Tuesday, April 27, 2010

I Don't Think We're In Kansas Anymore...

...but we will be in a couple of days! The opening round of the IZOD IndyCar Series Oval Championship (details HERE) takes the green flag on Saturday afternoon on ABC as the grand lead-in to the Fortnight of May. Here's what the expert CG folks at VERSUS have to say about the facility:



Kansas is a usually fairly standard IndyCar 1.5-mile oval race -- which is to say it's freakin' ridiculous! Apart from last year, when an awful aero package mixed with even worse weather to create a somewhat less interesting race, Kansas has provided the usual 2-wide stuff the IRL became famous for.

Full preview coming Friday after qualifying, and I should be here live on Saturday. Cheers!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Pseudo-Live Blog: Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach


The crown jewel of American street course racing is back once again!

First laid out for Formula One's second yearly American race, the Long Beach circuit has gained fame throughout the world for putting on enjoyable events with both F1 and CART/Champ Car, and passed the test of time that so many street courses fail.

The most crucial turn on this course is the hairpin that launches the cars onto the frontstretch. The lead-in to this turn is a sort of slippery funnel where the cars stack up when they slow to make the hard right. When they put the power down to blast down Shoreline Drive, it is very easy to generate wheelspin or understeer into the outside wall; they need a good launch, though, in order to create a passing opportunity at the most action-packed turn on the track, turn 1. Generally, if the race is decided on the track, turn 1 is the spot.

How do I think this edition of the Long Beach GP will end up?

Winner: Will Power Stop me if you've heard this story before...On the pole on a twisty track in his Penske machine. Yeah, that makes him the favorite.

Dark Horse: Ryan Hunter-Reay He's only my dark horse because he hasn't won in a couple years and his team hasn't tasted victory in a while. He's got the talent and he's got the equipment. Starting second on the grid certainly doesn't hurt Ryan's chances here, either.

Ninja Dark Horse: Alex Tagliani Tags has been amazingly strong this year considering the fact that he's with a brand new team. A few things go his way here and he could be near the front at the end.

Danica and Simona Watch! Danica will be starting back in 20th today, so she has quite a test ahead of her today; a top 10 is certainly possible for her. This track is interesting for Simona because this is a track where she's actually had past success, winning the Formula Atlantic race here in 2008; she starts 13th and could find her way to the sharp end of the field.

VERSUS has done their pre-race show, I'll be back in just a bit to bring it to you in words!

4:14, pre-race
Cars are on course, warming the tires. VERSUS giving us the grid and the in-car cameras as we get the one-to-go signal. BIIIGGGG crowd around the track today -- very cool.

Lap 1
Out of the hairpin, we are...GREEN GREEN GREEN! Power with a HUGE jump on the field. Wilson and RHR battling for second, RHR holds on. Kanaan to fourth off the start, no calamities so far.

Lap 2
Replays show Marco giving Tags a love tap in the hairpin. OOH's and AHH's from the booth; emphasis on the fact that Barnhart said not to pass there in the drivers meeting.

Lap ??
There is definitely something wrong with timing and scoring (again). No leaderboard or lap count on the side-by-side. Also no lap count on the rundown scroll at the top.

Lap 9
We've settled into a bit of a parade mode here. Dixon giving some pressure to Briscoe, though.

Lap 11
The ad for Brazilian coffee is a good one here...I could use some of that coffee right now, as the lack of excitement is not mixing well with my hangover...

Lap 12
Professor B giving us a rundown on how to save fuel in these V8 beasts. Very informative, not just as a race-watching tool, but in the real world as well.

Lap 16
The lack of passing at the moment is allowing me to appreciate just how nice that part of Long Beach really is. I need to get back there at some point.

Lap 19
Holy puttin the power down! Will Power has no drive for a second off of the hairpin and RHR to the lead!

Lap 21
Danica going with an off strategy. Makes the early pit stop for some Red Stripes tires.

Lap 24
Simona hits the pit lane for some fresh rubber. Hunter-Reay is taking on some lapped traffic right now; though Matos and working on Danica. Franchitti hits the pit lane.

Lap 27
Justin Wilson dives for the pits from second. Pressure's on D&R for a good stop...looked decent on TV.

