Posted by: Paul
On this episode Steph and Paul are joined by Kevin Lee, IMS Radio Network reporter and co-host of “Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee,” as they breakdown the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series and give their predictions for the 2010 Season.
Listen here or find us on iTunes by searching for “Planet-IRL”
Posted by: Paul
Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, the Indy Racing League was comprised of many small teams. Mega-teams like Marlboro Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi were staunch supporters of the rival CART FedEx Championship Series and teams like Treadway, Foyt, Panther, and Menard ruled the roost on the all-oval circuit. At the top of the IRL food chain was Panther Racing. With the help of a young driver by the name of Sam Hornish, Panther Racing captured the 2001 Indy Racing Northern Lights Series (Ouch!! It still hurts to say that!). A year later, when the aforementioned Marlboro Team Penske arrived on the scene, they were expected to easily walk away with the League Championship but again, Panther Racing rose above the fray and showed that the Little Team that Could was not going to go quietly into the abyss. Eight years later, after having to nearly sell everything the team possessed just to stay afloat, Panther racing is still going strong and the National Guard-backed team looks forward to 2010 with eager anticipation as they pin their hopes once again on Dan Wheldon to return the #4 Dallara/Honda to victory lane.
However, it was not 2010 but rather 2012 that was the topic of conversation when Panther Racing co-owner John Barnes spoke with Planet-IRL recently. Barnes has been onboard with the Delta Wing group since the middle of last season and has been an outspoken proponent of the concept since its public introduction on February 11 at the Chicago Auto Show. He says that the first news of the Delta Wing project started making rounds last year at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the Month of May and continued to gain momentum throughout the summer. Finally, at Motegi, all of the team owners were introduced to the concept, and most of them were immediately on board with the theories presented. Barnes and many of his fellow team owners in the IZOD IndyCar Series Paddock see the project as not only a way to shake up the current status quo amongst the teams currently competing but as essential to the success and future relevance of the IndyCar Series. Such a radical change is seen by many in the paddock as a way to reach the younger viewers rather than presenting them the same cars that have essentially been raced since the early 1970’s. Says Barnes, “Our success and whether we’re going to stay in business, in all motorsports, is determined by that 10-year old kid. It’s not going to be determined the 40-year old looking at the computer.” That isn’t to say that the League should turn its back on the current fan base but the owners hope that reintroducing a period of innovation to the racing community will strike a chord with established and new fans alike.
In speaking of the car itself, as it was presented in Chicago, Barnes says he understands that people are skeptical and is not surprised by the general negativity that the concept car has received from racing fans. The same thing, he says, was said about the Cooper Climax that Colin Chapman and Sir Jack Brabham brought to Indianapolis in May 1961. Soon though, what was mocked and ridiculed was accepted as the norm. Barnes understands that human nature is to be skeptical of such a big change, especially when it is implemented in one setting, but his faith in Ben Bowlby’s genius puts his mind at ease. Additionally, the car has been in computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations for 24 hours a day over the past several months. The fact that the Delta Wing group actually presented a physical model of their ideas, rather than just drawings and computer images, puts them further down the development path than the proposals submitted to the Indy Racing League by Dallara, Swift and Lola. In response to many fans concerns about the lack of open-wheels, Barnes says that now is the time for that evolution to be accepted. As he said, “IndyCar didn’t used to have wings either.” As the “person who has to pay for all our crashed [stuff],” Barnes is particularly excited about the decreased number of accidents that will result from reduced wheel interlock between cars. Panther Racing currently has five Dallara IndyCar chassis in their inventory, at a cost of approximately $800,000 each, plus roughly $1 million per entrant for a Honda engine lease. For a new team to run a single entrant with a primary and a backup car, teams would expect to spend roughly $2.6 million for just the car and engine lease. That, of course, does not include any crash damage, tires, spare parts, etc. A price tag of $3 million is more likely under the current system, with all prices subject to the rate set forth by Dallara. Barnes says that the proposed Delta Wing car would cost roughly $600,000 for the car and engine, and the teams would own the engine. More importantly, says Barnes, the prices of the car and all components of the car would be set by the engineering committee.
Of course, the Delta Wing group is proposing much more than just the radical car design. The other major components of the concept are the “open-source” specifications and the aforementioned new engineering committee to determine the acceptance of individual car components. With the new proposals, all technical specifications would be posted and made available to anybody interesting in designing a new part of the IndyCar racer – whether that part is a front nose cone or a halfshaft or any other part. The engineering committee, headed initially by Ben Bowlby himself, would be comprised of engineers from the teams and technical representatives from the IRL. The committee would have the authority to accept the component submissions and would set the price for those components. More importantly, the engineering committee would ensure that all teams have equal access to all parts. No longer would we see a situation where Roger Penske spends millions of dollars to develop new mirror mounts or suspension pieces and race them exclusively on his cars. If a piece is developed and approved by the engineering committee, all teams will be able to purchase the piece at the set, known price.
One particularly intriguing aspect of the concept is the applicability of a number of different types of engines. Because the engine will not be a stressed component of the chassis, the Delta Wing group says that it can accept a variety of different engine types and all will be regulated by using an equal fuel flow rate. The goal then is to get the greatest amount of energy out of a given amount of fuel. Whether that comes from a V6 engine or a turbocharged inline-4 is up to the engine manufacturers to decide. Barnes admitted that it would be possible for teams to own multiple engine variations and run them at different types of tracks (e.g. an turbo I-4 on street courses and a V-6 on longer ovals), though he would expect most teams to have marketing agreements with a particular engine manufacturer that would, in most likelihood, prevent that theory from becoming reality. Nonetheless, if engine manufacturers see these engine specifications as relevant to their company’s goals, Barnes expects to see the manufacturers once again use IndyCar racing as a proving ground for their product, and with that comes increased marketing exposure for the League and its suppliers.
