Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
2007 Champ Car World Series
The 2007 Champ Car World Series season was the fourth and final season of the Champ Car World Series, and the 29th season of the series dating back to the 1979 formation of Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). It began on April 8, 2007 and ended on November 11 after 14 races. Unbeknownst at the time, this would end up being the final contested season of Champ Car, as the following February, the series unified with the Indy Racing League (IRL), marking the end of the Champ Car World Series for good.
French driver Sébastien Bourdais entered the season as the defending champion, and went on to score his fourth consecutive title, becoming the first driver in Champ Car and/or American open-wheel racing history to do so. It was his final year in the series before moving on to Formula 1, regardless of the subsequent unification of the sport. It also marked the last time that a driver of an American open-wheel championship clinched the title before the final race of the season till 2023, when Alex Palou won the IndyCar title. As of 2025 , the 2007 Champ Car season remains the only major American open-wheel racing series season in history not to feature any events on oval tracks with all rounds during this season taking place on road and street tracks.
Champ Car underwent some major changes for 2007. The opening race of the season was switched from the Grand Prix of Long Beach to Las Vegas for the first running of the Vegas Grand Prix, and the series was slated to race in Europe for the first time since 2003. Also, the entire schedule was held on road and street courses for the first time in history.
The name of the series reverted to Champ Car World Series, after both Bridgestone and Ford Motor Company concluded their sponsorship deals. Bridgestone extended its deal as the official tire supplier for the series in November 2006, but Ford withdrew entirely from the series in January 2007. Mazda took over as the new pace car and courtesy vehicle supplier, but elected not to badge the engines, with Cosworth having been sold to Kevin Kalkhoven by Ford.
ESPN announced a new, multiyear agreement that marked the return of the Champ Car World Series to the network in 2007. On January 23, 2007, Champ Car unveiled its new logo for the Champ Car World Series and the Atlantic Series, with a design that included the new Panoz DP01 chassis on the right with an emphasis on a chicane-style layout, representing the street track racing that dominated Champ Car.
Champ Car officials confirmed that Panoz would be the sole chassis supplier for Champ Car for the three years beginning in 2007. The Panoz DP01 was built by sister company Élan Motorsport Technologies and was powered by a turbo-charged Cosworth engine. The new formula was reported to significantly lower the costs of competing in the series, which was in turn expected to increase car counts for the 2007 Champ Car season. However, 2007 entries did not exceeded those of 2006.
The new rules of the 2007 season included the implementation of standing starts at venues where they could be safely implemented, being introduced in the fourth round of the season at Portland. Additionally, all events were time limited to 1 hour 45 minutes instead of running a set number of laps. As the time limit approached, the drivers were notified that they were beginning the last lap. The leader would not be shown the white flag, which was instead employed in a similar manner to its use by the FIA. Teams were also allowed unlimited access to their tires during all qualifying sessions. The requirement for each team to use at least one set of the alternate Bridgestone Potenzas during the race would remain in place.
Starting this season drivers no longer received a bonus point for leading a lap of the race.
Hub AI
2007 Champ Car World Series AI simulator
(@2007 Champ Car World Series_simulator)
2007 Champ Car World Series
The 2007 Champ Car World Series season was the fourth and final season of the Champ Car World Series, and the 29th season of the series dating back to the 1979 formation of Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). It began on April 8, 2007 and ended on November 11 after 14 races. Unbeknownst at the time, this would end up being the final contested season of Champ Car, as the following February, the series unified with the Indy Racing League (IRL), marking the end of the Champ Car World Series for good.
French driver Sébastien Bourdais entered the season as the defending champion, and went on to score his fourth consecutive title, becoming the first driver in Champ Car and/or American open-wheel racing history to do so. It was his final year in the series before moving on to Formula 1, regardless of the subsequent unification of the sport. It also marked the last time that a driver of an American open-wheel championship clinched the title before the final race of the season till 2023, when Alex Palou won the IndyCar title. As of 2025 , the 2007 Champ Car season remains the only major American open-wheel racing series season in history not to feature any events on oval tracks with all rounds during this season taking place on road and street tracks.
Champ Car underwent some major changes for 2007. The opening race of the season was switched from the Grand Prix of Long Beach to Las Vegas for the first running of the Vegas Grand Prix, and the series was slated to race in Europe for the first time since 2003. Also, the entire schedule was held on road and street courses for the first time in history.
The name of the series reverted to Champ Car World Series, after both Bridgestone and Ford Motor Company concluded their sponsorship deals. Bridgestone extended its deal as the official tire supplier for the series in November 2006, but Ford withdrew entirely from the series in January 2007. Mazda took over as the new pace car and courtesy vehicle supplier, but elected not to badge the engines, with Cosworth having been sold to Kevin Kalkhoven by Ford.
ESPN announced a new, multiyear agreement that marked the return of the Champ Car World Series to the network in 2007. On January 23, 2007, Champ Car unveiled its new logo for the Champ Car World Series and the Atlantic Series, with a design that included the new Panoz DP01 chassis on the right with an emphasis on a chicane-style layout, representing the street track racing that dominated Champ Car.
Champ Car officials confirmed that Panoz would be the sole chassis supplier for Champ Car for the three years beginning in 2007. The Panoz DP01 was built by sister company Élan Motorsport Technologies and was powered by a turbo-charged Cosworth engine. The new formula was reported to significantly lower the costs of competing in the series, which was in turn expected to increase car counts for the 2007 Champ Car season. However, 2007 entries did not exceeded those of 2006.
The new rules of the 2007 season included the implementation of standing starts at venues where they could be safely implemented, being introduced in the fourth round of the season at Portland. Additionally, all events were time limited to 1 hour 45 minutes instead of running a set number of laps. As the time limit approached, the drivers were notified that they were beginning the last lap. The leader would not be shown the white flag, which was instead employed in a similar manner to its use by the FIA. Teams were also allowed unlimited access to their tires during all qualifying sessions. The requirement for each team to use at least one set of the alternate Bridgestone Potenzas during the race would remain in place.
Starting this season drivers no longer received a bonus point for leading a lap of the race.
