Chasing Rubens Barrichello (at Infineon for IndyCar Testing) [w/video]
Rubens Barrichello had the longest career in Formula One history. Over 18 years, he won eleven races, clinched 68 podium finishes, and had 14 pole positions and 17 fastest laps. He was in a dog of a car last season (a Williams), and couldn’t come up with the trunk-full-of-sponsorship-cash needed to race in F1 again in 2012.
Now, Rubens is trying to get a seat in IndyCar. Unfortunately, he still needs to come up with a smaller-trunk-full-of-sponsorship-cash. He was at Infineon last weekend to test drive along with a handful of IndyCar teams and drivers. As a big F1 fan, I had to check it out.
After loitering in the parking lot and checking out the spectators’ rides visually, I fulfilled my needs aurally.
Rubens drove his friend Tony Kanaan’s KV Racing #11.
- His last experience at Infineon was playing a NASCAR video game ten years ago.
- The biggest surprise was how steep Turn 1 is.
- The ups and downs of the track remind him of Donnington Park and Spa.
- It’s easy to figure out where to brake, but difficult to know where to turn.
- F1 versus IndyCar: IndyCar is heavier; though the two cars have similar horsepower, the turbocharged engine has a different power curve; the steering is heavier since there is no power steering.
- For safety reasons, his wife is not excited about him racing in ovals.
- He constantly hit the rev limiter during the morning testing session.
- He was very philosophical about the turn of events. He is thankful for the opportunity and considers all of what’s happening as a re-birth.
- He has to rope together enough sponsorship deals by the end of this week or it will be too late, as the season starts on March 25.
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Good luck, Rubens! And thanks for the stalkerazzi update.
+1 for the introducing me to the term Stalkerazzi
I'm a big fan of Rubens.
"Here’s a front wing, up close and personal. It definitely looks hand crafted."
Having toured Rahal's Indycar shop here in Columbus, I can tell you that those are modeled in 3D CAD, formed on molds made with CNC equipment and trimmed with CNC equipment. I bet there's not much done by hand here at all.
I stand corrected. It just looked very cobbled together, not mass produced.
The first wing picture – NACA ducts!!!!!!!
Best of luck to ya' Rubens. You might almost get me interested in Indy cars again. Almost.