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©1999 SpeedCenter Publishing Sebring, Florida, February 22, 1999 - With only a few weeks to go before the opening race of the 1999 CART FedEx Championship, Player's drivers Greg Moore and Patrick Carpentier spent last weekend in private testing sessions on the 1.7-mile street circuit in Sebring, Florida. The two drivers used the sessions to work on finding the proper set-ups for street circuits with fast corners, such as Detroit, Toronto and Vancouver. "We had no mechanical problems and the Player's team really did an outstanding job during the two-day session," said Moore, who also spent the weekend session testing tires for Firestone. "It was a very positive experience because not only did we get a chance to monitor how my Player's Reynard was reacting, we were also able to study the tire structure, as well as the different rubber compounds," added the Maple Ridge, B.C., driver, who used more than 80 tires during his 230 laps on the track. An optimistic Carpentier was equally pleased by the continued progress of the Player's team in off-season testing. "The Player's team showed during the Spring Training session at Homestead a few weeks ago that it's very fast on ovals," remarked the Joliette, Que., driver. "Because of the many testings we've done on road circuits and because of the overall data we've been able to collect, I don't think there's any doubt that we'll be very competitive on this type type of track, as well." Canadian engineer Mike Cannon said he was very encouraged by the sessions at Sebring, and he is now mapping out the next step. "Because the Sebring track is very bumpy it enabled us to see just how demanding this type of track is," he explained. "It's the type of surface that is rough on shocks and we're going to have to find the best compromise where we can absorb the bumps without affecting the handling or the speed of the Player's Reynard." The Player's team will continue its private testing sessions on March 3-4 on the Firebird West road circuit in Arizona. The Firebird track will enable the Player's team to simulate the different slow corners that are found on such circuits as Long Beach and Houston. It will also mark the final pre-season session for the Player's team prior to the first race of the CART season, which gets underway in less than a month - on March 21 in Homestead, Florida with the staging of the Grand Prix of Miami.
Source: Player's Racing Team |
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