Dancing in the streets

The daunting task of manhandling a 750hp land missile around city streets is a balancing act that provides instant, often spectacular consequences when things go awry. When it's going right, it's a dance that pitches cat-like reflexes, a tightrope walker's feel, and a surgeon's precision alongside the need to nail the gas at the earliest possible moment, slam the brakes for all their worth at the last possible moment, and generally hang on for dear life. It's part ballet, part mosh pit.

The inch-perfect precision isn't just for speed-it's for survival, too. On either side are the unyielding reefs of concrete walls, ready to suck in a car as it threads the needle at 180mph. And by the way, these walls are high enough that you can't see around them. You're dancing blind....

Welcome to street racing, Champ Car World Series-style. Of course, street tracks are nothing new for the series, but as the urban events become central to the series' business plan, and occupy a greater bulk of the schedule, a driver's ability to go fast and stay out of the walls on them is taking on more importance.

It's a challenge-a tricky mix of art and science; part finesse, part sledgehammer.

For 2005 champion-elect Sebastien Bourdais, already the winner of six such races in his three seasons of Champ Car racing, taming the streets begins with a carefully planned setup of the car.

"You can't afford to slide and go wide and do things like that," he says. "You need to trust in what your car is going to do-the predictability of its behavior.

"I definitely like to have the rear of the car very solid. I can trust it and not be worried that it's going to swing out and hit the wall. You have to take care of the rear tires. In my rookie season in 2003, I was having a hard time trying to find my way on setups. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, and it takes time to adapt. You have to find what works for you, and we did that by around mid-season."

For any rookie in Champ Car, the street circuits present unique problems that can only really be overcome with seat time. Testing for a street circuit is simply not possible-they are, by definition, temporary. This leaves the newbies with a very compressed timetable-just the race weekend itself-to learn a track, understand what the car is doing, give meaningful feedback to their engineers, devise a qualifying setup, and home in on a comfortable race setup.

And heaven forbid they stuff it in the barrier and lose a session's worth of data and learning time in the process....

For Champ Car rookie Bjorn Wirdheim, racing on street circuits isn't a cause for concern in itself. After all, he has competed at Pau, Macau, and Monaco, and is well aware of what it takes to go fast on them.

"The thing is," he says, "on a street circuit, the margins are much smaller, so you have to know the car really well to be quick. That's what it's all about.

"In the past, I've tended to have my best results on street circuits I've raced on before, with a car I knew inside out, and knew how it would behave. This year, everything's new, so the best approach is just to take it easy, start slowly, and let the circuit come to me."

Another thing Wirdheim-and Bourdais before him-has to deal with is the nature of the tracks themselves.

"The circuits in North America are very different from those in Europe," says the Swede. "Generally, they're a lot more bumpy, plus you have a crown in the road. And whereas Monaco and Pau are very narrow, a place like Long Beach, for instance, is very wide in most places-well, it is for a street circuit, anyway."

It's a difference not lost on Bourdais, either. "Street courses in America are very rough and don't have a lot of grip. They're bumpy, have pavement changes, asphalt and concrete, and different grip levels. It puts you in a tough situation to figure out what the best way around is."

Jimmy Vasser, the 1996 champion, made his series debut at one of the series' longest-serving street tracks-Surfers Paradise, Australia, in 1992. He was initially taken aback at the rapid pace-not just the speeds-lap after lap.

"I was just amazed at how busy it was," he says, "and how you couldn't catch your breath. And Australia isn't the busiest street circuit we race on....

"The hardest part was just figuring out how to get on the pace. Every circuit is different, but street circuits promote late braking with their 90-degree corners. I had to carry more speed through the middle, even more than a flowing road course, where I'd be trying to get on the power earlier. That was the first trick I learned: brake as deep as possible, then get off them, and just let the car roll through the middle of the corner, being careful not to drag the brake.

"The car has to be good under braking," he adds. "If the car isn't working in the braking zones, you are out to lunch."

While getting around the track quickly is one matter, passing on it is a different one entirely. Moan about dirty air and short braking zones if you must, but here, passes are earned.

"Sure, you can put pressure on the guy in front and wait for a mistake," says Wirdheim. "But I think you can pass on most street circuits... if you are committed enough."

"There's so much that goes into making a pass on a street circuit," says A.J. Allmendinger, who has had his share of good and bad on them this year.

