Carpentier to Improve on Street Courses

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Carpentier to Improve on Street Courses
©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.
Team Alumax to test at Putnam Park
After a strong start to the season in Miami, Team Alumax experienced a couple of long weekends on the streets of Surfers Paradise, Australia, and Long Beach, Calif.
As a result, Patrick Carpentier and the Team Alumax Reynard Mercedes-Benz will spend today, weather permitting, at Putnam Park Road Course trying to learn what made his car such a handful at the last two CART/PPG Cup events.
The 25-year-old French Canadian was competitive at the season opener at Homestead, but was off the pace at Surfers Paradise and Long Beach. The Homestead race was held on an oval and Team Alumax was able to test there while the last two races were held on temporary circuits — literally city streets — where teams can't test.
Although Carpentier had a successful test for street-circuit setups at Sebring International Raceway in February, he was unable to find a setup to his liking in CART's first two street-circuit races. The results were a pair of 21st qualifying positions and 15th-place finishes in the races themselves.
"I've been saying that even though we did so well at Homestead, we would probably have some disappointing weekends because this series is so competitive," Carpentier pointed out. "The car was difficult at Surfers Paradise, but it was a little better for Long Beach. However, we still finished 15th in both races and that's not where we want to be. We have good people on this team so I'm glad we're going to do this test because Im sure they will discover things to make the car better the next time we have a street race."
And what do they hope to discover?
"We tested well all through the winter and ran competitively," said Tom Brown, chief engineer and managing director of the team. "Surfers Paradise and Long Beach were a big surprise for me. I did not expect to be off the pace. We will be going to Putnam Park to find out why we struggled.
"The answers are there — we will find them. Patrick and I have a lot of work ahead of us to pinpoint the problem. We need to find out why our winter testing program which was so successful failed to deliver at the first two street races. We need to find how we can help Patrick get the best out of the car."
The Putnam Park course is located about 30 minutes west of Indianapolis and is frequented by a number of CART teams, including Bettenhausen Motorsports. The track is located on rolling farmland and reminiscent of Mid-Ohio. A year ago, team owner Tony Bettenhausen took his last drive in an Indy car, when he shook down the team's new backup Reynard. It marked his first drive in an Indy car since the 1993 Indianapolis 500. Bettenhausen substituted for Stefan Johansson, who was in Europe at the time.
Source: CART News Service


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		Carpentier to Improve on Street Courses ©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc. Team Alumax to test at Putnam Park After a strong start to the season in Miami, Team Alumax experienced a couple of long weekends on the streets of Surfers Paradise, Australia, and Long Beach, Calif. As a result, Patrick Carpentier and the Team Alumax Reynard Mercedes-Benz will spend today, weather permitting, at Putnam Park Road Course trying to learn what made his car such a handful at the last two CART/PPG Cup events. The 25-year-old French Canadian was competitive at the season opener at Homestead, but was off the pace at Surfers Paradise and Long Beach. The Homestead race was held on an oval and Team Alumax was able to test there while the last two races were held on temporary circuits — literally city streets — where teams can't test. Although Carpentier had a successful test for street-circuit setups at Sebring International Raceway in February, he was unable to find a setup to his liking in CART's first two street-circuit races. The results were a pair of 21st qualifying positions and 15th-place finishes in the races themselves. "I've been saying that even though we did so well at Homestead, we would probably have some disappointing weekends because this series is so competitive," Carpentier pointed out. "The car was difficult at Surfers Paradise, but it was a little better for Long Beach. However, we still finished 15th in both races and that's not where we want to be. We have good people on this team so I'm glad we're going to do this test because Im sure they will discover things to make the car better the next time we have a street race." And what do they hope to discover? "We tested well all through the winter and ran competitively," said Tom Brown, chief engineer and managing director of the team. "Surfers Paradise and Long Beach were a big surprise for me. I did not expect to be off the pace. We will be going to Putnam Park to find out why we struggled. "The answers are there — we will find them. Patrick and I have a lot of work ahead of us to pinpoint the problem. We need to find out why our winter testing program which was so successful failed to deliver at the first two street races. We need to find how we can help Patrick get the best out of the car." The Putnam Park course is located about 30 minutes west of Indianapolis and is frequented by a number of CART teams, including Bettenhausen Motorsports. The track is located on rolling farmland and reminiscent of Mid-Ohio. A year ago, team owner Tony Bettenhausen took his last drive in an Indy car, when he shook down the team's new backup Reynard. It marked his first drive in an Indy car since the 1993 Indianapolis 500. Bettenhausen substituted for Stefan Johansson, who was in Europe at the time. Source: CART News Service