Rough Day in Denver; But smooth for Bruno Junqueira, leading from wire to wire.(Racing)(Shell Grand Prix, Denver, Colorado)(Brief Article)

Byline: BILL McGUIRE

The Shell Grand Prix of Denver marked CART's first visit to the mile-high city since 1991. Not surprisingly, the event was fraught with all the typical problems of a first-year street course venue, and at least one special challenge, the result of Denver's 5260-feet elevation.

Although it shares nothing with the old 1990-91 circuit, the 1.647-mile layout that looped around downtown Denver's Pepsi Center was typical street course fare: tight and narrow, and in this case, extremely bumpy, with awkward surface transitions from asphalt to concrete. In the first Friday morning practice, drivers immediately found the concrete alarmingly rough, while the asphalt portions were ``slick as ice,'' in the words of several. With lap times considerably slower than their computer simulations due to the poor course conditions, CART officials shortened the event from the planned 115 laps to an even 100 (only 164.7 miles) to make the allotted television time window.

Meanwhile, teams struggled with the effects of Denver's thinner air: Here, atmospheric pressure is not the 14.7 PSI found at sea level, but only 12.23 PSI. With significantly less air mass available for processing, engines and brakes struggle to cool adequately; aerodynamics aren't nearly as efficient; turbochargers must work harder to pump in the same 34 inches of manifold pressure. The cars sprouted massive cooling inlets in their sidepods to cope with the added heat, and weird aero setups in an attempt to find more downforce. (Expect to see the same unusual look in November at Mexico City, where the altitude is even greater.)

As much of the field suffered through several dozen spins, overheating-related fires and other mishaps, Bruno Junqueira grabbed the pole with a lap of 1:01.703 (96 mph). It was Junqueira's third CART pole of the year (four, when you include his Indy ...