"If you are barely faster than the guy in front, you may just have to wait for pit stops. If you have absolutely gotta get by the guy, you look for a weakness. 'He's not good here, can I make a pass there?'

"You're like an animal stalking its prey. It's one of the things I love about racing. There may not be as much passing on a street course, but there's a lot of thought process that goes into it. When you pass Paul Tracy for the lead of a race on a street course with seven laps left, it's something really special.

"When you're able to work a guy's weakness and finally get by him, you've earned it. Every position is like life and death. On an oval, you don't have that...."

One thing the ovals and street circuits have in common, however, are those ominous concrete walls that can crush equal parts race car and ego.

"They have the intimidation factor," continues Allmendinger. "The frustration for me is that I like to initially go out and take chances, find out what the limits of the track are. On a street circuit, you can't do that. You're always six inches from being a big hero or a zero."

But even if a driver stays out of the walls, the car still gets a pretty physical workout on a street course. San Jose, a new addition in 2005, provided what will probably be the toughest test of getting a Champ Car to the end of a race to be seen for quite some time. Railroad tracks at 160mph? Even the shock covers were coming adrift of the cars at the end.

"It was so rough, we really had to look after the car throughout the race," says Wirdheim. "You had to be clever and not stress the materials too much."

Aside from out-and-out speed, and keeping out of the walls, the ever-thoughtful Bourdais knows that other, more tactical factors exist that will help him get a leg up on the competition during a street race-which is quite handy when mired behind a slower car.

"If you can go one lap farther with your fuel mileage, you can make it around the guy in front of you," he says. "The car that can stay out one lap longer will always be faster, since its tires will be hot when the other car comes out of the pits, very heavy with fuel and on cold tires. There's a lot of very small things that, when you put them together... that's what makes you competitive."

Another factor that enters the equation when racing on street circuits is to keep out of the way of the mayhem that often erupts all around. Cars climbing over each other in the first corner, being caught up in somebody else's mess, or being the victim of an overly optimistic passing maneuver are just that much more prevalent on the streets, thanks to the lack of space to run wide. If a crash happens ahead, if your reactions aren't lightning-quick, chances are you're in it....

But with all of the extra challenges- and potential heartaches-are the street circuits any more enjoyable than their road or oval counterparts for the drivers?

The answer is a resounding yes. Race car drivers love challenges. Besides, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

"It's very, very satisfying when you put a good lap together," says Vasser. "I've been able to put it on pole at Long Beach, and in Australia. Street circuits are extremely demanding, and really great when you get it all right."

"It's a nice feeling when you feel like you're in a groove. You have a sense of speed, and you feel you can do anything."

Getting it right through the concrete canyons. It's brutal art; its exact science-and with its absolute, all-or-nothing nature, it's everything great about racing.

And if you really want a challenge...

...It's Macau, the Spa of street courses.

If you're thinking of circuits that supply the ultimate driving challenge, you'll probably name tracks like Spa-Francorchamps, or the fearsome Nurburgring-Nordschleife. But do any of the world's temporary street circuits supply that same level of challenge for a driver? The answer is yes-if you've been lucky enough to sample the sweeps and crests of Macau.

"The European tracks, like Monaco and Pau, are special," says Bjorn Wirdheim, "because they're narrow everywhere. But Macau... it's just a different kind of racetrack.

"It's got everything," he continues. "There are long, fast, flat-out sections, slow sections, crests, hills, and it's very bumpy. The fast sweeping corners are so tough."

Bourdais, another to have driven all those classic tracks, agrees. "Macau is the most enjoyable street circuit," he says. "The Formula 3 race there is totally fantastic.

"It goes from narrow, to wide; it's high speed, and it's very bumpy. Champ Cars would be really fun there..."

For the drivers of the Champ Car World Series who haven't got Macau on their resume, the choice isn't so clear cut. A.J. Allmendinger, for one, can't decide on a favorite street track, but gives a high ranking to Vancouver's now defunct circuit, as well as to Long Beach and Toronto.

"Toronto is a very interesting track," he says. "It's very tough, very slippery. But all the street courses on the schedule are pretty cool, and exciting to race on."

Jimmy Vasser, who's seen more street tracks than most in a dozen-plus years of Champ Car racing agrees.

"I never met a track I didn't like," he says. "If I had to pick a favorite, I'd say Long Beach, because of the history and the atmosphere, but a close second is Surfers Paradise in Australia."

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