MOTORSPORT: Gold Coast Indy dynamite

Firstly, for anyone not immediately familiar with the subject, this year's Gold Coast Indy is scheduled for October 23-26, but it won't be a round of the IndyCar championship that this season has seen the former Champ Car series that ran in Queensland each year amalgamated with the IRL, which had been the stronger of two series during the infamous 12-year split in American open-wheeler racing.

But the Gold Coast is not on the 2009 IRL/IndyCar calendar, and it seems the only time the series would think of coming to Queensland in '09 is September -- when the Gold Coast doesn't need it because its accommodation is already full, primarily with school-holidaying Australians, and it is also the time of Australia's football finals.

The Gold Coast organisers, and Queensland government, want the race to stay in October.

Those Gold Coast organisers and that Queensland government kept from public view until about a month ago the turmoil behind the scenes in their relationship with the IRL.

Even when the difficulties became public those organisers and that government tried to brush it all off as far less serious than it obviously is and painted a picture of this year's Gold Coast Indy being the place where the parties will sort it all out.

All that has done is buy the Gold Coast organisers and government a little time to get their act -- and propaganda -- together so they are not caught out as badly again as they were when the 2009 IRL calendar was released without Surfers' Paradise on it.

What is now clear is that there is a lot to sort out -- or, to put it another way, the parties are a long way apart.

A brief article we came across this week on the website of America's Autoweek tells us that the gist of the frictions is that IndyCar teams have been told they will get somewhere between US$10,000 and US$30,000 per car for the trip to Oz in a few weeks, while they reckon the cost to them is US$100,000 per car -- without allowing for any crash damage.

Autoweek also says the teams will only send skeleton crews as they will each be given a limit of 15 airfares -- and the tickets will only be from Los Angeles, leaving the teams to meet the costs of transporting their people within continental US.

This all sounds a lot different to the early days of the Gold Coast Indy, when no expense was spared in getting the American show to our shores.

This week's Auto Action magazine carried the thrust of the Autoweek article, but it was easily missed hidden away on page 12.

Nevertheless, couching of the details either side of the pond is not going to assist the process -- and we suspect that the "marriage" of the Gold Coast and Indy racing is coming to an end, unless someone somewhere on the Gold Coast or in Brisbane pulls a big rabbit out of a hat.

Although the A1 GP series is not without its problems, most embarrassingly having to postpone what was to have been the imminent start of its fourth season because of delays in building its new Ferrari-designed and powered cars, we can see the odds increasingly swinging in its favor as a replacement for IndyCars as the international open-wheeler component of the Gold Coast event, sharing the main billing with the V8 Supercars.

Another of A1's problems is that it lacks big-name drivers, although that may improve in a hurry with talk that Andretti Green Racing will run the US team and field Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti -- who are also half of its IndyCar line-up.

One of Tony George's seemingly sacred commands for the amalgamated IRL series is that it concludes in the US -- and that's one of the reasons why a late October round in Queensland (after Bathurst, the MotoGP at Phillip Island, and perhaps every second year from next September a Rally Australia close by to the Gold Coast) is awkward.

This season's IRL has only two rounds to go -- this weekend in Detroit and next weekend in Chicago.

Brisbane-born New Zealander could wrap up the title in Detroit. If Dixon wins there his only rival, Brazilian Helio Castroneves' hopes are over.

Even if Dixon finishes between second and 10th for Ganassi Racing there are various scenarios that could eliminate Castroneves. But if Dixon finishes 11th or worse Castroneves remains in contention.

On the positive side is that the Brazilian and his Australian partner in Team Penske, Ryan Briscoe, have filled the front row at the last three road/street events in the IRL -- including last weekend at Sonoma in California, where they also finished 1-2.

Although that was Castroneves' first victory of the year he is the only driver to have been running at the finish of every race this season, in which there have been eight winners -- including Briscoe twice.

The Aussie takes on a heavier workload this weekend, also driving in the American Le Mans Series round in Detroit for Penske. That will put him back, in place of dumped German Sascha Maassen and with American Patrick Long, in a Porsche Spyder RS like he drove for Penske all of last season.

He will drive the remaining ALMS rounds through to October's Petit Le Mans, in which Scott Dixon also will race -- but for Gil de Ferran rather than Ganassi.

Here are some reports on Briscoe's new "double" duty from

Briscoe's return to ALMS will also pit him against another of Australia's quiet achievers overseas, David Brabham, in the LMP2 category of that series.

