Good weekend at Indy, pace car was cool!
05-12-2014, 12:31 AM
#1
Advanced
Thread Starter
Member Since: Apr 2014
Location: Phoenix AZ
Posts: 72
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Good weekend at Indy, pace car was cool!
My wife's cousin is a driver in the USF2000 series - the first of three series that has the potential to lead to the Indy car series. Clearly, it's a long shot for any driver and takes skill, talent, a good team and ..... money. The kid's name is Victor Franzoni and he's from Sao Paulo. He's stayed with us between races and Victor is a great kid. I've never seen an 18 year old this dedicated to anything...much less racing.
I flew to Indy on Thursday to watch Victor's series there. I had never been to Indy so having full access to virtually every area was kind of cool.
When I arrived Thursday afternoon, the drivers were knee-deep into the data from earlier practice sessions with Pete the Engineer (far right), Gustavo M. (second from the right), Victor and a coach (far left):
Gustavo is a good kid also but he seems to be more interested in playing the role of a driver than actually being a driver. Great kid though.
We wandered around a bit and the Borg-Warner Trophy that was out for some promo shots:
Victor wasn't happy with the car so they changed out the backend - from the clutch back.... all in about three hours... in between qualifying and race 1 on Friday:
Rain poured just before the race so they went with the "rain"setup" and Victor took an early lead despite starting 4th. Victor is a great driver in the rain and if the rain hadn't stopped and dried out during the race, he'd won.
But it did and he didn't. In fact, he proved he was an 18 year old and came in too late for a tire change to slicks. He led the race early but with every lap, he was losing ground. Had he stayed in the race, he might have finished 5th or 6th but instead, he finished a very disappointing 15th. He did have the 4th fastest lap though so his starting position for the 2nd race which was held yesterday (Saturday).
Gustavo took a shortcut through the grass at one point. That necessitated a stop to clean out the grass:
On the grid Saturday:
The official pace car - very cool C7:
Victor started well and took the lead after about three laps and led for about 10 laps but he had brake issues which caused him to have to brake early. Braking early gives up too much time and he couldn't hold the lead. He maintained his cool and finished third. I think he's been on the podium at every series this year.
Being interviewed:
It was pretty cool to be up on the podium - I stayed off to the side and took a few pictures. The best ones were the champagne fight:
The trophy was cool and the bottle was nicely engraved with the grand prix logo:
All things considered, it was a good weekend for Victor and the team and it took an amazing amount of effort from the team to be successful.
I flew to Indy on Thursday to watch Victor's series there. I had never been to Indy so having full access to virtually every area was kind of cool.
When I arrived Thursday afternoon, the drivers were knee-deep into the data from earlier practice sessions with Pete the Engineer (far right), Gustavo M. (second from the right), Victor and a coach (far left):
Gustavo is a good kid also but he seems to be more interested in playing the role of a driver than actually being a driver. Great kid though.
We wandered around a bit and the Borg-Warner Trophy that was out for some promo shots:
Victor wasn't happy with the car so they changed out the backend - from the clutch back.... all in about three hours... in between qualifying and race 1 on Friday:
Rain poured just before the race so they went with the "rain"setup" and Victor took an early lead despite starting 4th. Victor is a great driver in the rain and if the rain hadn't stopped and dried out during the race, he'd won.
But it did and he didn't. In fact, he proved he was an 18 year old and came in too late for a tire change to slicks. He led the race early but with every lap, he was losing ground. Had he stayed in the race, he might have finished 5th or 6th but instead, he finished a very disappointing 15th. He did have the 4th fastest lap though so his starting position for the 2nd race which was held yesterday (Saturday).
Gustavo took a shortcut through the grass at one point. That necessitated a stop to clean out the grass:
On the grid Saturday:
The official pace car - very cool C7:
Victor started well and took the lead after about three laps and led for about 10 laps but he had brake issues which caused him to have to brake early. Braking early gives up too much time and he couldn't hold the lead. He maintained his cool and finished third. I think he's been on the podium at every series this year.
Being interviewed:
It was pretty cool to be up on the podium - I stayed off to the side and took a few pictures. The best ones were the champagne fight:
The trophy was cool and the bottle was nicely engraved with the grand prix logo:
All things considered, it was a good weekend for Victor and the team and it took an amazing amount of effort from the team to be successful.
