Mansell came 3rd in the 1993 500, his first Oval race. Rossi's results in his first IndyCar season on ovals were better than road courses when he made the switch from F1/GP2. I expect a lot from Fred. Personally, if he wants to prove he is the best all around driver, I want to see him in a rally car
After actually watching some video of Alonso's run on 5/15 I came away thinking he was a little too jerky, maybe a little too aggressive, and he didn't flow up to the wall very smoothly. You can't do that stuff at top speed at Indy, can you? Or put another way, you can't get to top speed at Indy doing that stuff, can you? -F
Mansell's first oval "race" (he didn't start) was at Phoenix, where he crashed really hard in practice. IIRC he literally punched a hole in the wall with the gearbox. He didn't make the start due to back injuries from the crash. Image Unavailable, Please Login
He will get closer to the walls when he becomes more comfortable in the car. At the moment he is getting a feel for driving the car in traffic. It seems that it has been pretty windy at the track for the past two days, not the time to take downforce off the car.
So his first oval race was Indy. (I was gonna post the same thing, but he didn't race at Phoenix, so I didn't.... )
Oh thtop....not his firtht oval race. He didn't thtart!!! Again (btw, political correctness is not my thing....in case you were wondering.... )
I haven't watched, however it is hard to tell from a description. Some of the best do allow the car to move around with the bumps and winds, this makes it look "jerky" but the reality is they are keeping the friction down. They are faster for not trying to hold the line. On the other hand, you have folks over much trying to hold a line, and this causes them to over correct back and forth across the line. So to some extent, yes, you can be very fast as a "jerky" driver - if the jerks are from the environment and the driver flows with them. If the jerks are from the driver, no, it is slow on an oval that way. They've taken the stands down, but I used to love sitting at the exit of turn 2 at Charlotte Motorspeed way in a dead line with the back straight. The fast guys let the car flow off the corner, the wind and bumps made their line, they let it deviate. They didn't try to hold it straight to a line.
Furmano, you could be onto something. I remember when Alonso was just becoming a F-1 ace. One of the expert commentators, Jackie Stewart I recall, said Fernando's initial turn in motion seemed jerkier than others. He then guessed that FA did this deliberately to get the front end to take its set or lean. Wish I could recall the race & find the youtube.
FA just reeled off a 225.128 for about 5th quick on the day. Starting to show some front-runner's speed?
This is strong karting behavior, the angle of the chassis is effected by steering input. It leans the kart over before the load on the tires puts the lean there. Harsh turn in, followed by backing off on the steering wheel. On high profile tires, the tread does not initially match the underlying angle of the wheel hub. This means you need to steer greater, until the rubber catches up. It'd be interesting to have today's slow motion high definition cameras in yesterday's F1.
In theory this should be a walk in the park for Alonso. In Monaco he would be doing something like 5000 gear changes,choosing braking points for 16 varied corners on each of the 78 laps (1248).Running very close to the unforgiving barriers.Low Average speed. Not much overtaking possible. At Indy hardly any gear changes,virtually no braking for 4 fairly similar corners for 200 laps (800) .Running very close to the wall a lot of the time.Very high average speed.Lots of overtaking. I am sure it will not be that easy for Alonso.He has done his fair share of slipstreaming/drafting over the years but of course at Indy it is crucial to get it right.If he can get a clean run he will be very fast,traffic is the big problem.
The wind has a big effect on the corners i heard,and different team strategy's come into play of course. Alonso is one of those guys who loves to drive flat out from start to finish ,a thing which has been impossible in the last years in F1 due to tyre wear etc.So he will relish the challenge for sure,i am not saying winning the Indy 500 is at all 'easy' .
You're learning... [to be precise (or is it accurate...I always get 'em confused...) it has a big effect on the downforce..., not the corner itself } [as opposed to some that "know".... Modesty is the key. (yes, "key" is my key word. )]
Reaching top speed at an oval is a pretty different skill than getting the fastest lap on a road course. A simplistic view is that because an oval has fewer apexes to deal with and you only turn in one direction and gear change sequences are simpler, it would be easy for an F1 driver, especially one as skilled as Alonso. But reaching top speed at an oval has its own challenges. In fact, maybe even challenges that go against the skills of an F1 driver. You've got to be pretty cool to reach top speed and keep it going for more than a few laps, as the pack continuously tries to overtake you. Alonso is pretty cool so who knows? -F
