Micklewright is satisfied with the progress made at Panoz in curing the various reliability and detail problems that were revealed in Champ Car's three official winter tests at Sebring, MSR Houston and Laguna Seca.
"They seem to be getting on top of some of the niggling issues we had in the first couple of tests, bit by bit," he said, "Certainly, as they're finding those, they seem to be addressing them in a fairly forthright and timely manner. Some other people may not feel the same way, but that's a given.
"I think they've got some work to do on the steering geometry," Micklewright added. "Even our big boy [Paul Tracy] is getting worn out in a day because the steering's a bit heavy.
"But it seems to be fairly strong and stout. And the big thing is that tests you try on the car are repeatable, which tends to give you a good idea of the overall integrity of the car and chassis. In the old days, with the Marches for example, every time you tried something you got a different reading."
Newman/Haas's general manager Brian Lisles started his career with the Tyrrell
F1 team 30 years ago and has worked for Newman/Haas since 1989. Lisles knows a lot about building and developing race cars and has been a leading critic of the Panoz 'spec car' programme. He says that, given the severe limits on testing and development placed on Champ Car's teams under the Panoz concept, the DP01 is nowhere near as well-prepared for the start of the season as previous Champ cars.
"Had the car been delivered to us ten years ago, under the rules that were in operation at that time, where we could test and develop as much as we liked, I would say it would be a very satisfactory starting point," Lisles commented. "But it hasn't been delivered under those circumstances. It's been delivered under circumstances of a spec car where the teams effectively are prevented from fixing a number of problems on the car because you're not allowed to alter parts.
