The RACER Mailbag, March 9

Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. Due to the high volume of questions received, we can’t guarantee that every letter will be published, but we’ll answer as many as we can. Published questions may be edited for length and clarity.

Q: When it comes to whether or not IndyCar will have an entirely new chassis in 2024 when it goes hybrid, it seems that we have an incredibly short timeframe to realistically make that happen. Is there any chance that a manufacturer like Dallara has had team members doing some side-of-desk, "Suppose we came up with a new IndyCar..." plans they could pull out and present on short notice?

Matt Philpott

MARSHALL PRUETT: Jay Frye told me late last year that ideas for the next car have been batted around with Dallara, but I couldn’t get a definitive word as to whether that meant lines had been drawn in CAD or if it was concepts done in crayon on a napkin over lunch at the Working Man’s Friend (that’s more my style). A lot of initial work could be done right now, but until all of the final weights for the hybrid drivetrain components come in, it would be hard to make key decisions on packaging and placement of the componentry to create a favorable front/rear weight distribution.

Q: YouTube has live coverage of WEC, ELMS and AsLMS races (including practice and qualifying sessions) and I suspect a number of your readers would like to know that it’s available. The coverage is free to watch (as in no fees) and is also commercial-free.  The commentary is informed, knowledgeable and excellent.  If you subscribe to the various YouTube channels, you can watch all of the races in replay -- either the full races or highlights -- which is a nice option if you don’t want to get up at dawn (or earlier) to watch live.

Gordon Taylor, Asheville, NC

MP: If there’s one segment of racing fandom that tops the others in regard to knowing how/when/where to get their international endurance fix, it’s sports car lovers. Thanks for the prompt here, Gordon, for those who want to join in.

Q: Hey Marshall, maybe you or RACER can get a request to Mr. Penske about the inability of RE scanner owners to get the radio frequencies "over the air." This is affecting countless numbers of IndyCar race fans. Having to manually input the frequencies is antiquated. Surely an agreement can be had to provide this service at each track for RE scanner owners.

Jeff, Florida

MP: I’ll be honest, Jeff: of all the things I’m going to bug Roger about, this isn’t one of them. He’d send a drone strike my way if I started bothering him about radio frequencies. His communications team are aware of the suboptimal situation since Racing Electronics opted to discontinue supporting the series. If having to manually input frequencies is what’s necessary, I’m sure folks will spend the time to do so. It isn’t great, but it isn’t the end of the world.

Q: For NASCAR, "Drivers start your engines" is certainly OK. But for IndyCar? No! Here's how to do it right and consistent with the ‘Gentlemen…’ call back in the day: "RACE TEAMS START YOUR ENGINES!" 

I've never seen an IndyCar driver start an engine for a race, at least by himself.  When women weren't in the pits "gentlemen" was technically correct, but it was never the "drivers." Even so, in NASCAR, I'd call them "racers," not "drivers." Hell, I can drive a car.

I hope Roger fixes this before Memorial Day.

John Langston, Edmond, OK

MP: We’re three consecutive Mailbags into the "What to call the starting of an IndyCar" conversation. Can we make it an even four?

You can tell by the expression on this kid's face that he's just tried using his scanner. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

Q: I read your recent article on the growing support to introduce a new Dallara at the same time as the delayed hybrid power units with great interest. Two questions: First, what's the drop-dead date for a decision to allow enough lead time for Dallara to design, test and manufacture enough units to be ready for the start of 2024? I'm sure cost will enter into the decision. What's the cost of a new chassis versus the cost of adapting the current DW12 to the new power unit?

Bill Carsey, North Olmsted, OH

MP: I reached out to Dallara with no luck on the first question, and since you read the article, you would have seen the projected DW12 upgrade costs and a suggested new-chassis cost. But since a new chassis has not been commissioned, there’s no way to answer what it will go for.

Q: Can you explain what in-car sensors the engineers in the pits use to calculate CoP, what the ideal location is, and the adjustments they can make to move it around?

Also, I noticed there are several back to back weekends in this year’s schedule. Robin often wrote about the burden this put on crew members. Could you explain what a typical week’s schedule looks like for them and how this changes when there’s no open weekend between races? 

John from Madison

MP: I’ll handle the first one and fire in the second a few weeks from now; the Mailbag is already overflowing with post-St. Pete and topical questions.

For those who are reading about Center of (aerodynamic) Pressure, or CoP, for the first time, it’s a measurement where the focal point of downforce is positioned on the car. If you look at an IndyCar from the side, it’s the point fore or aft where the downforce is most concentrated. Front and rear wings are used to tune CoP with an increase in front wing/decrease in rear wing moving the CoP forward towards the nose, or a decrease of front wing/increase in rear wing moving CoP to the back. There are other factors to consider, such as spring rate, third spring/ride height control to limit or allow CoP to move, plus the use of strakes in the diffuser and other aero options at the various tracks, etc., but the topside wings are the main tuning tool for CoP.