Understanding that many of the current IndyCar fans are skeptical of the proposed design, Barnes notes that it at least has people thinking about, and focusing on, IndyCar Racing. According to Barnes, on the day the car was presented at the Chicago Auto Show, the term “Delta Wing” was the 35th most searched term on Google worldwide. When, he asks, was the last time that has been said about anything related to IndyCar racing? There are still hurdles to be cleared, but with the goal of having a prototype on track this fall, Barnes anticipates that a full catalog of parts should be available by fall 2011 for teams to test in preparation for the 2012 IndyCar Series season. With such time to develop parts for the Delta Wing, Barnes does not expect the 2012 IndyCar season to start with an entire grid of identical cars and definitely thinks there will be alterations to the concept car unveiled last week.
Whether or not the Indy Racing League accepts the radical Delta Wing proposal or one of the more evolutionary designs from Dallara, Swift, or Lola, the ideas proposed by the Delta Wing group must be given some consideration and further evaluation. The main focus of the new chassis is to significantly reduce the cost and make it easier for teams to participate financially. Of course, as incoming Indy Racing League CEO Randy Bernard noted a few weeks ago, there are two ways to increase profits – increase revenue and decrease costs. Decreasing costs helps in the short term but long-term viability is based on increasing revenues. For the next several years, the Indy Racing League will be in the unenviable position of needing to look at both short-term and long-term financial stability. By making the IZOD IndyCar Series more relevant to today’s automotive industry and significantly reducing the cost of the cars, the Delta Wing group feels they have accomplished both. Have they done it? That answer isn’t clear yet. But John Barnes feels the Delta Wing clearly represents the future of the racing machine. “Did you see the trophy at last weekend’s Daytona 500?” Barnes asks. “Enough said!”
Posted by: Paul
Okay, friends, pay attention as this situation may never occur again but here goes – I might not, after all, know everything. When it comes to the design of race cars and all the knowledge that some folks have, I can actually assure you that I do not, in fact, know it all! Such, I believe, is the case with the Delta Wing “IndyCar” that was debuted yesterday at the Chicago Auto Show. My initial reaction upon seeing the concept car yesterday afternoon was that I did not like it. After about 24 hours to stew on it, my decision today is that I still don’t like it. But, I am smart enough to realize that since I don’t actually know everything about race car design, there’s a good chance that Ben Bowlby, designer of the Delta Wing car, knows what he is talking about. After all, Ben’s genius has been the driving force behind many previous race cars, including the Lola that was so dominant for so many years in CART and ChampCar. This guy is pretty damn smart so it is probably wise, on many people’s part, to pay attention when Ben speaks about car design.
At the heart of the issue that most IndyCar fans have with the Delta Wing design is that is “doesn’t look like an IndyCar.” Well, I agree to a point but throughout open-wheel racing history, significant progress has been made by making cars that don’t necessarily look “like an IndyCar.” I’m not quite as hung up on the physical look of the car (though it will never win any race-car beauty contests, in my humble opinion). What really, REALLY bothers me about this cars is that is not, in fact, an open-wheel racing car. Regardless of what some folks might try to claim, the fact that approximately 30° of the tire is exposed to sunlight does not mean this is an “open-wheel” car. Nearly all cars, if not EVERY car, that has ever competed at Indianapolis has had exposed wheels. Part of the danger of IndyCar Racing is that a large amount of finesse is require to drive these cars at high speeds, in close proximity, and keep from touching wheels. The fact that the Delta Wing designers were so blatant in their disregard of this aspect is concerning. I do understand that tucking the wheels away significantly enhances the efficiency of the car but, quite honestly, I don’t care. Radical innovation is one thing. Wiping away 100 years of history and putting fenders on the car is quite another.
Mike Hull has pointed out on a few occasions that is has been car designers willing to innovate outside the box that has gotten the modern IndyCar to where it is today – from the boxy ‘40s to the roadster to winged racers to ground effects, etc. However, what is different about each of those situations is that each of those technical innovations was a method to create a faster racecar, a car that could beat 32 other cars at Indianapolis. Never has there been such a radical change just for the sake of doing something different. And never has the entire IndyCar community made the dramatic change all at once. When the roadsters came around, there was one the first year and a few more each year until the entire field eventually chose the best option, which turned out to be the roadster. Wings were integrated into the cars over the course of several years. Same with ground effects. In each of those cars, the change was gradual and allowed the fans to see that the best car was in fact “winning out”. In this case, the change is so sudden and so dramatic that it will be extremely difficult for the fans to accept, no matter how long they sleep on it.
I think ultimately Ben Bowlby has addressed some very pertinent issues for the design of the future IZOD IndyCar Series racecar, but I’m not convinced that the Delta Wing car that we saw yesterday is the answer. I hope that some of the ideas that Ben has proposed can be incorporated into a more traditional, but advanced-looking, design. IndyCar fans are not opposed to change. I’m tired of hearing people say that those of us opposed the Delta Wing are opposed to the future, opposed to innovation, and opposed to change because that simply is NOT the case. We are not opposed to change. What we are opposed to is a car that has absolutely no connection to the history of IndyCar racing (except the Firestone Firehawk racing slicks). I think that if Ben Bowlby can go back and make some revisions to this concept to incorporate more of the IndyCar look that fans have known from the past 30 years, designs, teams owners, and League officials alike will get a MUCH warmer and open reception to a radical design. For 99% of the fans, the current iteration is just too far out there for fans to consider it an IndyCar.
