CART 'silly season' latest.

With 2001 driver/engine contracts seemingly changing on a daily basis, here are the latest possibilities from stateside.

Bryan Herta is to test for the Player's Forsythe Reynard-Ford squad this week, according to US TV Network Speedvision and could grab Patrick Carpentier's seat, possibly before the 2000 season is out. Team boss Gerald Forsythe has grown increasingly dissatisfied with the Canadian driver who has failed to show the form that was expected of him when he joined the outfit in 1998.

Herta is still under contract to Forsythe and was scheduled to drive the Forsythe Rcing Swift this year until a disagreement with the CART board led to the team being mothballed. Forsythe is a big fan of the American driver and is keen to see what he can do t the track where he won in 1998 and 1999.

Carpentier missed three events at the start of the 2000 season when he injured his arm in a domestic incident and although he showed impressive form in his first few races back off the disabled list, he has been overshadowed by rookie teammate Alex Tagliani for much of the year. Herta may fid himself in the car for the final six races of the 2000 season and since Paul Tracy has committed his future to the Team Green outfit next year, a berth may be open in 2001.

Herta recently opted out of a drive with the Dale Coyne team for the rest of the 2000 season, a seat that could now be taken by the impressive youngster Alex Barron, who contested a handful of events for AAR and Penske over the past two years. Barron will participate in an open test at Laguna Seca this week with a view to race at Vancouver next weekend.

Current points leader Michael Andretti is now favourite to land a seat at Team Green alongside Tracy and not in the Chip Ganassi outfit as had been widely predicted. The American driver could be seen in a three car Reynard-Honda team with current drivers Tracy and Dario Franchitti but the Scottish driver may yet leave the squad for a possible place in the mooted works Honda team next year.

PacWest could introduce current Indy Lights star Scott Dixon into its squad in place of Mark Blundell, despite the Englishman's current contract that runs through to 2002. Dixon will run alongside Blundell and Mauricio Gugelmin in the two Reynard-Mercedes' that could become Reynard-Honda's in 2001.

Adrian Fernandez is still planning to launch his own squad next year and is being courted by Honda to run a proposed factory two-car team for the Japanese giants, possibly with Franchitti alongside the Mexican if his plans with Team Green dissipate.

Fernandez' current employer Pat Patrick hopes to transfer his engine allegiance from Ford to Toyota although that may not be enough to pursued Fernandez to stay. Roberto Moreno is expected to retain his drive but the list of possibilities for a second driver is almost endless. Johnny Herbert, Bruno Junqueira and Nicolas Minassian are three drivers who are being targeted for nearly every empty seat next year although Herbert's Ford connections could see him in the Newman-Haas squad as replacement for Michael Andretti.

Zakspeed are still expected to enter a two car team next year, probably with Ford backing and although no possible drivers have been mentioned yet, that situation along with every other team's current position, is likely to change by the time the CART circus rolls into Vancouver next weekend.