A CoP number is generated through the data system with strain gauges (also known as load cells) placed in the car’s four corners inside the suspension pushrods. The aero weight (downforce) shown across the front axle is compared to what is being generated across the rear axle, and with some quick math thrown in, a channel that calculates the front/rear weight gives teams a CoP number to track and use to make adjustments as the driver or tires needs.

It's easiest to get clean CoP data when a car is on the straights, but less so entering and navigating through the corners thanks to bumps, curbs, and big braking or acceleration moments that mess with the strain gauge data. To help remove those braking/cornering/accelerating disturbances, teams will use data from their G sensors (acceleration sensors) to filter out those events as much as possible and generate clean-ish CoP numbers in the corners.

There’s no magic CoP number since we go to all manner of tracks in a variety of wing/downforce packages.

Q: Good start to the race season with a well-deserved win by Scott McLaughlin. Was very curious that on Friday TCM broadcast the old movie “Indianapolis Speedway,” which coincided with the opening day of practice for IndyCar. Do you think this is a mere coincidence or was there some influence by Penske’s IndyCar? TCM doesn’t usually start showing movies like this until right around the Indy 500.

Tim B.

MP: If Penske Entertainment is spending its time trying to get an old-timey cable movie channel to play an old-timey IndyCar movie on the opening day of the season, I’d be concerned about where their priorities fall. And if they did this without spending money on ads on the channel to make people aware of the new season, I’d say it was a total failure.

Q: It was a great drive by McLaughlin. but we need to give some accolades that are long overdue for Kyle Moyer. First Marco’s decent young career start, Pagenaud’s success and now he’s on the No. 3. He’s due his credit!

Skip Ranfone, Summerfield, FL

MP: Everything Moyer’s involved in gets better.

Q: As someone who has been a volunteer corner marshal for a long time and has no real love of the electronic lightboards, I was rather dreading having to use them for IndyCar this year. While watching the St. Pete race broadcast, however, I was trying to spot the boards around the track and I don't think I saw them. I know the camera angles are good at cutting the marshals out of the frame, but I feel like the boards should have been noticeable. Since you were there, can you confirm whether they were used, and if not, do you know why?

Here's to hoping maybe I'll get lucky and won't have to use them at Long Beach...

H. Streets, Rohnert Park, CA

MP: As I wrote in one of the pre-event pieces on RACER.com, they were not in St. Pete and won’t be seen until later next month or early May. A "soft introduction" is what I’m told.

Moyer's one of Penske's secret weapons. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

Q: I had a great time in St. Pete, but I have a question about the placement of advertising signage. I purchase start/finish line grandstand tickets so I’m all-in for the race, but after the start of the race we walk the track to watch from our favorite spots close up. But year after year, we are not able to access more areas because of signage: parts of Turn 3, exit of Turn 4, and one of the worst is all of the breaking zone into Turn 10. The cars are not visible from the inside or outside of Turn 11.

I do understand that without the sponsor money the race would not happen, but the fans are important. In the future, maybe Green Savoree can think about the paying fans and the fact we like to enjoy all corners of the track. That being said, in most of these areas the banners could have been on the other side of the track as to not block our view of the race.

Jack, Ft. Myers, FL

MP: Duly noted, Jack.

Q: It feels good to have IndyCar racing back. The St. Pete race was very

enjoyable, with a well-done broadcast. Hinch was good, and Scott McLaughlin drove like a 10-year veteran.

Rant Alert: Here is what I wish would just stop:

1. Tacky: Pre-race invocations that feature a shameless advertising plug for a sponsor. If the person giving the invocation is really making an effort to communicate with God, as an invocation is intended to do, then there is no need to remind God that today's race is sponsored by Firestone.

2. Aggravating: That stupid black IndyCar shutter transition leading

into and out of TV advertising breaks. The race is going to stay in a picture box during the ads anyway, so just go to the advertisement and let our eyeballs follow the shrinking picture to the smaller box. Sooner or later, a key moment of action gets covered up by the shutter. It's like when someone stands right in front of the TV to ask you a question. Get out of there!

3. Aggrandizing: Calling a race winner a "champion" (I know we agree on this one, Marshall). To be a race winner is a noteworthy accomplishment. We already agree on that. Can't that be enough?

Marwood Stout, Camarillo, CA

MP: Well, since God does the voiceovers for those Firestone commercials (“Whatever you drive, drive a Firestone”), you raise a great point. I’ll have to trust you on the second point; never noticed it as something to be bothered over. And on the third point, yes, and maybe God can intervene here. There are no Daytona 500 champions. Or Indy 500 champions. Or Firestone Grand Prix champions. They’re race winners. Just because it’s a big, important, or legendary race doesn’t turn a victorious driver into a champion.

Q: Is there a ban on talking about other racing series during NASCAR’s telecast? I get that you don’t want your valuable airtime full of talk about other racing series, but a prime example of this was the Daytona 500 telecast after Austin Cindric won this year. They made no mention of his father, Tim’s, long-term success in IndyCar, and only vaguely mentioned that “his grandfather was a driver.” His grandfather wasn’t “a driver” he was the great Jim Trueman. No mention of Jim’s success in Trans Am or 1986 Indy 500 win (with Bobby Rahal -Ed.), and the story they told made it seem that Roger Penske just randomly showed up at a short track somewhere and discovered him. Is this a case of a paranoid and jealous organization being greedy with its airtime?

