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CART: FedEx Championship Series Happenings

14 January 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Text Provided by CART

With the holidays having passed into a new century, FedEx Championship Series teams have "ramped up" their testing programs in preparation for the 2000 season.

Team KOOL Green conducted a three-day test at Homestead-Miami Speedway last Thursday through Saturday, with Paul Tracy (KOOL Honda Reynard) completing 586 miles and recording a top speed of 27 seconds flat on the 1.502-mile oval. The test offered Tracy and Team KOOL Green the opportunity to try out the new Handford Mk II, a rear-wing package designed to contain speeds and thus enhance competition on intermediate and short ovals by reducing downforce and increasing drag.

Laps for the test, which also included Max Papis (Miller Lite Ford Reynard) of Team Rahal, Adrian Fernandez (Tecate/Quaker State/Patrick Racing Ford Reynard) of Patrick Racing and Patrick Carpentier (Player's/Indeck Ford Reynard) of Player's Forsythe Racing, were roughly two seconds slower than the Homestead track qualifying record of 24.856 seconds.

"It was a great test," said Tracy, who earned Most Improved Driver honors while finishing third in the 1999 FedEx Championship Series championship. "We ran in a variety of conditions, ranging from gusty winds to pretty hot temperatures, on new and old tires, and the KOOL Honda Reynard was very consistent.

"The new wing is very 'draggy.' It slows you down in a straight line and when you get off the gas, the car decelerates really fast. It requires a different set-up and we're still honing in on that, but overall, the car has the same basic feel as last year. I'm very pleased."

Carpentier logged a fast lap of 26.79 seconds during the test, which went well enough for Player's Forsythe Racing that the team was able to accomplish all its objectives during the opening day of Carpentier's scheduled two-day stint.

"Originally, the plans were for us to be on the track for two days [Friday and Saturday], but we quickly got up to the speeds we were hoping to reach, and once we had done that, we decided to keep a [allotted test] day in the bank for testing on a road course," Carpentier explained.

Following Carpentier's test, rookie teammate Alezandre Tagliani (Player's/Indeck Ford Reynard) completed his initial Champ Car test on an oval, logging approximately 300 miles during a two-day workout on Sunday and Monday.

"I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I was able to adapt to the driving style for an oval track, and I'm encouraged to see that the times I clocked compare favorably to those put up by the veterans in the series," said Tagliani, whose fastest lap came in at 26.79 seconds. "I'm training really hard to make sure that I'll be ready to go when the season starts."

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