Lap 28
RHR in the pits...let's see where he comes out of the pit lane....looks to be way ahead of Wilson. Takuma Sato goes ass-around, and Dixon gets by Castroneves when Helio locks up. Sato's spin appears to be because of contact with Alex Lloyd.

Lap 29
Vitor leading a little train of cars for 14th place. Penske cars hit the pit lane.

Lap 30
Kanaan and Power trading spots a couple times, Helio past Tagliani, Wheldon all over Marco.

Lap 34
Mike King on the radio feed goes ALL CAPS VOICE describing Scott Dixon sliding his car around trying to chase down Briscoe.

Lap 36
VERSUS interviewing Paul Tracy, who is unfortunately in civvies, presumably as a guest of good buddy Jimmy Vasser.

Lap 39
Mario Moraes has been really moving through the field. Up to ninth at the moment from his starting spot of 15th.

Lap 46
If a spontaneous passing festival is going to break out, I think it will involve Ryan Briscoe; Dixon's all over him, Kanaan's not too far ahead. Alex Tagliani pits.

Lap 47
Takuma Sato is all over Graham Rahal for 21st. Scratch that...Rahal around Tagliani, Sato now fighting Tags. Bertrand Baguette appears to have a suspension issue of some sort.

Lap 52
Don't look now, but Justin Wilson has really caught up to Ryan Hunter-Reay. Might we have a real, live battle for the lead?

Lap 53
Calamity! RHR gets through the lapped traffic, but Wilson loses a front wing trying to match him. Not much comment from Robbie Buhl...

Lap 55
Instead of an interesting battle, we get lapped traffic causing problems. Wilson's crew had trouble getting the wing off and everyone at DRR is having words with IndyCar officials.

Lap 56
RHR hits the pit lane; good clean stop there.

Lap 57
Kanaan in the pits, RHR nearly collected Graham Rahal as Graham was exiting the pits.

Lap 59
Dixon hits the pits, and RHR gets the lead back. Will Power a good way behind him.

Lap 61
Calamity! We are YELLOW for the first time today. Mario Romancini made an opportunistic move into turn 1 and Rahal was not expecting it. Rahal not happy, Sarah Fisher probably even less enthusiastic than Graham.

Lap 65
Big winner from all of this yellow flag business: Justin Wilson. Ended up third after all was said and done and now he's right behind the leaders...getting ready for green.

Lap 66
We are...GREEN! RHR blasts down the main straight, Power following some lapped traffic, nearly hits Sato in Turn 1. Wilson definitely wants a piece of Will here.

Lap 67
Wilson wants second and...HAS IT in turn 1! Tagliani parks his car with some sort of mechanical issue.

Lap 68
If I were inclined to do so right now, I would take a drink every time Jack Arute talks up the Overtake Button. Replay shows Mike Conway making the pass on Dario for 10th; good on ya, Mike!

Lap 72
Graham Rahal, unhappily in the pit box, not too thrilled with the way Romancini took him out of the race. Still no official word on whether or not this is his final race for a while.

Lap 75
Bob Jenkins: "It doesn't get much better than watching racing on the weekends and hockey on the weeknights." I raise my glass to that statement, Mr. Jenkins.

Lap 78
The in-car shots on RHR's play like a scene from "I Am Legend"...he is ALL ALONE

Lap 81
Five laps to run, RHR just needs to keep it off the wall for a while. Battle for 6th betwee Helio and Moraes. Helio going crazy trying to make the pass.

Lap 83
Okay...time to make the obligatory mention that we have an American driver from a team not named Penske or Ganassi looking for the win. USA USA USA!!!

Lap 84
Two to go! Our man Ryan cruisin' away with it.

Lap 85
White flag flies for RHR! Beccy Gordon, Ryan's fiancée they engaged exactly one year ago, gets some air.

Checkered Flag
Ryan Hunter-Reay put Andretti Autosport back in victory lane! Wilson, Power, Dixon, Kanaan, Moraes, Castroneves, Briscoe, Wheldon, Conway round out the top ten. Future Mrs. Hyphen gives the post-race interviews, though not as eloquently as Ashley Judd would have, of course. Crowd is diggin' Ryan's slow victory lap. Justin Wilson runs out of fuel on the cool-down lap...now THAT'S fuel calculating right there.