BTW, I’m starting a “PT” swear jar. Every time one of the fantastic IndyCar pit reporters says “PT” instead of “Hinch” I’m putting a dollar in the jar. Maybe I’ll be able to buy a Miami GP ticket when we are done. Chances are slim…

Eric Lawrence

MP: You’re talking to a guy who consumes about one total hour of NASCAR per season, so I’m useless here, Eric. My favorite bon mot from the St. Pete IndyCar broadcast was when my pal, pit reporter Dave Burns, referred to Julia Steinbrenner, co-owner of Devlin DeFrancesco’s No. 29 Andretti Honda, as “The grandson of George Steinbrenner.” I think that one might cost Davey a $20…

Q: I tire of the same two teams dominating IndyCar. This race in St. Pete was a parade. My question is this, why is there not a more level playing field, like having no damper programs? Also, how does a consistent backmarker maintain funding? If I entered this sport, I would have to have an expectation of winning at least one race per year. F1 is far worse, it’s a joke. NASCAR to me is contrived with all these stages and playoffs, but even a backmarker can win Daytona. I have 10 tickets to the 500, but depending on how it works out, will be my last.

Mike, Cincinnati

MP: Well, the two top performers last year were Ganassi and McLaren, so we spent an entire season with Penske and Andretti not being in the championship mix (Josef shot to second at the last race when Pato was taken out, but it was Palou and Pato all season). At St. Pete we had Penske fix its underwhelming 2021 season and Ganassi start slow, only to have Palou salvage the weekend with a stellar drive. McLaren sank like a rock and Andretti had mixed fortunes. As I see it, I’m not sure I can find the same team-based gripe.

The race, oh yeah, it was a snoozer. There are haves and have nots in every sport. Can’t say why IndyCar would be any different.

Q: My pet peeve with IndyCar is yellow flags. It’s interesting when teams are on different pit strategies. It’s really unfair when an untimely yellow comes out and destroys certain teams’ plans while others benefit that have no right to. Something needs to be done. I would suggest something like Formula 1’s virtual safety car. Also, why does it take so long to go back to green? The track is clear and for some reason they continue to run multiple caution laps.

Goggles Paisano from Bedrock

MP: Coming out of the 2021 F1 season, I’m not sure how many folks are saying other series need to follow their lead with crashes/cautions/pit lane openings…

I hear you on how the timing of cautions can help or hurt drivers based on their team’s strategy, but the general belief if it will be a wash by the end of the season. I’m fine with the way it’s handled. As for cautions taking so long, I assume you’re referring to St. Pete? David Malukas clobbered the Turn 3 wall, pushed some of it back, and yes, it did seem to take a while for it to get straightened out.

Q: The fantastic attendance for St. Pete has to be a good selling point for IndyCar for any other cities that might consider a street race. There has been some mention of San Antonio and Oklahoma City in recent years – any chatter about possible future destinations? 

Gregg Fielding

MP: Not that I know of that I’d consider to be actionable right now, Gregg.

Penske wins often, but not quite as often as one reader suggests – St Pete was the team's first victory since Josef Newgarden at Gateway. Barry Cantrell/Motorsport Images

Q: With the recent passing of Danny Ongais, and reading about how Ted Field helped his road racing career, I got caught in an internet wormhole on an unrelated "Field" in racing. Whatever happened to Clint Field? The last reference I could find anything was 2011 in IMSA’s Protoype Challenge class.  I recall he was the youngest class winner at Le Mans, and wasn't too terrible if my mind recalls. Was his entire career funded by his father, and once he went to prison there was no more funding available?

Brian, Centerville, OH

MP: That’s the story as I understand it, and I agree, Clint did have talent. Once things went sideways with his dad Jon and the restaurant chain funding (and whatever other sources of funding) dried up, racing was no longer an option. I wish he would have been able to move to something other than the family team for most of his career -- similar to what many hoped for with Marco Andretti -- to see how he developed in a different organization. I doubt we’ll ever find out.

Q: I liked the letter from John who found a Hy-Vee store filled with Jack Harvey sponsorship material. I wish he’d sent photos of that. Could you ask your readers to send picture evidence of IndyCar-related sponsorships throughout this great land of ours?

Janis of Tampa

MP: Great idea, Janis -- fire those photos in for the next Mailbag!

Q: I am a bit surprised that the current generation of F1 designers were caught off guard by the porpoising experienced by every team in testing (minus Newey at Red Bull -- he must have known it was a possibility). Dallara IndyCars and IMSA prototypes both feature aggressive diffusers, so they generate most of their downforce from the floor. To your knowledge, have either experienced porpoising?

Jonathan and Cleide Morris, Ventura, CA

MP: I would not describe the DW12’s diffuser or anything found on a DPi as aggressive. Keep in mind that with the mix of tracks IndyCar and IMSA visit, ride heights are low -- that’s where the best downforce is made -- but not insanely low, so both are unlikely to run the risk of porpoising.

