one on one Grant Weaver with Target Chip Gonassi Racing Indy cars from past years. Photo by Noah Graff 36 64 Today’s <strong>Machining</strong> <strong>World</strong>
one on one Wh<strong>at</strong> is a typical piece of pit equipment you’d build in <strong>the</strong> team’s machine shop? GW: We build all of our pit equipment here. We make timing stands, fuel rigs, wheel carts. Everything has to be as quick as it can be, so we try to make everything down to <strong>the</strong> wheel guns th<strong>at</strong> take <strong>the</strong> nuts off <strong>the</strong> race car. We use air jacks—a pneum<strong>at</strong>ic jack to lift <strong>the</strong> car. We look <strong>at</strong> every aspect of <strong>the</strong> car to try to make it go faster or make it lighter. Wh<strong>at</strong>’s <strong>the</strong> difference between Formula 1 cars and Indy cars? GW: The cars look pretty similar but a lot more money is spent developing Formula 1 cars. Also, <strong>the</strong> rule sets are different and <strong>the</strong> minimum weight of [Indy] cars changes depending on <strong>the</strong> track, whe<strong>the</strong>r it’s an oval or road course or super speedway. [Indy] cars are around 1,600 pounds empty, while Formula 1 cars are 1,200 pounds. Indy cars have about 650 horsepower, and Formula 1 cars have about 750 horsepower. A Formula 1 car would not be able to race <strong>at</strong> <strong>the</strong> Indianapolis 500 because <strong>the</strong> parts and pieces on it aren’t designed to take <strong>the</strong> G-loadings and <strong>the</strong> high speeds. Is <strong>the</strong>re a lot less contact between cars in an IndyCar race than a NASCAR race? GW: In NASCAR, it’s a little easier for you to lean on your friends than it is in IndyCar. In IndyCar, if you touch wheels, one of <strong>the</strong>m is going to go flying. In NASCAR, you can bump a little bit, but <strong>the</strong> idea is th<strong>at</strong> <strong>the</strong> cars are so tweaked aerodynamically th<strong>at</strong> if you’re rubbing fenders or banging on somebody, you’re changing your aero, and th<strong>at</strong> car might not work as well as it was previously. How much does one Indy car cost? GW: Basically you can say <strong>the</strong> initial expense is about $375,000 for a rolling car. You add $100,000 worth of electronics. We lease <strong>the</strong> engines [from Honda], and <strong>the</strong> lease is approxim<strong>at</strong>ely a million dollars per year per driver. The brakes don’t come on Interviewed by Noah Graff Grant Weaver is one of <strong>the</strong> team managers for Chip Ganassi Racing in Indianapolis. He is in charge of production, purchasing and prepar<strong>at</strong>ion of subassembly components for Ganassi’s ROLEX GRAND-AM Racing and IZOD IndyCar Series, both 2010 champion teams. <strong>the</strong> car and <strong>the</strong> drive shafts don’t come on <strong>the</strong> car. So when all is said and done and you put a car on <strong>the</strong> racetrack, <strong>the</strong>re’s about a million dollars rolling around on <strong>the</strong> road. How important is <strong>the</strong> speed of <strong>the</strong> pit stops? It seems strange to me th<strong>at</strong> <strong>the</strong> cars actually stop in <strong>the</strong> middle of a race. GW: Th<strong>at</strong>’s a rel<strong>at</strong>ive word, “stop.” The driver is never fully stopped. You’ve got to think about stick and ball sports like football and baseball. When <strong>the</strong> offense is on <strong>the</strong> field, <strong>the</strong> defense is resting and vice versa. A race car driver’s only reprieve is during th<strong>at</strong> pit stop. He’s got to be able to put <strong>the</strong> car on an exact spot in his pit box so th<strong>at</strong> his guys can perform <strong>the</strong>ir tasks without having to move. Right now it takes less than six seconds to fuel an Indy car during <strong>the</strong> pit stop with 22 gallons of ethanol, while changing all four tires <strong>at</strong> <strong>the</strong> same time. How has safety for Indy cars improved over <strong>the</strong> years? GW: The cockpit area of <strong>the</strong> car is phenomenally safer than just a few years ago. The se<strong>at</strong>s [are safer], [<strong>the</strong> helmets] have a HANS device to keep <strong>the</strong> driver’s head realistically <strong>at</strong>tached to his body. There are different se<strong>at</strong>belts and special padding th<strong>at</strong> go around <strong>the</strong> cockpit. All help contribute to <strong>the</strong> driver being able to walk away from a horrendous crash. Wh<strong>at</strong> are your favorite racing movies? GW: I have a couple favorite movies. Grand Prix with James Garner from around 1966, which went during <strong>the</strong> Formula 1 season th<strong>at</strong> year. Le Mans with Steve McQueen, which played a lot around <strong>the</strong> Le Mans 24-hour race of 1970. And, not so much for <strong>the</strong> drama part, but Paul Newman in Winning, which is from <strong>the</strong> 1960s and also focuses around <strong>the</strong> Indianapolis 500. They haven’t made a lot of good movies about racing since <strong>the</strong>n. Talladega <strong>Night</strong>s is <strong>the</strong> worse movie I’ve ever seen in my life. Didn’t think much of Days of Thunder ei<strong>the</strong>r. November/December 2010 37 one on one
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