Latest Gordon Kirby Article

[sundaydriver]

http://www.cart.com/News/Article.asp?ID=6162

Great piece on where CART is right now and where it wants to go in the future.

[pchall]

Good stuff.

The article answers two of the questions I've been mulling over -- CART controlled engine pools and common ECUs.

“There are some technical issues about how we would do that but we would be looking at something like the current 1,200-mile requirement for each engine. And we want to keep the lease costs down as well and try and do it on a pooled engine basis so a manufacturer would have their engines distributed by CART to the teams from a pool of engines. That way there would be no favored sons.

“We’re also looking at a spec ECU. We’ve been talking to other series like the DTM and Formula 3 series that have multiple engine manufacturers but a common ECU. So it is a feasible concept and we’re pursuing that as well.”

[racer2c]

Has anyone heard from Ford on the subject of a V10 Champ Car? Somehow I get the impression that Ford is out if they choose a V10.

I'm actually a bit surprised at the mention of the interest from Renault, considering they have no products whatso-ever sold in the US, or is something coming? I would love to see Audi, for all of the commercials that they produce which speaks of their sport and rally car history, I believe they need to mix it up in the open wheel arena to fulfill their book.

[sundaydriver]

I remember reading somewhere that Ford would participate if they did do a V10. I'll try to dig up the link.

[pchall]

Cosworth and Ford are supposed to be the ones keen on 3.5l V10 derived from the current CART engine design regs.

Renault has a big stake in Nissan, so they have products in NA, and since CART is racing internationally it can also meet some of Renault's world wide marketing needs.