IndyCar Series To Drop Cylinders, Add Turbos For 2011

Mark Arnold — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:00:00 EDT

The current naturally-aspirated 3.5-liter V8 Honda engines used in Indy cars will be long gone come 2011. In their place will be either six- or four-cylinder mills boosted by one or two turbochargers. The changes will be discussed in a meeting next month at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but for now there's some debate as to which type of engine should be used.

Erik Berkman, president of Honda Performance Development, said:

"(the debate) is over four (cylinders) or six... But both of them include turbos,” Barnhart said... One of them includes twin turbos."

We're assuming that means the decision is between either a twin-turbo four-banger or a single-turbo V6. But who knows? Maybe they're considering a twin-turbo V6. Allegedly, the reason for all the change is to stay relevant with fans and to increase fuel economy. We think Honda is just fishing for some competition. [GreenCarCongress]

McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa Thinks Women Are Too Weak To Race In F1

Mark Arnold — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:20:00 EDT

With all the buzz over Danica Patrick wiping the floor at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan last weekend, it's easy to forget there's other talented females engaged in various forms of motorsport across the world. Just look at Michèle Mouton's rally career — multiple wins in her Audi Quattro and finishing a close second place in the 1982 WRC championship. So you know that the girls can go just as fast as the boys — and as we saw this past weekend, sometimes faster. So this ultimately leads to the question, "Can a women be successful in Formula One?" Well, veteran McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa seems to think women might just not be strong enough to deal with the rigors of the track.

According to F1-Live, the 37-year old de la Rosa said:

"There are less and less obstacles because there are now many women in kart racing ... The base of the pyramid is expanding ... I would be delighted to see it happen sooner or later, but it is more difficult for women because of the important physical elements of racing in Formula One,"

Although we wonder what Danica would have to say about that, we're pretty sure she's too busy on a Sports Illustrated or FHM shoot to dignify it with a response. Of course as soon as she's done with that, she'd probably point out to de la Rosa that she managed to do pretty well against Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan. Of course none of them were in Formula 1, but who's counting. [via F1-Live]

Jalopnik: Indy car

IndyCar Series To Drop Cylinders, Add Turbos For 2011

McLaren's Pedro de la Rosa Thinks Women Are Too Weak To Race In F1