Top teams hit 220mph in Texas testing

The venue, which is new to the CART schedule this season, is fast-becoming one of America's most highly-regarded tracks. It is the only circuit which will holds rounds of CART, Indy Racing League, NASCAR Winston Cup and the American Le Mans Series.

"The banking at Texas is high and there are some bumps," said former CART champion Jimmy Vasser. "It was fairly easy to run flat-out, so we were able to work on things that I think will help as conditions here change."

Vasser's Patrick Racing Reynard-Toyota ran over 150 miles on the 1.5-mile oval on Wednesday, lapping in the 216mph mark. Those speeds were eclipsed yesterday (Thursday) when Team Kool Green (with Dario Franchitti), Team Penske (Helio Castroneves), Walker Racing (Tora Takagi) and PacWest (Scott Dixon) tested.

Franchitti's TKG Reynard-Honda lapped in 23.89secs, and he told Speedvision.com: "The banking is amazing. It masks everything on the car, because you're sucked down with such a force, and it's pretty much flat-out after three or four laps. You can run whatever line you want through the banking, but then you come onto the front straight and there's only one line you can run because of the kink, and it's very bumpy."

Meanwhile, in Florida, no one has been able to beat Paul Tracy's 50.22secs stormer for Team Kool Green at Sebring. Christian Fittipaldi (Newman-Haas Lola-Toyota) is the most recent to come close with a 50.4secs lap, while Player's/Forsythe driver Alex Tagliani circulated in 50.5secs and Sigma Autosport's Oriol Servia managed a 50.6secs on Wednesday.

"This is a great boost for the team," said Tagliani. "I think the key will be the engine development because everything else has been really consistent."