Hunter-Reay lovin' the car, dedicating the race to his recently passed mother. He was completely baffled when Will Power slowed down to give him the lead, but never could let up because of the pressure from Wilson and Power before the second pit stops.

Justin Wilson not happy about Lloyd cuttin his nose off and gives some completely undeserved harsh words (even though he wasn't alongside Lloyd at all and tried a sort of divebomb move to get by).

Will Power says the car got stuck in first coming off the hairpin at that one point and it never happened again. Very strange moment there. Will says all the stuff that fans love about getting points and stuff like that.

Well, let's look at how I did on predicting here:

My winner pick was doing great until his transmission decided to stop functioning for half a second, but third place ain't bad. My dark horse pick was actually correct for once with Hunter-Reay putting on a great drive. Tags was doing decently enough, floating around in 7th or 8th until "something broke". The ladies were pretty much entirely a non-factor in this one, barely cracking the top 20.

The bad news: the race is over. The good news: we go OVAL RACING in two weeks. The 1.5-miler in Kansas City hosts what we'll hope is as ridiculous a race as tracks like that tend to host. Until then, cheers!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Virtually On The Beach

I haven't been to Long Beach, CA, in 15 years now, and upon glancing at my bank account, it doesn't look like I'll be going there again anytime soon. So, we'll fly there through the magic of computer-generated animation thanks to VERSUS!

(because there's no vid on youtube and because VERSUS' video player autoplays, we're going link-style today)

The Virtual Lap: Long Beach

What to expect this Sunday? It should be standard Long Beach fare: lots of passes coming off of the Shoreline Dr. frontstretch, lots of passes coming off of the Seaside Way backstretch, some ill-conceived passes at the other 90° turns, and cars getting squirrely trying to get the power down off of the hairpin.

Also this week: make sure to help VERSUS out by tuning in for their coverage of one of the most exciting postseasons in all of sports: the NHL playoffs! (Let's Go Caps!!!)

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Going in Circles

One common thread amongst some fans of IndyCar racing -- especially some of the older fans -- is the encroachment of a large number of road and street courses into the IndyCar Series' schedule.

Certainly, IndyCar racing was built on the oval tracks found throughout the United States, from the massive oval at Indianapolis down to the old half- and quarter-mile tracks frequented by the United States Auto Club. However, twisty tracks have found their way into America's open-wheel lore, with former Formula 1 hosts Watkins Glen and Long Beach, scenic Road America, Laguna Seca, and the old Riverside course. Certainly, some of the right-left events are ill-conceived and probably don't belong on the schedule. But great events at places like The Glen, Long Beach, St. Petersburg, Toronto, and Barber Motorsports Park have more-than-earned their spot on the calendar.

Perusing the schedule on IndyCar.com brought me to a realization far more troubling to me than the fact that there are more road courses than ovals being raced on this year. When I look at the oval tracks on which the IndyCar Series will race this season, the one glaring issue I see is that almost all of the oval tracks are very similar to each other. Here's a little diagram I threw together to illustrate:

Of the eight oval tracks on the schedule this season, only two have a lap distance that isn't 1.5 miles (Indianapolis and Iowa). Of the six 1.5-mile tracks, four of them are laid out in a nearly identical fashion: Kansas, Texas, Chicagoland, and Kentucky -- the chief difference among them being Texas' quad-oval and 24° banking. Motegi and Homestead are both 1.5 miles with traditional oval layouts (two turns and two straights, though Motegi is asymmetrical), but Motegi is the only one of the 1.5-milers with an appreciably different banking configuration from the other five.

So, what has happened to bring us to the point where there is so little diversity in open-wheel's ovals?

• First of all, there was a point where someone plugged some stuff into a computer and figured out what they thought was an ideal layout for an oval track for both the fans and the drivers: a 1.5-mile tri-oval with banking between 15° and 20°. The first track to be laid out in this fashion was Las Vegas Motor Speedway, followed by Kansas, Kentucky, and Chicagoland. Three of those four appear on the current IndyCar schedule, and Las Vegas actually opened with an IndyCar race in 1996.

