CART Teams Rule Over Rules Makers:
Gugelmin Laps Michigan At 234 MPH
BROOKLYN, MI: The rules makers in the CART PPG series need to get up pretty early to out think their engineers and mechanics. In an effort to slow these sleek speed machines, the sanctioning body reduced the amount of manifold pressure (boost) from 45 to 40 inches last year. It didn't work. Jimmy Vasser blazed the Michigan International Speedway blacktop at 234.665 with that "reduced" power. This year, the rules gurus thought they had the key. They required all the teams use tunnel blockers. Tunnel blockers block air flow to the underneath side of these brilliantly designed racers. With reduced air flow comes less downforce. Less downforce means slower speeds. Guess what.... It didn't work...again.
Mauricio Gugelmin, or Big Mo as he is called at the track, had little trouble working his Hollywood/Mercedes/Reynard up to 234.283 mph as practice for the 1997 U.S. 500 opened today. He attributed his speed to the tire war between Goodyear and Firestone. The Brazilian is on Firestone rubber.
"There has been one year of development by the engine manufacturers and in the tires, especially the tires," Gugelmin said. "They say we have less downforce, but it feels like the teams have got most of it back."
All the speed seems to be coming from South of the border. Gugelmin's countryman, Raul Boesel was second fast (also on Firestone tires). Boesel has shown great speed at Michigan in past years and did it again today. He posted a speed of 233.971 mph in his Brahma/Pennzoil/Ford Cosworth/Reynard. Impressive, considering the team did not turn a test lap at Michigan. Today was the first time the new car had been on the track.
"Before we came here, there was some big concern because our team didn't test here," Boesel said. "Everybody was cautious when practice started, but people started to get more comfortable and the speeds went up. A lot of our engineers did good background work to get the downforce in other ways."
The other side of the Brahma stable was fast too. Scott Pruett, Boesel's teammate, was third quick in his Pennzoil/Brahma/Reynard with a speed of 233.584 mph. Pruett won the 1995 version of this race.
Fast Teammates Raul Boesel (left) and Scott Pruett (right)
Pruett commented on the track surface. "The track seems real similar to last year," Pruett said. "Typically, over the winter, it picks up some roughness. There were a lot of guys getting towed (by other cars) out there, and that's where a lot of those speeds came from."
Firestone tires won round one of practice. The top seven speeds were turned in by cars using Firestones. Michael Andretti was the fastest Goodyear driver at 231.981 mph. Round two of the tire war on super speedways begins tomorrow with a practice session at 8:00 AM local time. Qualifying will begin at 10:15 and run until 12:15. The ARCA series will run their race at 12:30. CART qualifying will resume at 3:15 PM.
Terry Callahan -- The Auto Channel
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