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Bruce
Wood talks with Ian Bisco |
Ford and Cosworth Racing have enjoyed an unsurpassed amount of
success at the Twin Ring Motegi in the four years that the
facility has hosted a CART race. Since the Champ Cars first
appeared at the state-of-the-art track in 1998, Ford-Cosworth
has won all four CART races contested there, including two
with the Cosworth XD engine in '98 and '99, and two in '00 and
'01 with its replacement, the Cosworth XF. In the 17 CART
races contested on oval tracks since the XF made its debut in
2000, Ford-Cosworth has scored 40 top-five finishes, nine
victories and made 27 podium appearances.
BRUCE WOOD - Cosworth Racing CART Program Director
YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED SOME SUCCESS IN EACH OF THE FIRST TWO
RACES THIS SEASON, BUT ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE RESULTS?
"Yeah, I think so. Overall we're pretty pleased and I think
that the XF engine is certainly a match for both Honda and
Toyota. I would also say that probably Cosworth and Toyota are
the most evenly matched with perhaps a small gap back to
Honda. But I would also say that Honda seems to always start a
little slower than we do at the beginning of the season before
making rapid progress in the beginning of the season, whereas
we always start with everything we've got. But as you say, we
were fast in each of the first couple of races. Team Rahal
lost Kenny Brack, Max Papis and [engineer] Don Halliday, and I
must admit that we were slightly nervous as to how that would
affect the team. Obviously the whole team went through a big
upheaval and we were slightly nervous as to whether they would
be able to maintain the winning ways they had last year. But I
must say that so far they've looked absolutely fantastic. I
think Jimmy [Vasser] looks completely revitalized and really
looks like a man that could win the championship and Michel
[Jourdain, Jr.], plenty of people could have written him off
as a 'has been' in the past, but no question he's amazed a lot
of people. The more he runs at the front I'm sure he's going
to score a podium very soon and I'm hopeful that he can score
his first win as well. He's not the sort of guy that's going
to let his confidence run away with him so I guess we're
hoping for great things from Michel. The Player's cars were
fast in Mexico but had a very disappointing weekend in Long
Beach where they just could not find the speed they wanted.
But it's been a good couple of races and we're happy with our
progress so far."
TEAM RAHAL WAS AS STRONG AS ANYBODY ON THE OVALS IN 2001, THE
PLAYER'S DRIVERS HAVE DONE WELL IN OVAL RACES IN THE PAST AND
MAX PAPIS IS PERHAPS THE BEST OVAL DRIVER TO HAVE NEVER WON ON
A SUPERSPEEDWAY. YOU HAVE TO FEEL CONFIDENT THAT FORD-COSWORTH
CAN BE VERY COMPETITIVE ON THE OVALS AGAIN THIS SEASON. "Our
engine certainly still has the power to be on top on the ovals
and as you say, nobody could better Team Rahal last year. Max,
who I feel is perhaps the 'King of the Speedways,' with the
number of races that he could have or should have won, could
win that elusive 500-miler if his team can give him a good
car. But yeah, we're very excited about going to Motegi this
weekend. I guess that we're conscious of the fact that Honda
and Toyota will be absolutely pulling all the stops out,
especially if this is the last race there. We're not really
expecting too much out of qualifying because we're not going
there with a particularly fast qualifying spec, but I guess
we're hoping that the race will come our way. I think we have
five cars that certainly could be running near the front and
economy should be less of an issue this year, but should it
factor in during the race hopefully we'll still have that ace
up our sleeve as well."
COULD YOU TALK A LITTLE ABOUT THE FACT THAT FORD-COSWORTH HAS
WON FOUR STRAIGHT RACES AT THE TWIN RING MOTEGI SINCE IT
OPENED IN 1998? "It's a fantastic record, and one of my
proudest achievements is the fact that we've managed to win
that race four times. It's a bit like the superspeedways in
that it's a testament to engine power and I guess we've always
shown to be at the top of the pile there because that's the
lifeblood of what we do. And I think that any kind of record
like that is nice to have, so it's meant a lot to us. Are we
going to hold it for a fifth year running? Well I guess the
odds have to be stacked against us, but you probably could've
said that in each of the last couple of years. We'll just have
to hope that we can maintain our winning ways, but I do
believe that we have some of the best oval drivers in the
series and if anybody can win the race they can."
