The next generation car will have similar downforce properties as the current package, according to Indy Racing League senior technical director Les Mactaggart.
"We're looking at all sorts of configurations to see what's best for the cars in the future," he said. "The smaller the wing, the less affect it has. You still have to generate downforce underneath the car. We have to look at all those things and decide what is the best compromise. If we could generate more drag without increasing the downforce significantly, that would be the ideal scenario. The drag tends to limit the speed of the car, while downforce relates to the stability and drivability. It's very difficult to separate the two."
The two spots I highlighted seem to imply a high down force car with high drag. Basically, the same DF as they have now with MORE drag to slow them down. I haven't heard any rumors that the engine design is to have MORE horse power. I would suggest that is a recipe for pack racing.
Whatever those students came up with might be interesting, but meaningless. It's a PR exercise, which is fine, but it's not going to produce the next Indy car.
The implication here is for the current formula of high downforce high drag racing. A depressing thought really. It means that Indycar anticipates racing on a lot of high banked ovals for the forseeable future. it also means that they won't give up on their super close (pack) racing and .000Nth finishes. This may seem like good marketing, heck, I'll even concede that it IS good marketing, but for a gearhead like me, it's not good racing. Might as well be a time trial.
Other than that one picture of some pictures, where are the images of these cars ? Why not SHOW them ? A nice little gallery with the students name would be good.
The next generation car will have similar downforce properties as the current package, according to Indy Racing League senior technical director Les Mactaggart.
"We're looking at all sorts of configurations to see what's best for the cars in the future," he said. "The smaller the wing, the less affect it has. You still have to generate downforce underneath the car. We have to look at all those things and decide what is the best compromise. If we could generate more drag without increasing the downforce significantly, that would be the ideal scenario. The drag tends to limit the speed of the car, while downforce relates to the stability and drivability. It's very difficult to separate the two."
The two spots I highlighted seem to imply a high down force car with high drag. Basically, the same DF as they have now with MORE drag to slow them down. I haven't heard any rumors that the engine design is to have MORE horse power. I would suggest that is a recipe for pack racing.
I hope this is a misprint. More drag? I thought new cars were designed to minimize drag. Take the COT, remove the fenders and you have your new Indy car. Want more drag without increasing downforce? Put a parachute behind the cars.
High drag + high down force + ? Horse power = easier to drive, more pedal to the metal, pack racing.
Many people here, have suggested that the cars LOOK to easy to drive. Many complain that foot to the floor racing removes too much driver skill from the equation. Some have suggested that LESS down force would be better, so that they have to lift of even hit the brakes for the corners would add more action and give the driver a chance to show their stuff.
By the quoted article, they IRL is thinking in the opposite direction.
I don't care if they used the DP01 or even something like it. I'm fine with something with a more "unique" look to it, so that you CAN tell the difference between an American O/W car and the rest. But, it should not be at the expense of performance.
It should meet specific guidelines for safety. For instance, no matter what side of the fence you sit on, it should NOT sail as much as the current one. Yes, yes,...some people will say ANY open wheel car will get airborne, if the wheels hit. Sure, they can, but please ... look at the films. I have never seen an F1 car or CART or GP2 or what ever car get as high and stay as long, as the current IRL chassis. If that is because of the speeds, well then find a way to NOT do that at speeds ! Undertray changes ? Front wing changes ? Find a fix.
It should be good at ALL types of tracks, NOT just ovals. It's not going to be an all oval series anymore, so make a car that does them all well.
I think what will be found is that the rest of the worlds O/W cars looks the same because they are designed to DO the same thing. Adding ovals into the design will probably NOT change the look that much. Perhaps a little wider sides and more sturdy, but not lots else.
Why they would go with more drag is beyond me. You'd want more than anything to make the cars more slippery, and just take away downforce to put skill back into the equation. Pack racing in open wheel cars, I'm sorry, is stupidly dangerous. After Brack nearly died in 2003 and Dario's flips last year, you figure the IRL woulda wanted to go back to less pack racing.
Somebody must think it is too hard to drive these cars, to propose a high DF and high drag design. They want it very stable and slower, by those quotes.
Some things to think about....
What is the HP rating of the IPS cars ? In the 500hp range ? Can the IRL drop their HP without backing into the performance window of their FEEDER series ?
The IRL wants the speeds to be put in check. They probably think that what they have now is plenty fast enough.
So, if they can't drop the HP and they want to slow them down, what can they do ? Add drag !
So, they add drag. That puts the cars back close together,in a pack. What makes for crashes ? The cars moving around in the pack. How do you stop that ? Why you add more DF so they are stable.
I may be just imagining this, but it seems like the IRL wants the pack racing back and they want to limit the crashes, so they will make the car as glued down as they can.
The IRL should concentrate on how the downforce on the following car is affected. If they can reduce the amount of downforce taken away when following a car you will see much more exciting racing.
Somebody must think it is too hard to drive these cars, to propose a high DF and high drag design. They want it very stable and slower, by those quotes.
Some things to think about....
What is the HP rating of the IPS cars ? In the 500hp range ? Can the IRL drop their HP without backing into the performance window of their FEEDER series ?
The IRL wants the speeds to be put in check. They probably think that what they have now is plenty fast enough.
So, if they can't drop the HP and they want to slow them down, what can they do ? Add drag !
So, they add drag. That puts the cars back close together,in a pack. What makes for crashes ? The cars moving around in the pack. How do you stop that ? Why you add more DF so they are stable.
I may be just imagining this, but it seems like the IRL wants the pack racing back and they want to limit the crashes, so they will make the car as glued down as they can.
I'd rather they slowed lap speeds by removing downforce making the drivers lift in the corners than put so much downforce into them (drag) that they are flat footed all the way around. Look at the wings the CART guys used at the superspeedways. Very small yet they were running 950 hp.
Now Danica fans may prefer the high downforce setup.
