San Jose would have destroyed a F1 car

Sebastien Bourdais talks about the Champ Cars flying through the air over the railroad tracks in San Jose Sunday, and says a F1 car would have made one pass and been destroyed.

"Saturday I was really worried because the engine started to go through the underwing," Bourdais noted. "That's never a good sign when you are starting to wear out the engine block. In fact, it's kind of scary. But we measured a 4,000-pound hit when the car landed on the rails. The fact is, the cars are not designed to do that. In a Formula 1 car, the first time you would have driven across the tracks it would have ripped the four wheels off," he continued. "The whole suspension would fall apart and there would be carbon fiber all over the place. The truth is, we have a bit more flexibility with these cars. Obviously, there are limits, but it was still raceable and we had a good premiere. It's easy to underestimate what is needed, but there were lessons learned here and they will make the track better for next year." Sebastien Bourdais/NSSN