CART plans ahead

Road course wings will be used on the short ovals in an effort to bring side-by-side racing back to the 'bullrings'. Testing with the new package will take place later this month on the Milwaukee mile and cars run by Team Rahal, Heredez Racing and Forsythe Racing will be modified to simulate 2003 conditions for the day-long work-out.

The board has also decided to ban traction control, which was allowed in the series for the firsat time this year. Another current rule on the way out is that which limits cars to one engine per meeting. Cosworth, which will be the only engine supplier in 2003 is working to produce a motor that will last 800-1,200 miles between rebuilds and durability tests are being set up in which drivers from the CART Toyota Atlantic feeder series are expected to participate.

Costs will be further contained after an agreement was reached over the price of chassis update kits from Lola and Reynard. The price hjas been set at £100,000 per team for Reynard and £110,000 for Lola outfits.

CART vice president of racing operations John Lopes also stressed that the meeting indicated that grid sizes for 2003 should be good. "One item that was very clear, " he said, "was that we are very optimistic that we will meet our minimum field requirements with 18-20 cars next season."