from around the world start here and there, too), although the CanAm name was just adopted for pragmatic reasons.
[5] The series runs clearly under the shadows of the Australian V8 Supercars championship, one of the few touring car championships that doesn't run to FIA rules.