Q: Why all the cheap shots and negativity towards A.J. Foyt Racing? Seems like in every Mailbag you direct a jab or some snark in their direction. They’ve made a lot of what appear to be positive changes in the offseason that certainly showed some promise in St. Pete, not only with Kirkwood but also Kellett having the best weekend of his IndyCar career. Nobody has supported this sport longer or meant more to it than A.J. Foyt. There’s a big difference between telling the unvarnished truth like Robin did as opposed to going out of your way to constantly disrespect a team and its efforts.

Jeff, Marysville, OH

MP: Taking cheap shots would involve saying something critical that isn’t warranted. They’ve had a positive debut to the season -- one race -- and the last many years of being at the bottom of the multi-car teams is forgotten? Let’s get through two or three positive weekends in a row before we pop the cork on the champagne. Telling the truth isn’t always pretty or appreciated. Think about the reporters covering the Detroit Lions or New York Jets, two perennial NFL bottom-dwellers. There’s no fluff or pats on the back most of the time, but when they do win a big game, they get lots of positive ink. Same here with Foyt.

Their best championship result with a driver since the new turbo era started in 2012 is with Takuma Sato, who placed 14th in 2015. That’s the best we have to talk about. And it’s from seven seasons ago. Should we pretend that isn’t the case? If it wasn’t Foyt, it would be another team, and they’d get the same lack of positive ink when they underperform and the same love when they do.

Here’s a piece of unvarnished truth: Robin went out of his way to avoid telling the truth about the team over the last decade. With his super close relationship with A.J., he chose to dodge the topic with great consistency. It was a known choice between us; as Robin got older, he didn’t want to piss off his friend and hero, so if we’re talking about playing good cop and bad cop, I often wrote what he would not.

Might be shocked to learn I’ve written a few nice things last year, and again of late, celebrated Dalton on his great qualifying performance in print and had him on my podcast that night to talk about it and had Kirkwood on two or three times from Friday-Monday, and wrote about his great efforts. I’ve also done my best to help folks understand how much of an uphill battle Tatiana is facing so they don’t pile on unnecessarily.

Q: I attended the GP of St. Petersburg where I had the opportunity to watch several teams set up in the paddock -- unload race cars, arrange tools and equipment, stack the tires, boot up laptops… It was a very impressive display of coordination and action in such a small space. I was amazed that I didn’t see any accidents from drops, etc. But it got me thinking: what was the wildest (non-racing) accident have you ever seen in the paddock? (Car dropped off the transporter? Drunk fan dumps his 24 oz. beer in the cockpit? Pop-up tent becomes unmoored and flies across the racetrack?

Scott P, Miami, FL

MP: I happened to hear a loud BANG while speaking with a friend in the paddock on Thursday in St. Pete, turned around, and saw a truckie had fumbled the connection between the heavy nose/wing and the crash cart it was meant to rest upon. Looked back and the nose/wings were dug into the diamond plate on their transporter’s lift gate. I rang the team manager and let them know to take a look since it happened before pit crews were allowed into the circuit.

As a mechanic, I saw (or caused) all kinds of paddock mayhem. Unloading our SCCA Pro Racing ACRL Sports 2000s at Portland in 1990 -- we were one of the support races for the IMSA GTP series -- the Nissan GTP team grew tired of us blocking their passage to the infield as we were rolling our cars out of the trailer using long aluminum ramps (old transporter; no lift). So after huffing and puffing for a few minutes as we unloaded, they waited until we got the last of our four cars out and proceeded to drive the big and loaded 15-passenger rental van over the ramps and bent them like bananas. Since those 15-foot-long ramps slid into their holding long space that was about three inches wider than the ramps themselves.

Their new banana shape was never going to fit, so we had to find a local welder to come out and fix them on the spot. Our crew chief, Riccardo Pineiro, knew the Nissan crew chief and went over after getting the welder paid to raise hell. Riccardo isn’t blessed with height, but man alive, he must have scared the s••t out of the Nissan guys because he came back with $300 in cash and an epic apology story. Lots more tales like these to tell.

What could go wrong? Sam Cobb/Motorsport Images

Q: I have a hard time understanding why IndyCar drivers are required to run two different types of tires in each race. And I am not a fan of push to pass. I know it is the same for each team, but, in my opinion, those two factors take a lot of the suspense and excitement out of the race.

Gary Holt, Anchorage, AK

MP: I thought the need to run Firestone’s primary and alternate tires at least once was the only thing bringing some suspense and excitement to events like St. Pete where race strategy and tire preservation needs prevent everyone from finishing where they started. Like you, I’ve never had love for P2P.

Q: Marshall, I hope you make it to the Iowa race. Watching IndyCars on that short track has always been fun. Since the Saturday race (July 23) is set for 3 p.m. CST, folks driving in the for the race should mosey on south to Knoxville for the races on Saturday night. The Knoxville schedule is set to run 410s and 360 sprints that night and general admission is $15. That would make a great doubleheader for any fan of racing. IndyCar at 3 p.m., then Sprint Cars running on the famous 1/2 mile dirt track that night.

