INDYCAR: Fan feedback helped in 2018 design - Frye

IndyCar competition boss Jay Frye says that the series leaned heavily on fan feedback as well as safety and performance criteria when designing its next-generation universal aero kit, which is scheduled to debut in 2018.

"We looked at the cars over the last 20 years, and what different parts and pieces off of different cars that we liked and we knew that other people liked, and especially that our fans were asking for," Frye said.

"So that's really where the car started, and it's kind of a reverse engineering exercise. Usually you work on a performance piece first, where [with] this car we worked on the aesthetics of it first, hoping that we can create a performance package around it. And besides the performance piece, it also will have a lot of safety initiatives that are very cool."

In addition to leaning on fan feedback, Frye said that IndyCar also paid heed to desire from the drivers for a package that emphasizes downforce generated from the bottom of the car rather than the top, as is the case with the current DW12. The hope is that such a chance will preserve – and perhaps even improve – the current quality of racing by reducing the penalty for running in dirty air.

"We basically took parts off [the current car] to see what they would do," Frye said.

Frye expects the current performance level of the cars to be preserved in the changes. He also said that the 2018 package, which is intended to be used for three years, could form the basis for the 2021 car, but that the series also remains open to doing something "drastically different."

A more detailed image of the car is slated to be released in the coming weeks, with track testing scheduled to begin sometime in early-to-mid summer.