• Those four tracks were loosely based on the layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway. CMS' owner, Speedway Motorsports, Inc, decided to establish a sort of company identity by having their properties in Atlanta and Texas match Charlotte's steeply-banked, quad-oval layout. Atlanta and Charlotte appeared on past IndyCar schedules (Atlanta dropped for poor attendance, Charlotte dropped after promoter Humpy Wheeler refused to bring IndyCar back after a loose wheel killed a spectator). Texas is still raced on and is an important staple of the IndyCar schedule.

• There has been a ton of attrition for some of IndyCar's more unique tracks: International Speedway corporation has gutted the fantastic oval at Nazareth, PA, and turned Pikes Peak into a tiny track day facility; ISC also took away a traditional spring date at Phoenix by adding a second NASCAR Sprint Cup date, then essentially kicking the IndyCars to the curb; California (which can hardly sell tickets to its NASCAR race) and Michigan were wrecked by a lack of promotion by track management and lack of interest from ISC; Richmond was killed by a lack of interesting racing and local company Phillip Morris reducing its involvement in the series; Nashville's unique 1.33-mile concrete oval was plagued by attendance issues and scrapped from the calendar; the mile oval at Walt Disney World, in spite of holding the inaugural IRL race and boasting decent early-spring crowds, was turned into a racing school; finally, America's oldest permanent racetrack, Milwaukee, has been wrecked by poor management and a desire for the State of Wisconsin to re-purpose the expensive facility.

Many of the old-schoolers will tell you that American Open-Wheel Racing needs to have a schedule of at least half-ovals. What they fail to mention is that part of the deal is to have a diverse set of ovals. For comparison, take a look at a diagram of the oval tracks from the final season before the original 1979 "Split":

Of nine oval tracks raced on that season, there were seven unique configurations. Three tracks were 2.5 miles (Ontario, Indianapolis, Pocono), two were 2 miles (Texas World, Michigan), and two were 1 mile (Phoenix, Milwaukee). The only two tracks at the supposedly ideal length of 1.5 miles were Atlanta (pre-renovation) and Trenton, but you can see in the diagram the wild difference between the two: Trenton's right-hand dogleg on the backstretch.

Obviously, we can't return IndyCars to that exact set of racetracks; Phoenix, Michigan, and Milwaukee appear closed to the IRL, Texas World has been essentially replaced by SMI's bigger facility, and Trenton and Ontario no longer exist. There is a small chance that Pocono could someday host an IndyCar race, but it needs to be repaved and the first turn would prove somewhat dangerous to IndyCars. What we need, though, is a new approach with new tracks.

(Disclaimer: this is all an "in an ideal world" scenario...obviously there are some economic considerations to think of here)

My IndyCar oval schedule would ideally have no two ovals that fit into the footprint of each other. My only exceptions would likely be Kentucky and Chicago, which serve good areas and provide fine racing. For the rest of the schedule, diversity must be re-introduced.

So are my tracks with reasons for being on the schedule:

• Indianapolis: well...duh!
• Texas: IndyCar's best oval outside of Indianapolis from a promotion and racing standpoint.
• Chicagoland: Another fine facility with great racing serving a major metro area.
• Kentucky: From all accounts, a fantastic facility. The racing is pretty darn good, too.
• Michigan: I don't care what ISC wants as far as MIS is concerned, this is a track that must be on the schedule, especially if American manufacturers find their way back in.
• Homestead: Another major metro area, good weather, decent enough racing. Needs better promotion, though.
• Iowa: Neat little facility with good crowds and a very outside-the-box lap distance (7/8 of a mile)
• Phoenix: Like Michigan, needs to be on an IndyCar schedule. Run IndyCars with a USAC Silver Crown undercard.
• Loudon: This is the one track that's actually shown interest in the IRL recently; why the league hasn't jumped at it is beyond me.
• Nashville: Never the most exciting race (though a new car could help that), but this track is undeniably unique; also home base for Firestone.
• Rockingham (NC): A really unique track that just isn't used for anything right now, but is very much ready to go.
• Rockingham (UK): IndyCar has been making money off of Brits since Dario Franchitti and Dan Wheldon hit the scene, and this would make a neat flyaway race on another unique oval.
• Motegi: If Honda is still a major supplier, you gotta keep 'em happy.

Wish list: Nazareth, Pocono, Milwaukee.