As for the NBC coverage, I'm available to consult. But all I'd tell them is to have the announcers say, "For post-race interviews and analysis, please join the livestream on the Peacock app." But I am glad to see the ratings for St. Pete were up. The racing is crazy competitive and people are taking notice.

John

MP: Make that a tripleheader with the Iowa double and Knoxville, gang.

Q: Apologies if I missed the article but what is the latest on Cusick Motorsports? I’ve seen Stef and team have been racing some Porsches but it’s been quiet on the IndyCar front.

ML

MP: I spoke to Stef last Friday and they continue to search for an engine lease and a car and a team to try and make it into the Indy 500.

Q: Marshall, one of my favorite segments in the past was the "notebook" column after a race weekend that contained bit and pieces about new car parts, developments, and strategies. Flash-forward to today and, despite having a spec car, you stated in a previous Mailbag that you can tell the difference between a Penske and Carpenter DW12. It might not appeal to everyone, but I would love to see more notebook-style columns and such on pointing out those technical differences, how they might affect the car, etc. The nerdier, the better. 

Speaking of tech, you mention the new engines will not rev past 12,000 rpm, I assume due to cost and longevity issues. Yet there are many motorcycles on the market with small, powerful engines revving past 12,000 rpm and sounding amazing. Is there a specific reason a new IndyCar engine couldn’t do the same thing, rpm-wise? Even those Cosworths from 2007 revved to 13,000. 

Justin   

MP: Nerdier it is, Justin. Chevy and Honda will tell you the most expensive part of developing an engine is increasing revs and spending the money to bring reliability to those added revs. Spin things harder and faster while making more power, and indeed, you’re going to get a lot of kerblammos and empty the bank account while fixing the problems. And since those fixes tend to come with more exotic metals and manufacturing processes, lease prices would go up and team owners would revolt. Cosworth, like all the other manufacturers during CART’s last big engine war, spent a ton to take the revs way higher than 13k; dialing things back in a spec formula like we had in 2007 would have been an easier direction to go than cranking up the revs for the first time.

A rare kerblammo – that's the technical term – brought Ryan Hunter-Reay undone at St. Pete in 2019, but IndyCar's engine manufacturers go to extraordinary lengths to try to prevent such occurrences, and that includes finding a sweet spot between power and reliability. Phillip Abbott/Motorsport Images

Q: I want to see having more Sprint Car racers in IndyCar again. I feel that one of the missing links on the current Road to Indy is Sprint Car racing, and I would think that outreach would be a major help, namely with having a series around the Chili Bowl. 

Having Sprint Car racers again – namely non-wing Sprint Car racers – transfer to IndyCar or even Indy Lights, would be monumental. I would like that more than having to over-rely on the formula car drivers, which bring consternation over pay drivers.

The Cedar Rapids area, the market I am in, would benefit from a few hometown open-wheelers, and not just hometown, but hometown and high school alumni-kind of racers to make it easier to sell merchandise around. 

Having one of the consistently biggest IndyCar and Indianapolis 500 markets in the world, the least that could be done is have a rooting interest out of that same region.

Tony Geinzer, Marion, IN

MP: All great points, and I’d love to see more short-track talent land on the Road to Indy — especially on the ovals. Best I can offer is the type of driver teams want tends to evolve with the schedule, so when it was a proper mix of 50/50 or something close with road/street courses and ovals, oval specialists were in more demand. Since we’ve been tipped in favor of road/street events, the mindset has changed to seek road racing specialists and teach them the oval part. Of the 17 races on the calendar, 12 are roads and streets, so with oval only accounting for 29 percent of the action, I understand why it is the way it is.

Would it be too late to suggest IndyCar and the Road to Indy should look at adding second-tier oval championship honors to encourage the kind of training and crossover you rightly mention?

Q: Regarding Mike's question and your reply in last week's Mailbag, Supercars here use a Kerb Strike system with track sensors in relation to each car's transponders (same position in every chassis) to enforce track limits. Usually only one or two corners at a track are utilized. In a race, strikes are counted and after a certain number, a warning is issued. Next strike, a penalty is issued. For qualifying, any strike results in the time being annulled.

Arno Poesaste, Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia

MP: Indeed, and those are awesome.

Q: Just wanted you and your editor know that I really appreciate the photos and accompanying captions in the Mailbag. It adds a chuckle and sometimes a guffaw to all the great info, news and commentary you all provide us racing news-starved fans.  Love it when a photo like the recent Paul Menard one illustrates the humorous side of a letter like the sister’s friend’s "monstrous" destruction of the writer’s autographed Menard photo. And the Gene Simmons marketing dig? Hilarious.

Steve Gray

MP: That’s all RACER.com editor Mark Glendenning, whose tilted sense of humor was founded as a baby in Australia and warped while working in England.