DO YOU FEEL ANY ADDED PRESSURE BECAUSE YOU'VE WON FOUR
CONSECUTIVE RACES AT MOTEGI OR DO YOU JUST CONTINUE TO DO YOUR
THING? "We just keep on doing the same thing, really. At the
end of the day it's worth 20 points and we treat it the same
as any other race. I guess we would really love to win five in
a row because no other race has been as successful for us and
we haven't won four in a row anywhere else in the series. It
would be nice to keep that tradition alive, but at the end of
the day it's just like any other race on the schedule. I know
for Honda and Toyota it's obviously a big focus and to them
it's probably worth a whole lot more than 20 points, so
they're probably under a lot of pressure to try and capture
that elusive win. Hopefully that works to our advantage
because they're under a lot more pressure to get a win there
than we are."
ONE OF THE INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT YOUR FOUR-RACE WINNING
STREAK AT MOTEGI IS THAT A FORD-COSWORTH POWERED CAR HAS NEVER
SAT ON THE POLE THERE. "I think Motegi is one of those places
where it's quite easy to overtake, so if you've got a good car
and start anywhere in the top 10 you can make it to the front
in just a handful of laps. If you've got the best car or best
car and engine combination then it's very unlikely anyone's
going to be able to stop you because it's a place that's good
to pass and drivers can get into a good rhythm. So I don't
think where you start has a big effect on the end result. Last
year Kenny [Brack] started sixth but clearly had the best
combination and got the job done. It's one of those places
that because we approach it much like any other race, although
we have a qualifying spec of engine there, it's really not
much of a step up on the race engine. I think that maybe the
other guys have had a much bigger difference between their
qualifying and race engine specs so they tend to look great in
qualifying but maybe step back a bit behind us in the race
trim."
CAN YOU POINT TO A SPECIFIC REASON AS TO WHY YOU'VE BEEN
SUCCESSFUL AT MOTEGI? IS IT DUE TO THE DRIVERS AND TEAMS THAT
YOU'VE HAD OR IS IT THAT THE ENGINE IS JUST THAT GOOD AT THIS
TRACK? "It's a little bit of everything I guess. I think we've
always been lucky to have some of the great oval drivers in
the series. We had Michael [Andretti] for a long, long time,
Adrian [Fernandez] for a long time and we've still got Max
[Papis]. Jimmy [Vasser] has been a strong contender on the
ovals in the past, Michel [Jourdain, Jr.] is coming along in
that respect, and of course, Patrick [Carpentier] got his
first career Champ Car victory last season on a superspeedway
[Michigan]. But I think if you had to pick the four top oval
drivers currently on the circuit, I guess you'd probably pick
Michael, Max, Adrian and Kenny, and all of them have driven
for us or still do drive for us, and I think that's played to
our advantage. Motegi is also very hard on the cars and on the
engines, so the teams that really know how to put a car
together aren't going to have any of those silly failures that
sometimes trouble all of us. Good teams know how to put
together cars that are able to last the distance, and that's a
very important part of being successful at Motegi."
THERE'S ALSO SOMETHING TO BE SAID ABOUT WHAT FORD-COSWORTH HAS
ACCOMPLISHED IN OVAL RACES. SINCE THE XF WAS INTRODUCED AT THE
BEGINNING OF THE 2000 SEASON, THE OVAL TRACKS, REGARDLESS OF
SIZE, HAVE BEEN WHERE YOU HAVE ENJOYED THE MOST SUCCESS.
"Absolutely. I guess in years past it's been said that we have
had the most top-end power but our driveability wasn't as good
as the others. Last year I think we made some big, big steps
with our driveability and this year with the advent of
traction control that's enabled us to make even bigger steps.
We like to think we've always had the most powerful engine and
certainly it's a thing that we've always put the most work
into. Whenever there was a choice to be made between power or
driveability we always tend to go for the power option. Our
ability to make a lot of power, coupled with the reliability
that our engines have shown, and it's those two things that
have paid dividends for us on the ovals."