So there you have it. It really is time to get some tracks that are a little different into this series and bring back the spirit of diversity that IndyCar schedulers used to show. Is my solution ideal? Probably not. However, I think we'll find by the end of the season that the oval portion was sorely lacking because of the sameness of the tracks.

Long Beach is coming! See you then!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Review: Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Well, I've just woken up from the coma induced by watching the race at Barber Motorsports Park. Seriously...I was definitely dozing off between runs to the fridge for beer because there was so little to get excited about during this race. Randy Bernard and George Barber: the ball is in your court.

Don't get me wrong, George Barber has built one of the most beautiful racing facilities in the nation in the hills outside of Birmingham. I would absolutely love to take a road trip down there for an AMA Superbike race and a trip to Barber's fantastic museum; it has the potential to unseat Laguna Seca as the most scenic racetrack I've ever been to.

Unfortunately, scenery is not something you get to see much on TV. Viewers tune in to watch the on-track excitement -- if they wanted scenery, they'd pop in a blu-ray of "Planet Earth". It's not like I'm asking them to tear down Yankee Stadium erm...put a roof on Wrigley Field here; I'm looking for something more like a Lambeau Field situation: improve the quality of an already beautiful facility in order to (gasp) keep the fans happy. Like I said, the ball is in the court of the powers-that-be.

Luckily, we all sort of understood what the deal was going into the weekend. We've seen a few Grand-Am events at Barber where prototypes had problems getting around slower GTs. The drivers who participated at tests in Birmingham the last two years also expressed their concerns over the lack of passing opportunities. So, when we had exactly ONE on-track pass for the lead on Sunday (by someone claiming to be Marco Andretti...I think it's Mario in disguise), everyone sort of understood why.

While it's not as exciting for the fans, this race was put into the hands of the crew chief/chief engineer/race strategist types. When the first yellow flag flew (which I'll get into in a moment), the guys on top of the pit boxes made their move: about half the field came into the pits while the other half stayed out. As the field spread out over the very long green flag run between laps 14 and 85, those teams who stayed out ended up looking like geniuses, managing to get through the race on (sort-of) two stops.

Among those who stayed out were Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, and Marco Andretti (or whoever that great driver is wearing Marco's helmet). Marco ended up leading a huge portion of the race after passing Helio soon after the first re-start, but he ended up driving it a little too hard and not getting the mileage he needed for a two-stop race. Helio took the lead after that and, after a quick restart battle with Scott Dixon on the penultimate lap, ran off with it. Following him to the podium were Dixon and Dario, while Andretti took fifth.

Notably missing from my writeup so far are the drivers involved in my predictions...

Will Power had the race in the bag from turn 1. Even though he bobbled a bit on the run down to the start, he still got the jump on Mike Conway at the green flag. Everything was looking good for Will until a huge stint of green flag racing broke out after the initial yellow flag. Power was caught behind several cars and, while he could make some passes, he lost touch with Marco and Helio and could never recover.

Mike Conway went through much of the same story as Power. Though he had trouble sticking with Will initially, he almost beat Power off pit lane and hounded him for a long time after the restart. Something must have happened to Conway's car, though, because he started losing touch with the cars ahead; eventually, Justin Wilson picked up the flag for Dreyer & Reinbold, taking seventh place from Conway with a dicey pass that had VERSUS booth man/DRR co-owner Robbie Buhl hyperventilating a bit.

That yellow flag I've mentioned about a hundred times without actually telling what happened came out because of Takuma Sato. I really thought Barber would suit Sato's driving ability and KV had been showing signs of being quick this year. Sato looked great until something in his accelerator system failed early on (hey, I thought Toyota pulled out of the series in 2006!) and brought the car to a halt next to the giant metal spider in turn 5. The problem was fixed, but not until Sato had lost 21 laps to the leaders.

As for the ladies...well, Danica finished the race right where she started in 19th. Notable in this third race of the season is that Danica has been getting FAR less press than usual this season, while people are starting to take notice of Simona De Silvestro. The Swiss Miss was going well, having been part of that group that stayed out during the first caution, and was looking to take a top ten spot until she bumped the gearshift one two many times going into turn 5 and spun the car. Simona ended up in 21st when all was said and done.

