INSIGHT: Ready for Launch with the Verizon INDYCAR 15 app

Nobody ever won a Verizon IndyCar Series championship just by turning up at the season-opener and hoping everything is going to be OK. In racing, standing still is losing, which is why the successful race teams push even harder during the off-season, focusing on anything and everything to make an even better racecar.

The same goes for Verizon as it takes the IndyCar fan experience to the next level with its INDYCAR 15 app. It's about recognizing areas it can enhance and improve, and new technologies it can introduce to best serve race fans.

"We're looking at our app as fans and as series partners," says Jim McVey, director of content marketing at Verizon Wireless. "We always ask ourselves what we can do technically to make a better fan experience.

"One of the reasons why we're involved in IndyCar is we're all about technology and we want to be partners with an entity on the cutting edge of racing. The teams never stop improving, and neither do we."

Dave Faustino, race engineer for 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series champion Will Power at Team Penske, observes: "One of the biggest misconceptions about IndyCar teams is that between seasons we're more relaxed. Honestly, the working days are probably longer in the off-season, 11 or 12 hours a day, and that's all driven by the lists of items we've accumulated during the year. Things to help us put better cars on track."

For Verizon, any changes to its app must always enhance the fan experience, so introducing new ideas and new technology is always looked at from that context.

"The fanbase approaches the sport from three main angles," says McVey. "Number one: at the track, immersed in the sound and spectacle; number two: at home, watching it on TV, where the app can provide the second stream for further, deeper insight; and number three: between races, where fans want the latest news. The app has to deliver on all three of those, so we're constantly adding ideas to a list of things and weighing each one up in order to prioritize."

That has parallels with Faustino's way of working: recognize areas to improve, then plan and prioritize for the ones which will make the biggest gains.

"All the engineers at Penske make lists, as do the drivers, throughout the year," he says. "Some will be logistical improvements to make us more efficient – ways to test the car better, or to better use facilities such as wind tunnels, shaker rigs and simulations."

But as well as the self-analysis, there are the practicalities to complete.

Our cars get stripped down to nothing in winter – even the tubs get stripped," says Faustino. "Everything is refurbished, repaired and reset. Most of our R&D is done in winter, because once we're on the road, we all become super-saturated with session-to-session, day-to-day stuff."

For a Verizon IndyCar Series team, one of the challenges is the diversity of tracks the series races on, from superspeedways, to short ovals, to natural terrain road courses and unforgiving street tracks.

Verizon faces a similar challenge in designing an app that's just as inclusive and entertaining for a casual fan as it is for a hardcore devotee. It's a balancing act, but one that the app design team enjoys.

"If you throw too much hi-tech stuff at an emerging fanbase, it could alienate them," says McVey, "yet at the same time, we must balance that with the fact that we have the ability and facilities to serve the hardcore fans who want to know what revs that car is running, how late into the corner that driver is going to brake. So we keep the app user-friendly and simple to understand for first-timers, but also with the sophistication to serve core fans."

After the heavy winter workload, McVey says that "enhancements go on throughout the year. INDYCAR 15 has already launched, but more functionality is added once the season starts. The process to make it even better is a never-ending one."

Faustino concurs with that approach as he gears up for an intense 2015 season.

"However long we think the off-season is, we always head to the first race having not ticked all the boxes on our master list. That's because the deeper you dive into the data, the more you find ways to improve."

That's exactly the same ethos that triggered Verizon into making improvements for the INDYCAR 15 app that include a real-time championship points table – "conveying that these races build to a championship climax" – as well as the ability to watch a whole race from a driver's perspective.

"It's a great app," agrees Faustino, "but it's a pity that at the exact time Will and I could use it most – by watching our main rivals in real time – we're focusing on what we're doing in order to perform our best for Verizon Team Penske!