©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.
 | PPG Cup Champion Alex Zanardi Running Endless Rain Test Laps at Firebird |
By Peter Burke
The conditions during this tire test last week yesterday were excellent. About 78 degrees, sunnyskies, no wind. For two days in a row, Zanardi would come out for long stintscompared to dry testing at this track. He did about 15 lap stints every timewith the water truck coming and re-wetting the track almost everytime.
The team did very little setup changes to the car, basicallythey only changed the tires and off he went! During the time we observed the test, he did about 5 stints in just one hour. They were working the champion likea dog! Tire testing isn't fun. However - while Zanardi was shredding these wetlaps in the sun, Mark Blundell had to stand around in a warehouse at the Las Vegas COMDEX show, posing next to his engine-less Motorola show car, surrounded by thousands of geeks who mostly ignored him, or kept asking "who drives that car there?" Blundell arrived at Firebird a day after Zanardi to recover from his PR duties among the computer nerds his employer was trying to impress...
Zanardi ran these tests on the "West Track" at Firebird, while most dry test sessions are held on the eastern, less twisty track.The photos we have clearly show that the tires tested had three significant grooves aroundthe circumference of the tire. the comparision photo below shows that previous designs didn't have these grooves. Interestingly, Goodyear had such grooves before moving to a chevron design closer to Firestone's near the end of the '97 season.
During Zanardi's tests, the Players truck was also there. Our reporter Ramon Avila heard them run, but whenever he got to the track,of course they had stopped (and Ramon's lunch hour was long over...). Unfortunately he was unable to determine if Carpentier was already testing for Players, although they were there for a full three days.
We are also still waiting for one of the first '98 cars to show up - Fernandez didn't run at Firebird last week, although cart.com had reported he would be there. We'll keep our cameras loaded with film to be first to publish some of the '98 designs. SpeedCenter also hopes to be able to attend the Laguna Seca test in mid December, when the new Penske cars may be seen for the first time.