In less than a week, the IndyCars drop onto Shoreline Drive in beautiful Long Beach, California for America's premier street race, the Toyota Long Beach Grand Prix. Until then, take it easy!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Yellow Shirt Preview: Honda Grand Prix of Alabama


Well, this week the IndyCar circus rolls into -- HOLY CRAP DAN WHELDON, THERE'S A GIANT MECHANICAL SPIDER ABOUT TO ATTACK YOU!!!

Anyway, the common household pests rendered many times larger and out of metal (and not mechanical...thank god those things don't actually move) are one of the neat little quirks at what looks like a pretty quirky ribbon of racetrack outside of Birmingham, Alabama.

Apart from the lawn art and the (by all accounts) fabulous on-site automotive history museum, one of Barber Motorsports Park's most important quirks is the elevation change through the lap. If you watch the video from my last post, it looks pretty intense. Heck, if you look at the above picture, that brow that hides the bottom 15 feet or so of the museum building also hides a piece of the track that is even further downhill than the building.

The hills and long, sweeping turns seem to combine to make a nightmare of g-forces on the drivers. Luckily, it doesn't look to be TOO hot in the Birmingham area this weekend. If it were hot out, we could have a situation where drivers' health is negatively affected; as it is, everyone's neck and arms will be pretty sore and that's about it.

Another quirk of this track that I think the management at the track would rather you not notice is that, if your vehicle is larger than a motorcycle (last I checked, the Dallara is), it is VERY hard to pass on this track. there are only two turns that are 90 degrees and only one real hairpin, and all of those turns either have poor lead-ins or are two fast to provide a proper out-braking opportunity. It is yet to be seen if that will provide big problems for the IndyCars in an actual race situation, but I'm not holding out too much hope....All of which leads me to my predictions.

Winner: Will Power If there were any reasons to bet against Will here, they were thrown out the window when he put Penske's Verizon machine on the pole in qualifying. If Will can beat the field into Turn 1, barring disaster, he should run away with the race Edmonton-'09-style.

Dark Horse: Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold has been some strong moves so far this season, with the most impressive result being Justin Wilson's second place at St. Pete. Mike Conway's chief advantage at this race is that he is one of two drivers who will take the green flag with no cars in front of him. If he can get a good start off the outside of row 1, beat Will Power to turn 1, and get some good pit work from his crew without throwing the car into the sand traps, we could see DRR back on the podium and me buying a Dad's Root Beer in celebration.

Ninja Dark Horse: Takuma Sato (appropriately enough) This comes under the assumption, of course, that Sato keeps the car on the track and pointed in the right direction. He is a very capable driver, as he showed as certain points in his Formula 1 career, but he's also inconsistent. In Brazil, he was out before turning his steering wheel from braking to late, and he overcooked a pass at St. Pete, putting him into a tire wall. KV Racing is perfectly capable of making a fast car, Takuma is a fast driver, and, as everyone knows, a good-looking car is a fast car. Once that car showed up in British Racing Green with the Lotus gold stripe down the middle, it's looked like a winner.

Lady Watch! Move over, Danica Watch! There's a new kid on the block! The Swiss Miss, Simona Di Silvestro, has shown up and made sure everyone knows she can whip that HVM car around a track. Therefore, the Watch will look out for both the racers of the fairer gender. Danica has been proving me wrong of late, but I won't let her persuade me! Starting 19th on a track with few passing opportunities behind slower cars? Not good for her. As for Simona, I don't think she'll be knocking onto the top 5 like she has been, but a top 10 is well within her reach.

No live blog for me, as I'll be pointing cameras at stuff all day tomorrow. The DVR will be fired up and I'll be ready to rock when I get home. See you later!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Sweet (Virtual) Home Alabama

Time to ship the IndyCar circus off to the good ol' southland for the Honda Grand Prix of Alabama -- the first IndyCar race at Barber Motorsports Park. That means it's also time for VERSUS' CG department to drop the knowledge yet again:



Here's what I'm thinking: this could be the dullest race the IndyCar series has ever run. There are exactly zero ideal passing zones on this track. Therefore, anyone who tries to make a pass will either not make the pass, or try it in such a crazy spot that it's doomed to failure. What will be interesting is qualifying; if some oddball team (not Penske or Ganassi) takes pole or second, it could give us a new team atop the podium.

Preview forthcoming...