SINCE THE XF DEBUTED IN 2000, THERE'S BEEN 17 OVAL RACES ON
ONE MILE, 1.5-MILE AND TWO-MILE SUPERSPEEDWAYS. IN THOSE
RACES, AT LEAST ONE CAR POWERED BY FORD-COSWORTH HAS FINISHED
ON THE PODIUM, WHICH CERTAINLY SPEAKS TO THE POWER AND
RELIABILITY THAT YOU'RE ABLE TO PRODUCE, ESPECIALLY IN THE
500-MILE RACES. "Well, there's no doubt about it that the
500-mile races have been good to us recently, which is funny
because you don't have to go back too far into the mid-1990's
to see that those races weren't so good for us. But certainly
with the XF and during the last couple years with the XD,
which won the first two races at Motegi, we've had some great
results on the super speedways and the fast ovals. We kind of
class Germany, Rockingham and Motegi all together to an
extent, and all of them were very successful for us with two
victories, including a one, two, three finish in Germany and a
second-place result at Rockingham. I guess the ovals have kind
of become our specialty, and I personally prefer the ovals to
the road courses."
WHY IS THAT? "I just think that as a spectator it's more
exciting racing. I don't know anybody who has actually seen an
oval race in person who hasn't come away sort of 'wowed' by
the whole experience. And I guess as an engineer it's just
that much of a harsher test, particularly at places like
Motegi where the engine is giving absolutely all it possibly
can, which for us kind of makes it more exciting."
THE TWIN RING MOTEGI IS A UNIQUE FACILITY WITH SORT OF A
TEARDROP SHAPED TRACK. DOES THAT PRESENT YOU WITH ANY SPECIFIC
CHALLENGES OR PROBLEMS? "No, it doesn't present us with any
particular challenges. The biggest thing about Motegi is its
very high duty cycle because the drivers are on the throttle
for most of the lap. It's also very high speed, whereas on a
short oval the speed split drops several thousand RPM. At
Motegi it's a very small speed split so it's more like a
superspeedway in that the engine is constantly in that very
high speed area. Because of that, it is a challenge for us and
we do have a specific Motegi endurance cycle. When we sign the
engine off at the beginning of the year for all the ovals,
street and road courses with one endurance cycle, we have a
different endurance cycle just for Motegi, which is that much
harder. We've done that in each of the last three years just
in recognition of that fact that it's a very harsh race for
the engines."
IS THIS THE ONE RACE WHERE THE ENGINE IS UNDER THE MOST STRESS
FOR THE LONGEST PERIOD OF TIME, EVEN THOUGH IT'S NOT A
500-MILE RACE? "It pretty much is. The 500-mile races nowadays
with the Handford Wing result in so much drafting that nobody
really wants to lead the race and they all sit in each other's
slipstream. And to an extent, they all kind of cruise around
during the 500-milers until the last 50 miles. Motegi doesn't
tend to be like that. Instead it tends to be more a race from
the beginning whereas the 500-milers are really only decided
in the last few laps. Because the 500-mile races are such a
lottery - you could have an absolutely fantastic engine and
the perfect car but be punted off by somebody on a restart -
we tend to be very conservative with the engine spec and the
engine revs that we use. We figure that if you can make it to
the end you've got as good a chance as anybody to win. Motegi
tends to be more of a race for the entire 300 miles and we
tend to run rev limits that are closer to what we run for the
rest of the year and not as conservative."
WILL THAT BE AN EVEN BIGGER FACTOR THIS YEAR WITH THE NEW
RULES THAT REQUIRE PITSTOPS ON CERTAIN LAPS IN HOPES OF
ELIMINATING THE ECONOMY RUNS? NOW THAT DRIVERS ARE ENCOURAGED
TO NOT RUN 'LEAN' AND GO ALL OUT FOR THE ENTIRE RACE, WILL
THAT STRESS THE ENGINE EVEN MORE? "Well, it tended to be that
everybody would go flat out anyway but would just have the
fuel mixture leaned right out, which is actually worse for the
engine. If anything, it'll probably be better for the engine
because although everybody might run full rich for 20 laps,
which they never would've done in the past, the power
differential between full rich and full lean is not that
great. But the temperatures in the engine go up dramatically
at full lean so to run the whole race at minus 16 or something
is actually much worse than to run the whole race at full
rich. So, if anything, it's likely that the engines will
actually see an easier life this year by running predominantly
with full fueling."
-FORD--
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Ricardo González
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