Another post was regarding your non-coverage of Drifting. I recall seeing a video clip of Robin's interview being interrupted by some drifting... his comment sounded like he wasn't interested in pursuing any drifting coverage! :)

Mike Taberner

MP: That’s it; I’ve loved what the crazy Swedes at Koenigsegg have come up with here. The Robin+drifting explosion was the coup de grace as a closer at his memorial in October. Classic Miller.

Q: This might be a dumb question, but have any other companies been approached about building a new chassis for IndyCar? I understand Dallara has been the chassis manufacturer for years, but has there been any thought of involving McLaren as it has decades of experience building F1 cars?

Damion

MP: Can’t say whether IndyCar has done the reaching out part, but the series has made it clear for years that it only has eyes for Dallara and went as far as confirming the Italian firm with a secondary base in Speedway, Indiana, will be its ongoing and future constructor when the DW24/DW25/DW26/DW? is built.

IndyCar only has eyes for Dallara. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

Q: Do you think pushing the new IndyCar engines out a year could possibly have more to do with competitive balance for a third engine supplier to enter the series than anything else? The concerns from drivers about introducing the new car at the same time sounds legit, but just wondering if the bigger reason is because of the Toyota opportunity.

Andy Brumbaugh, Columbia, SC

MP: I certainly would have said so in the thousands of words I wrote on the topic last week if that were the case! The reasons I laid out are the exact reasons for the delay, my friend.

Q: I'm 100% on board with the new IndyCar hybrid engine being delayed a year. Supply chains are a horrible mess and will be for a good year or two more. I'm a small business owner and I went from spending maybe 20 minutes ordering materials and supplies pre-COVID to now spending an entire day trying to find product, alternatives, and coming up with a solution that will work for my end customer but also have the key features of being in stock and not insanely expensive. Expand that to what is needed to manufacture a new 2.4L turbo 6 cylinder engine and ERS system? It was the right call. Now comes the hard decision of whether to do a chassis right away or not.

John

MP: Preach, Brother John.

Q: I just finished the article on the momentum building for a new chassis to accompany the 2024 hybrid power plant. IndyCar has to be very cognizant of potentially hurting its long-term appeal by thinking short-term about the cost of a new chassis to accompany the power units. Mike Hull laid that out very well in his comments. If they do not do this, then IMSA’s GTP cars will have powerful hybrid engines and will weigh approximately the same as the current IndyCar chassis with a hybrid power unit. That instantly degrades IndyCar as a product relative to IMSA. Further, as the drivers commented, the cars will not only be as heavy, but they will handle like relative pigs and put absurd physical strains on the drivers as well because of the lack of power steering, among other things. 

IndyCar has a big decision here.  It is on the upswing, but that can deflate very quickly if they think myopically. F1 is coming on strong in the U.S. Roger Penske knows this, rest assured.

Emmett, Dallas, TX

MP: There’s a weird thing that continues to hold sway in IndyCar about not introducing a full and brand-new chassis at once. Rolling out an all-new car, minus engine, has been the standard practice for 50 years, but there’s still a fascination with trying to do it in stages, with one major piece in Year 1, another major piece in Year 2, etc. It just won’t work. I do wish RP, with decades of experience in having his own Indy cars built, would get this straightened out so we can move forward with reality. Until the "stages" plan is killed, we’ll be living in new-chassis limbo.

Q: IndyCar has definitely made the right call to delay the hybrid engine package. The series is still riding great momentum and press, with late ‘90s-era car counts and a great network TV package. It needs to do everything to protect and enhance that. Plus, I think it can’t hurt to give Toyota another year to come to the table.

Now, onto the chassis. Yep, the DW12 is old, and while I agree a new chassis is desperately overdue, I am reminded of the old adage of when adjusting a carburetor. You make one adjustment at a time, then run it and see where you are at. Can Penske, Ganassi and Andretti adapt to two major changes in one season? Likely. Can the others like Rahal and Shank? What about McLaren? Maybe? McLaren did once famously forget to bring a steering wheel. Foyt? Coyne? Tough to say.

While I don’t see a way around it, I fear that a new chassis and engine with hybrid technology all in one year may be too much for the smaller teams to come to grips with, accentuating the difference between haves and have-nots and hurting sponsorship in 2025 if the smaller teams struggle too much in 2024. You could say that in the mid-late '90s there were new chassis and engines every year, but there was unlimited testing. Plus, the difference between the current formula and that proposed is much greater that the difference between '90s era subsequent Reynards or Lolas and subsequent year-over-year changes to the Honda, Mercedes or Cosworth motors. Remember how Ganassi struggled with Toyota?  Now give Foyt or Coyne both a new chassis and engine to come to grips with. A huge task.

Trevor Bohay, Kamloops BC

MP: All of the teams in IndyCar, either as we know them today or in the roots of what they were back in the day, know all about new cars and new engines being the norm each season. The teams are more than capable of adapting; it’s what they’ve done for a really long time dating back to Formula Atlantic, Indy Lights, etc. Whether it’s 100 days of testing or four, the haves will continue to have and the have nots will continue to be at a disadvantage.

