Road course test rescheduled

Five teams representing each available chassis-engine combination in the IRL IndyCar Series will participate in the test on the speedway's 2.21-mile road course.

"We're not going down there to set any track records," IRL Senior Technical Director Phil Casey said. "We're just going down there to make sure everything works properly on a road course. All the parts are built. We just have to see it work on the track like we think it will."

The drivers and teams participating in the Homestead-Miami test are: Dario Franchitti (Andretti Green Racing), Alex Barron and Ed Carpenter (Red Bull Cheever Racing), Sam Hornish Jr. and Helio Castroneves (Marlboro Team Penske), Scott Dixon and Darren Manning (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) and Buddy Rice (Rahal Letterman Racing). Among elements the group will be testing are the cooling system, brakes, and transmissions.

"This is just a shakedown (test) to check for cooling and make sure the cars do cool. That's why we picked Homestead; we tried to find the warmest place," Casey said. "We'll also try to pick a brake package. We're trying several different combinations, using everything from steel rotors to carbon rotors and three different brake calipers. We just want to see how the cars perform on a road course and see if there is enough cooling because there is much slow running on a road course."

Casey added that the performance of the car will be secondary to the information that chassis manufacturers Dallara and Panoz G Force and engine manufacturers Chevrolet, Honda and Toyota obtain.

"We want to have good transmissions and brakes and don't want to have any unforeseen problems come up," Casey said. "We just want to make sure everything is OK, so the manufacturers can get going with their package for the rest of their cars. That's why we're only taking five cars. In case we have to make changes, we don't have to change a lot of parts. We want all the work they do down there to work fine."