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Walker Racing used the break in the race schedule to prepare
for the rest of the 2002 CART FedEx Championship season by
testing at Sebring International Raceway and at the Homestead
Motorsports Complex this week. The team encountered no
mechanical setbacks during either test with the
Reynard/Toyota/Bridgestone combination, allowing for maximum
running time for driver Tora Takagi. The Sebring test was the
last opportunity for the team to test its road-course set-ups
in preparation for the upcoming Toyota Grand Prix of Long
Beach.
The Sebring test focused on finding the right balance in the
car, as this will be crucial to success at the Long Beach
circuit, which is comprised of both tight, slow corners and
long, fast straights. Walker Racing worked through its
pre-test engineering plan steadily throughout the day and
Toyota engineers were on hand to continue development work on
the traction control of the RV8F engine. Multiple tests were
also conducted to generate data about the best combinations
with the traction control and the differential settings.
Walker Racing worked not only on mechanical grip, but also on
making aerodynamic gains as well, using the test to gather
data and feedback about several new aerodynamic pieces for the
Reynard 02i.
Walker Racing moved on from Sebring to the Homestead
Motorsports complex to get as many testing miles as possible
on the 1.5 mile oval in preparation for the Bridgestone
Potenza 500 in Motegi, Japan, on April 27. The wing package
for 2002 utilizes the same configuration for all the ovals
except for the season finale in Fontana, California. Walker
Racing will use the data acquired during the test at Homestead
towards developing the car for the ovals for the rest of the
season. The Homestead test also gave the team the opportunity
to have its first test of the new 2002 oval package from
Reynard for the 02i and the team feels as though its made real
gains with the oval configuration, but is continuing to work
on developing more consistency with the package.
"With the new racing regulations, obviously being able to put
some fast laps is important, as it always has been," says Team
Manager Rob Edwards, "but it also creates a bigger need to be
able to have fast laps on a consistent basis between stops. We
made a lot of progress in this area and we are eager to get to
racing on the ovals."
"We were consistently among the quickest of all the teams at
both venues," continued Edwards, "so we are particularly
encouraged about the next few races coming up. We will
continue to develop the car leading up to those events by
utilizing as much wind tunnel and 7-post rig time as we can to
put ourselves in as competitive a situation as possible."
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Ricardo
González
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