Those are some racy looking cars. Just WOW. I watched a couple of races in late 2017. Very good racing. Real racing. Gonna watch more this year.
https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news/gade-joins-spm-becomes-indycars-first-female-lead-race-engineer-996188/ I missed this. Leena Gade of Audi LeMans fame is engineering for James Hinchcliffe.
Again, Indy Car remaining relevant through the off-season with actual on-track testing rather than the usual blah-blah-blah nothing they've been doing the past several off seasons. It was almost as if, "Oh, the first race at St. Petersburg is in two weeks, we'd better get some testing in". Indy Car needs to ride some momentum into the start of the season and staying in the headlines is the best way to do it. The "canopy" testing is interesting. Aesthetically better than the "halo" certainly. If these devices help keep drivers safe then all the better, it's progress. Dixon certainly seems pleased with it and no distractions such as Vettel experienced when Ferrari tried out a similar set up. A reason to stop following F1 or Indy Car racing though? Hardly. Through the years, there have been those who called the end of ground effects, turbo charging (original), et.al. as the "End of F1", all this. The "canopy" and "halo" will no more be the end of these series than any of the other changes we've witnessed over the years. The "canopy" will likely emerge as the way to go for all of them and in no time, we'll become used to them and after a while people will be asking why it took racing so long to come up with these devices. BHW
Yeah, I think Leena had a year remaining on her contract with Audi Group when they pulled the plug on the WEC P1 program. She was then assigned to Bentley in Blankpain and after last year she became a free agent. Indy Car's gain no doubt. She's terrific. BHW
The look of the new car actually has gotten me excited to watch Indy again. The old car just looked ridiculous, almost closed wheel in the rear. Like a lego model or something.
Aw c'mon....if the field could be expanded to, let's say, 36-40 of d'em gorgeous DW12s we could have a real exciting show, no? An exagerrated open wheel IROC. Woo-hoo!!!
I happen to love the new 2018 speedway aero kit package. Reminds me some of the 92 Lola / Cosworth days. I pit crew for an Historic Indy car and we run it at the Speedway. Its an 87 March / Cosworth and the sound of that Cosie is just amazing... and the Speedway ?, I call it " gods own cathedral " !!
Ahhh yes....the good old days where you hear the rattling of the rafters going into turn one. That and the sound of an Offy were music for the racing heart. Now.....the drone of buzzing bee's.
Saw what looked like Indy Car haulers heading south on Alligator Alley and I-75 Wednesday. Two trailers had "Dallara" prominently on the sides. Haven't seen anything about Indy Car testing at Homestead, maybe a closed test? BHW
The cars look better, no doubt. Not great, but a big improvement over last year. Racing has been better too, but the whole package is still missing something. I can't put my finger on it, and obviously, if Indycar knew how to do this, they would. I was at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and it was like walking on hallowed ground. I was lucky enough to watch some cars race around the track (which was mostly empty other than visitors to the museum) and it was nothing short of amazing. It gave me chills. It reinvigorated my interest in Indycar. Since that time, it's faded again - but I know there's something there...they need to figure out how to get that feeling through to the viewers. I do believe the personalities are a big part of it. Maybe they can do more cross promotion with F1 / NASCAR / NHRA / IMSA, I don't know. It would be cool if (say) the Indy 500 had 4 slots reserved for the best racer from each of the major series, and maybe you'd get a "mini' competition there. Think about Doug Kalitta and (maybe) Antron Brown competing for the "NHRA" seat, or Martin Truex and Joey Logano competing for the NASCAR seat, etc. It's not a baked idea, but something like that would get me excited. I guess I'm not alone thinking this way? https://www.foxsports.com/nascar/story/coca-cola-600-indianapolis-500-charlotte-motor-speedway-sprint-cup-series-indycar-double-052616
the problem is that Indy car is a spec series.. remember back in the 70's and 80's ? the chassis makers were all creative which meant multiple chassis / engine combinations.. those were the good old days. some Offy, Judd, Cosworth, Buick and Ilmor. My favorite is still a 92 Lola / Buick...
Agreed, the single chassis approach isn't working. But, who will step up? Are Lola, March or Reynard even making chassis any more? Panoz, Penske or (fill in blank) could get back into Indy Cars. BHW
Lola is. March went belly up in the 90's and hid all of their assets in a cave somewhere in the cliffs in the UK. a buddy of mine bought what was left of March and is now called marchives www.marchives.com that's the team I crew for in the vintage series. Panoz wont build another Indy car project. they are down the street from me and are concentrating on the Delta wing car and some street cars. Gurney built that delta wing as an Indy car but Tony George put the kybosh on that program so they ran it in IMSA. Reynard merged with someone. remember the 92 Galmer ? Its designer Alan Mertens is in NM and is building an open wheel car that may be a candidate for Indy cars.
I thought the Delta Wing project was over at this point. Are they planning to bring it back for something else?
Ahhhh.....I think you need something else before that can happen. What could that be? Come on now BHW....think. And no it isn't Princess Sparkle Pony.
The Delta Wing project is finished. Last we heard from Dr. Panoz, they announced at Le Mans that they were set to do a Garage 56 entry for Le Mans, a fully electric prototype. Haven't seen much about that lately other than maybe before the holidays where an article stated that building the car hadn't started yet. They'd better get a move on. No idea what you're referring to Lorenzo, but that's nothing new. If they held the door open for another chassis builder or two to come in, it would certainly be more interesting. Saw an article the other day about how they're in discussion with some more engine manufactures which would help as well. Ford still playing the hold-out game, committed to WEC and IMSA GTs. BHW
Please explain to me why any manufacturer would find this form of racing beneficial to it success? You have capped the technology , you have little to no audience and very little incentive to do anything that provides you a competitive advantage. Please enlighten me as to why anyone would spend considerable amounts of money and time in a series that provides little to no return ?