The issue here is insisting upon using an old car that’s going to get much heavier at the rear, and the risks of the great racing we have being ruined by throwing the car out of a reasonable handling and performance window. If it won’t stop, won’t turn, and weighs almost as much as an IMSA prototype, what exactly are we fighting to preserve?

Q: The Texas race is coming and it reminds me of when IndyCar raced with NASCAR Trucks and the drivers complained about the track conditions, I believe because of the rubber left by the Truck tires. What exactly was the problem?

I followed the rookie test in Texas on social media last week. Do you believe that with lower temperatures in March and the bargeboard we can have a race with more action, despite the PJ1? The TMS contract expires this year – do you believe that this could influence a non-renewal?

Geferson, Brazil

MP: I’ll go with what we’re dealing with today and that’s the change in grip levels between the bottom lane and the second lane with the PJ1. The hope is to use more downforce and have more stability to try the second lane, but until we see a cluster of cars trying to go two-wide, it’s hard to predict whether the aero changes will have their desired effect.

IndyCar isn’t overflowing with new oval options right now, so I don’t know what to think about signing an extension with TMS. If the upcoming race is another single-lane snoozer, and the track continues to side with applying the PJ1 to appease NASCAR, I’d hope the series would look elsewhere. I don’t want IndyCar to leave Texas, but unless the quality of racing improves, why stay where you put on sub-standard shows?

Q: It's known that the right-rear tire is larger in diameter than the left rear tire when IndyCar races on ovals. What are the main differences between oval tires and road/street course tires in terms of the construction and the compound? Do oval tires have the stiffer sidewall construction than road/street course tires? 

Mitsuki Matsuura, Kanagawa, Japan

MP: I could give you general answers, but I’d rather go for in-depth stuff from the person in charge of developing and making the tires. And since she’s out of the office, send this one back in a few weeks from now, Matsuura-san.

Q: If McLaughlin was about to do a shoey and pointed at you to come join him, would you do a shoey with him? If that answer is no, what if it was at the 500?

Tyler in Milwaukee

MP: See, I’ve got to think backwards about this one. Sure, it would be fun (and disgusting) to do a shoey with Scotty Mac, but my wife would see it or hear about it. And she’s a Marine. And she’s capable of killing me at all times. And I know she wouldn’t let me in the house afterwards and just might book me for an appointment at the dog groomers to have me caged, hosed down, and have my teeth and gums cleaned before they dried me and put a leash around my neck. So, whether it’s St. Pete or Indy, it would have to be a hard no since, well, she’s willing to put up with a lot of my idiocy, but not all of it.

What sort of race will Texas serve up this year? Penske Entertainment

Q: I have seen several articles about the DW12 and the proposed new car being too heavy with all the new motor and safety stuff, and that is understandable. My question is centered on the composite construction of the car itself and how it is built.

I am a composites engineer so this is an in-the-weeds question. Whenever I examine the DW12 up close, including post-Texas crash damage, it appears that all the parts are constructed using a woven carbon fiber prepreg fabric. The performance of the car, like an aircraft, is more likely driven by modulus (stiffness) not strength. Carbon fiber is much stronger than aluminum (except in compression) and that "woven fabric" layup is what the industry calls "black aluminum," which is in essence a specific shape manufactured like it was a piece of metal, but using CF weave.

This is an easy way, but inefficient way, to make the car and it also misses the whole point of using a composite design. The cheapest carbon fiber in a unidirectional layup is two times the modulus aluminum and almost four times stronger in that direction. Think of that in the span of the wings, or the length of the car. Woven fabric in a quasi-isotropic layup (what I think they have now) is about the same modulus as aluminum, but stronger. One step further is to utilize uni fibers that have much higher modulus where needed. This would then be overwrapped by the woven fabric. The result is fewer layers of CF is needed (weight reduction) and a stiffer car.

People think that the carbon fiber drives the cost. Not so. Composite layup/autoclaves drive the cost regardless of fiber type. Typically the cost of a composite is 80% labor and 20% materials. So using an actual composite design that maximizes the efficiency of materials instead of the "black aluminum" concept can not only produce a better performance car, but reduce weight, and not for much more price increase.

The things that would kill this entire idea are:

The big question is... how far off am I? I wonder this every time I see the cars up close. 

Cannot sleep until I know,

Gray Fowler

MP: I asked my friend Tino Belli, IndyCar’s director of aerodynamic developments and a fine chassis designer with F1 and IndyCar credentials to answer your question.

“I have been involved in composite design since the early days when it was introduced in the 1980s, and yes some of the first attempts were “black aluminum” but racing learned quickly and moved on from that by the mid-1980s.

“As Gray points out, Dallara now uses a lot of very high modulus (F1 standard) unidirectional fibers and the outer ply is the woven fabric he sees. This is to prevent the unidirectional splintering if something sharp impacts it (could be something on track or something as simple as a mechanic dropping a screwdriver – the tool, not the drink).

“Dallara is an expert in using FEA to work out the correct orientation of the fibers.

