IndyCar to go without new display panels in May

The Verizon IndyCar Series’ new car-mounted digital displays will not be used for the month of May.

Teams have been instructed to remove the SPAA05 panels from the roll hoop fairings and the associated loom and control box from each entry for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Indy 500 due to widespread issues that were experienced with the panel hardware during recent Speedway tests.

The Holland-based SPAA05 firm is expected to address the problems and, provided a suitable solution is found, return the panels to IndyCar for possible use at next month’s street race in Detroit.

With a shallow indent built into the roll hoop fairings to make the panels semi-flush, teams have been told to fill the indent with a flat piece of material—most likely carbon fiber—and to add the car’s number to the panel.

Image by Joe Skibinski/IMS Photo

When functioning properly, IndyCar used the new panels to display a variety of stored images, car numbers, the duration of a pit stop and other interesting items for fans to follow.

In preseason testing, some teams, including Team Penske, ran without the electronic panels and used static numbers of their own design to achieve IndyCar’s mandate.