Car FYI

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy Due to various reasons, I have not had the time I needed to properly share my experience at the 2016 Honda Indy Toronto. It is really quite a shame on my part because the day I attended the event was perhaps the most lively events I have been to. The reconfigured track resulting from moving pit to the outside portion of the front stretch, positioning the IndyCar paddock inside the Enercare Centre, the return of NASCAR stock cars belonging to the Canadian Pinty's Series as well as the overall ambiance of the 2016 Honda Indy Toronto provided a memorable time at the races. The Verizon IndyCar Series paddock located inside for 2016 served as an interesting change. Providing a fresh change of scenery to watch the crews prepare race cars, it wasn't without a minor discomfort. Though the area was shaded from the hot July sun and any potential precipitation, I found it to be actually warmer inside than outside since a breeze was present through much of...

Photo Credit: Chris Jones One week ahead of the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, the 33-car field was structured by two days of time trials. Sunday’s Fast 9 was established on Saturday by the quickest qualifiers of the day one qualifying session. Consisting of five Honda and four Chevrolet powered machines, qualifying for the momentous 2016 Memorial Day 500-mile event gave nine cars the opportunity for the coveted pole position with the best 10-mile run around the 2.5-mile oval track. The first of the nine cars to post a pole-challenging run, Simon Pagenaud in the #22 car for Team Penske set the early benchmark with a 229.139-mile per hour average speed through a four-lap qualifying run. Carlos Munoz quickly displaced Pagenaud from the top spot piloting an Andretti Autosport machine. Two cars after Munoz, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Josef Newgarden posted an effort resulting in a 230.700-mile per hour average qualifying time. Newgarden’s fast effort in the #21 Chevrolet-powered ...

Photo Credit: Chris Jones St. Petersburg, Florida once again serves as the launching pad for the Verizon IndyCar Series’ 2016 campaign. The 1.8-mile street course in the vibrant tourist hot spot provided the first opportunity for open wheel drivers in the North American-based series to compete with a clean slate. The first race of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series would be contested by 22 drivers (18 returning veterans and 4 rookies to the Series) for a 110-lap main event on Sunday. Two drivers for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Canada’s James Hinchcliffe and Russian driver Mikhail Aleshin made competitive returns to the cockpit for a full season. Hinchcliffe’s 2015 season came to an end at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway following a severe crash in practice for the Indy 500. Aleshin’s suffered injuries in a practice crash in the 2014 race at Auto Club Speedway that took the driver out of the car for a year. Mikhail Aleshin was back in Schmidt Peterson Motorsports car for IndyCar...