We endeavour to keep readers abreast of how our best Aussies are going overseas in motorsport but admit we have perhaps neglected "Brabs", so here are a couple of links -- hondanews.com and paddocktalk.com to bring those keen to know more about him driving an Acura -- a Honda brand -- up to date.

The first of these pieces reminds us that he did beat Michael Schumacher in the Macau Grand Prix 20 years ago!

Vale Phil Hill - America's first F1 world champion
The name Brabham brings us to some sad news -- the death overnight of Phil Hill, the only US-born driver to win the Formula 1 world championship and a contemporary of David Brabham's father, Sir Jack, our triple F1 world champion.

Hill was 81. He won the world title in 1961 with Ferrari, in tragic circumstances, and was incredibly versatile, winning the Le Mans 24-hour three times and the Sebring 12-hour three times.

He made a big contribution to motoring as well as motorsport and had other passions, like pianos and opera.

Somehow the quiet Hill's achievements always seem to have been under-rated, in particular in his own country, although he was held in the highest esteem by those most qualified to have opinions of him.

Wonderful words are being written about Phil Hill on his death and here is a selection:
latimes.com
autonews.com
autoweek.com;autoweek.com
edmunds.com
planetlemans.com
guardian.co.uk

Although Mario Andretti also won the F1 world title as an American he was, of course, born in Italy -- although his birthplace subsequently became part of Croatia.

We are seeing reports that the Indy Racing League is set to switch away from normally-aspirated engines in 2011 to small turbocharged motors with direct fuel injection into each cylinder, which improves fuel economy dramatically while the turbos use wasted energy from exhaust gases to produce more power -- with lower emissions.

The IRL claims that several car companies apart from its existing sole engine supplier, Honda, are interested in getting involved with the new engines.

F1 sees small turbocharged engines creating, according to grandprix.com, "a new challenge, better perceptions about the sport and perhaps better racing".

"F1 gave up turbocharging back in the late 1980s, by which point there were 1.5-litre turbos producing around 1500hp in qualifying trim," grandprix.com reminds us.

"The decision was made to improve safety and to cut costs, which had escalated because of research into advanced electronics and fuel. Modern scrutineering techniques can easily control electronics and fuel, and thus costs can be contained to some extent."

The push for the return to turbos in F1 is coming amid suspicions about Ferrari engines during the second year of what is meant to be a freeze on engine development.

The Ferrari engines in the Toro Rosso cars are seen as the reason that team has often outpaced its Renault-powered big-brother team Red Bull Racing recently.

The top five F1 cars at a speed trap in the new Valencia street circuit last weekend were Ferrari-powered -- Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari and the Toro Rossos of Sebastien Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais at 313km/h, victor Felipe Massa's Ferrari at 312km/h, and Adrian Sutil's tail-end Force India at 311km/h.

Austria's largest daily newspaper, Kronen Zeitung, has reported that Renault and BMW are strong proponents of small turbocharged F1 engines from 2012.

It said those manufacturers wanted a 1.5-litre capacity again, with 1.5 bar boost.

Although belittled by Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) president Max Mosley and F1 commercial supreme Bernie Ecclestone, Stewart usually makes a lot of sense.

The triple world champion, now in his late 60s, was quite forthright that officials got it wrong by only fining Ferrari and Felipe Massa for the Brazilian exiting the pits dangerously on the way to victory in Valencia last weekend.

"It was a controversial decision, and there are some who would say that Ferrari are looked upon more favourably than other teams by the governing body," Stewart said.

There is no doubt that Massa drove brilliantly, but there was much talk in the paddock that, had it been Lewis (McLaren's Lewis Hamilton) rather than Felipe involved, the decision might have been different.

"A lot of people were raising their eyebrows. I don't think it should have been a financial penalty," Stewart said of the stewards.

"They are part-time amateurs. There's a heap of retired grand prix drivers who would have considerably more experience of a situation of that kind and, if they were properly rewarded, then they would not likely be tempted by privileges being offered in any particular avenue."

Mosley's right-hand-man Alan Donnelly, who co-ordinates GP stewards, said: "We watched the incident (of Massa almost colliding with Adrian Sutil) from every angle.

"I'm perfectly happy with the decision. Remember that Massa did not gain any sporting advantage."

Was it ever proved that McLaren gained any sporting advantage from the Ferrari dossier in the Spygate case last year?

But McLaren not only copped a fine of US$100 million but was disqualified from the constructors' world championship for the season.

Trulli sounds alarm on Singapore night race
Lots of anticipation about F1's first night race now that the new Singapore Grand Prix is only a month away, but Toyota's Italian driver Jarno Trulli has dared to express concerns publicly.

