F1 comes to Laguna Seca

Posted by Karan

F1 comes to Laguna Seca
Date: August 06, 2006 09:05AM
Posted by: Karan

Registered: 20 years ago

ok not a GP, should still be kinda neat to watch

[www.speedtv.com]

Perhaps there should be an asterisk after “Historics” in the 33rd Monterey Historics Automobile Races? When you realize what’s being unleashed on an unsuspecting Laguna Seca by presenting sponsor Toyota, you’ll understand why….

Pretty much anybody within a five-mile radius will get a sonic treat when Ricardo Zonta pulls his TF106, Toyota’s 2006 Formula 1 missile, onto the undulating California circuit. And if you’re lucky enough to be there, the sight of a state-of-the-art grand prix car launching itself into the Corkscrew or flicking through Turns 9 and 10 will be something you won’t forget in a hurry. Come to think of it, it will be a pretty historic moment.
F1’s latest generation of 2.4-liter V8s kick out over 700hp, and rev to an incredible, sense-shattering 20,000rpm. The sound has a brutal, raw beauty like nothing else on earth, and to watch the screaming machine change direction, almost too quickly to comprehend, is to see why F1 is the pinnacle of motorsports.

Zonta, who raced – and won – at Laguna Seca in the 1997 FIA GT Championship with Mercedes and is now Toyota’s F1 reserve driver (the guy who races if Jarno Trulli or Ralf Schumacher is hors de combat for any reason), promises you won’t have to wait too long to experience the TF106 at the peak of its performance.

“I think it will take me only three laps to get the confidence for the circuit,” smiles the Brazilian, relishing the opportunity ahead of him. “OK, we’ll have to work a little bit on the setup for the circuit, but I think that between seven and 10 laps, I’ll be on the maximum limit.

“It’s quite a challenging track,” he adds. “I’ve had a lot of fun at Laguna Seca, and it’s still the American road course that all the guys from Europe and Brazil want to race on. There are a lot of corners where you cannot see the apex, or even the exit of some of them, but that makes it fun. It’s also very narrow – especially the fast corners – it’s a very different challenge from the other circuits that I drive on.

“In a Formula 1 car, the fact that we’re going so fast really adds to the challenge, too. Because there are a lot of gradients and bumps, you can feel the car going up in the air, even under braking. It’s nice! We’ll set the car up for medium to high downforce levels, similar to how we’d run at Barcelona, and we’ll have to make the suspension quite soft for the Corkscrew. Top speed? I’d guess at around 195mph.”

For fans wanting to max-out on the F1 car’s performance, Zonta suggests heading to the start-finish straight.

“Just past the start-finish line, there’s a little bend, a left-handed kink (Turn 1) that goes down to the Andretti Hairpin. It’s going to look very spectacular there because the braking will be very late and the cornering will have to be ultra-precise. Outside the car, it will look great; inside, I’ll be working hard!”

And a prediction for a lap time? Zonta has a mischievous glint in his eye.
“I don’t remember what the time I did in the Mercedes GT car was,” he smiles, “but the F1 car will be faster – much faster…”

Toyota’s TF106 will be the centerpiece of Toyota’s on-track activity during the weekend, but look out for a number of other cars celebrating the company’s open-wheel, sports car racing and Pikes Peak heritage. Toyota promises some star names and a few surprises among its racing roster.