“It is true that the monocoque is a little heavier then it could be, but not as much as a lot of drivers and mechanics think. As we have studied the consequences of accidents the monocoque has been reinforced many times through its lifespan. We will never allow these safety standards to regress, and so a new design would use pretty much the same amount of material that we currently use because Dallara uses the best commercially available fibers in our IndyCar. They have to as we are the only racing series in the world that has 230+ mph crashes. The majority of the weight saving would come from not having to glue these retrofitted reinforcements on, as they could go into the base laminate.”

Q: Have IndyCar teams encountered the porpoising that F1 teams are now dealing with? Is this phenomenon common to all ground-effect cars, or is there something particular about the current spec of F1 rules that makes it more likely to happen than in other categories? It appears to be the kind of thing that the all-star aerodynamicists in F1 would be able to predict, no? Do you think that the F1 teams knew that they would encounter this phenomenon and needed to see where the limit was before correcting it, or did it take them by surprise? If it did take them by surprise, do you think that the solutions will mess with some teams' basic aerodynamic concepts?

Peter in NJ

MP: Yes, back in the late 1970s and early '80s as ground effects were a new thing to explore, but it was solved with brutal spring rates to control the underwing and since then, the lessons from dealing with porpoising have been applied to all the cars that followed. As a smart person who knows such things told me at St. Pete, a good portion of F1’s new porpoising issue is likely found on the suspension side, with insufficient travel and control being built in from the outset. The combination of the bumps and a powerful new aero approach appeared to go beyond the ride control boundaries of a few cars, and when that happens, you have a rocking horse that’s not just dealing with downforce being turned off and on, but also front and rear suspension that’s lifting and taking a lot of weight off the tires.

CHRIS MEDLAND: Plenty of F1 teams didn't see it coming. They knew there would be knock-on effects of the regulations and some (Ferrari springs to mind) admitted they saw that it could have been a bit of an issue, but they were surprised at how big a problem it turned out to be. I think where it will mess with their concepts is that they won't be able to develop them as originally planned while trying to find solutions - essentially it's like their developments might be on pause for a spell while they focus resources on the porpoising to create a more stable base. But seeing as so many teams have the same issue to one degree or another, I don't think there's one clear concept that would be ruled out, more that lots of them will need tweaking.

Q: Since the UK’s recent announcements refer to Russian-licensed drivers, does Nikita Mazepin have the ability to obtain a license from another national sporting authority claiming to be a resident of X or is it tied to citizenship? Even then, I suspect Mazepin Sr. could buy citizenship somewhere if he wanted.

Doug Farrow, Plymouth, MN

CM: Any driver has the ability to obtain a license from another sporting authority as long as they can prove to that authority that they are a resident of their country. So many of the drivers could race under a Monegasque license as they live there, but for Mazepin it would more likely be a UK license he’d be after in that case (the place he spends the most of his time outside of Russia). I believe other countries might be even more lenient and allow a driver to apply to race under their flag on lesser terms – you’re right, they could buy citizenship in some countries – but they have to be willing to accept having the driver representing their country when racing.

"I look like your old teammate? Ha ha, how funny. I do not know this 'Nikita Mazepin'. I am... Nicky Maserati. From Ecuador." Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Q: With the rollout of this year's F1 cars; I've seemed to have noticed a lack of rake, especially with RBR which had become quite famous for it. Is it so? Or are my eyes finally catching my age?

Shawn in Maryland

CM: No Shawn, your eyes are not deceiving you. That's a product of the new regulations, where ground effect means the teams are using tunnels in the floor underneath the car to generate downforce. This means they want the floor to be as flat as possible and ideally close to the ground, so such a level of rake isn't required anymore. We used to see it before as a way of making an aerodynamic concept work and energize the diffuser, but that's no longer the best way to generate the most downforce with the new rules.

THE FINAL WORD

From Robin Miller's Mailbag, March 11, 2015

Q: Love your Mailbag, read it every week, and I’m always intrigued by the guys who get overlooked by the history buffs, but who actually had some good results. One of these was Bill Alsup, who I’m amazed to see finished second in the CART championship back in 1981 -- ahead of everyone except Rick Mears. And Pancho Carter, only one win but took pole for Indy one year. What are their backgrounds? Did you rate them?

Steve Alda

ROBIN MILLER: Alsup was a very interesting character who didn’t start his IndyCar career until 1979 when he was 40 years old. In 1981, he campaigned his own car but also got hooked up with Roger Penske and ran RP’s PC-7 in seven of his 10 starts. Alsup parlayed two thirds, two fourths and two fifths to take second in the CART standings – and didn’t compete in the first race at Milwaukee. Considering his late start and lack of oval experience, the personable native of Honolulu did a damn fine job during his six seasons.

Pancho was the oldest son of former driver Duane Carter and the best all-around sprint car driver I ever saw. He was Rookie of the Year at Indy in 1974 and amassed 70 USAC victories (midgets, sprints, dirt cars) and four USAC championships. He also overcame a devastating injury while testing an Indy car in 1977 and made a great comeback – winning the Michigan 500 in 1981 and Indy 500 pole in 1985 along with the '78 USAC Silver Crown title.