Trulli's most pertinent comments are at the end of this short article sportinglife.com

Among the things we note from it is that he rates Monaco as much more important than his home race.

As they approach the start of the Chase for the title Toyota driver Busch leads Ford man Edwards by 212 points, but it would have been much closer had Edwards not been docked 100 points earlier in the season.

Once the 12-man line-up for the Chase is settled, their point totals will be reset to 5000 and they will then be seeded by victories.

Busch has eight Sprint Cup wins this season and Edwards six -- including the past two races and three of the past four.

This weekend's NASCAR racing is at Fontana Speedway in California, where Aussie Marcos Ambrose will be on "double duty" in the Nationwide Series and his fifth outing in the Sprint Cup.

Further upheaval for Chip Ganassi's NASCAR operation this week, with news that driver Reed Sorenson is departing -- by his choice -- at the end of the year for another Dodge team, Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

Ganassi and co-owner Felix Sabates have lost prominent sponsor Texaco Havoline off Juan Pablo Montoya's Sprint Cup car for next year, and there was talk Ganassi may lose Target in NASCAR and IndyCar, although it now seems the Target support is safe.

In three years in the Cup with Ganassi the 22-year-old Sorensen has had five top-five race finishes, but just one this year.

He has never finished better than 22nd in the season points race and is only 31st this season.

We have highlighted here recently that neither Ganassi nor Roger Penske, primarily open-wheeler race team bosses, have had consistent success in NASCAR.

The upside for Sorensen is that Gillett Evernham Motorsports has had 15 wins and 27 pole positions since it began full-time Cup racing in 2001.

Kasey Kahne has had two wins with it this year.

Sorenson's exit from Ganassi may give last year's Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti another shot at Cup racing in 2009 after he was withdrawn two months ago and 70 workers fired as Ganassi shut down his entry because of lack of sponsorship.

Ganassi may even try to switch Dan Wheldon or Scott Dixon from his super-successful IndyCar team to NASCAR if the right sponsorship is available, although the recent history of open-wheeler drivers "transitioning" to NASCAR has not been good.

Top Toyota team Joe Gibbs Racing has confirmed that 18-year-old Joey Logano will replace two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart next year.

Logano, already a winner in the Nationwide Series, will make his Cup debut next weekend at Richmond, Virginia, and do several other rounds of the premier series before season's end.

Formula 5000's 40th birthday party at Watkins Glen
Formula 5000 will celebrate its 40th anniversary at the US Vintage Grand Prix next weekend at Watkins Glen, the famous road course in upstate New York that is also marking its 60th anniversary.

Safari skips a leg in wild weather
Today's (Friday's) sixth leg of the Australasian Safari in Western Australia, from Mt Magnet to Geraldton, was cancelled because of the potential damage to land and infrastructure in the very wet conditions.

Competitors were just asked to check in at Yalgoo in the morning and arrive at Geraldton in time for a planned community welcome at 5pm.

Tomorrow's (Saturday's) final leg is from Geraldton to Perth.

Steve Riley has been in front throughout the Safari in his Mitsubishi Pajero, which has been nicknamed "Battle-scarred galactic-car" because it is such a mess!

Des Harrington is second in a Nissan Patrol, while Bruce Garland is third in his new Isuzu D-MAX -- and happy to be that high in a four-cylinder diesel against six-litre Chevrolet engines.

Garland's Swedish teammate Pelle Wallentheim is fourth in an Isuzu Vehi-Cross and Peter Glennie fifth in a Toyota Landcruiser.

Atkinson in early exit from Rally NZ
Misfortune for Australia's world rally championship star Chris Atkinson on the first day of the nearest thing he has to a "home event" this year -- Rally New Zealand.

Atkinson crashed his new Subaru Impreza hatchback out of fifth place on the fourth stage.

He lost control while braking for a downhill section -- sliding into a ditch, rolling and heavily damaging the left-side of the car.

Despite landing on its wheels and carrying on Atkinson retired near the stage finish when the engine cut out.

Even if he resumes under the SupeRally system after major repairs the event is now likely to be nothing more than a test session for him.

Finn Mikko Hirvonen led after the opening day in a Ford Focus from French world champion Sebastien Loeb's Citroen.

Loeb copped a 30-second penalty to end the first leg 27.4 seconds behind Hirvonen, with Spaniard Dani Sordo third in another Citroen ahead of the Ford Focuses of Finn Jari-Matti Latvala and Belgian Francois Duval.

More on Rally NZ in our next report.

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