IndyCar 2012

An article by WhoDey    No Comments

Despite the date being moved back several times, IndyCar appears to finally be moving forward towards its goal of a new chassis and engine formula, now expected for the 2012 season.  We’ll discuss the potential engine options later – for now, let’s focus on the chassis designs.  Over the last few days, the 4 manufacturers bidding for the design have released their concepts.  Below are descriptions and some notes of each.

One thing to note – IndyCar appears to be focused on choosing one chassis for all teams to use.  While I personally feel that the best racing and best fan experience would come from going back to having multiple chassis options for teams, there are other things to consider.  Given the current financial state of all but the largest IndyCar teams, running one chassis seams to be the best option.  Economies of scale will allow more teams to be able to afford it on a lower budget.  Hopefully this will help keep away more stories like that of Vision racing.

Dallara

Italian manufacturer Dallara has been making IndyCar chassis since 2003, and has been the sole supplier since the final team dropped the use of the GForce chassis.  Dallara actually unveiled 3 concepts last week, one of which is pictured here.  The designs are mostly evolutionary from the currently used model.  Most of the focus, according to Dallara, has been on reducing weight and making aerodynamic improvements.  Minimizing drag at ovals and increasing downforce for road courses are the aerodynamic priorities.  Their concepts seem to follow the path taken by last year’s Formula One rule changes – bigger front wings and smaller rear wings.  The goal of this is to prevent aerodynamic wake of a car in front from disrupting the downforce of a car behind and therefore allowing for closer following and more overtaking.  These changes, however, have shown mixed results in Formula One.

Swift

The two concepts that Swift have displayed show a similar focus on removing aerodynamic wake.  The concept pictured here was dubbed the “mushroom buster”, referring to the traditional shape of the wake behind the car.  This chassis features a rear diffuser designed to minimize that effect while providing additional downforce.  Swift’s other concept contained an interesting bit of kit – the engine is partially visible due to an open area at the back of the engine cover.

Lola

Lola, previously an open wheel chassis supplier in the CART series, is looking to get back in the game with its concept for IndyCar 2012.  Details on Lola’s presented concept are slim.  Mainly, what is known is that they have focused on efficiency, reduced weight, and added safety measures

Delta Wing

Certainly the most radical concept has been Delta Wing’s proposal, unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show on Wednesday.  Their design significantly changes both the shape and aerodynamics of the IndyCar chassis.  Featuring a more drastic “coke bottle” shape, the chassis is missing one significant feature – there is no horizontal rear wing.  Instead, a vertical “shark fin” is the only major rear aero element.  What’s interesting to note is another similarity with Formula One – the majority of F1 chassis revealed so far for 2010 have featured some sort of “shark fin” leading into the traditional rear wing.  The concept features signficant underbody aero to make make up for the lack of downforce-assisting wings.  Once major concern voiced thus far is how the exceedingly narrow front track would affect the handling characteristics at road courses.

Conclusion

What we’re seeing now will hopefully help bring some more excitement to the 2012 season.  If nothing else, it will be good to see some new ideas and designs out there.  We’ll discuss engine possibilities in an upcoming post, but with the combination of a new chassis and likely a whole new engine formula, IndyCar may be getting the kick in the pants it needs to bring back the fans.  Let’s just hope that by 2012, it won’t already be too late.