Post
by mlittle » Thu Jul 30, 2009 7:24 am
Rear tire ramps, sidepod extensions and wheel backing plates are previously announced team options for the 1.5-mile ovals on the IndyCar Series schedule, beginning this weekend at Kentucky Speedway. Now add the mandatory removal of half-inch rear wing end-fence wickers to provide efficient downforce, remove drag and improve the ability of a trailing car to follow more closely.
Combine those aerodynamic performance-related items with "overtake assist" capability and team engineers, race strategists and drivers will be exceptionally busy during the Meijer Indy 300 Presented by Red Baron and Edy's event weekend. Honda Performance Development will introduce brief bursts of additional horsepower and 200 rpms (to 10,500 total) available to drivers through a button on the steering wheel - commonly referred to as push to pass - for the remainder of the season (four ovals, two road courses).
A 5-20 horsepower gain will be realized dependant on fuel setting for intervals calibrated on a race-by-race basis, according to HPD Race Team Manager Roger Griffiths. For Kentucky, drivers will have 20 presses for a duration of 12 seconds each available. HPD will update teams before each race weekend regarding parameters.
"If you're on the rich side, you get 5 horsepower because the engine already is producing close to its maximum, where you can get up to 20 horsepower if you're running lean," Indy Racing League senior technical director Les Mactaggart said. "It's to provide the driver, if they're already making a passing maneuver, an additional tool to complete the pass. It provides the teams options which they have to choose how they're going to run the race so it brings more strategy from a team aspect.
"Because of the architecture of the engine, you can't have the 100 horsepower that Champ Car had because you could just increase your boost levels on a turbocharged engine and that's how you get the extra power. When you're already producing 100 percent power with a normally aspirated engine, there isn't anything else other than spark advance to get more horsepower."
The system requires a simple ECU software alteration. After each use, there is a 10-second recharge period. "We hope that the new Honda button feature will add a little spice to the racing; it gives the driver/team an additional tool to use during the course of the race that we believe will promote some additional overtaking with the added complexity in that the feature won't be available until the actual race so teams will have to experiment on the fly," Griffiths said.
Drivers this weekend also will have Firestone Firehawks with a new compound developed at a recent test at Chicagoland Speedway and compete on an asphalt surface recently grinded in Turns 2, 3 and 4 to provide more uniformity.
Utilized with other track-specific aero packages -- such as a minimum 12 degree rear wing flap angle for Kentucky, Chicagoland and Kansas -- the aero options potentially will create more overtaking opportunities by realizing additional downforce (grip). Chicagoland, for instance, was moved to the Kansas-Kentucky group of ovals that use the 12 degree flap angle (from 10 degrees). The only aero alteration for Twin Ring Motegi in September is the availability of wheel backing plates.
The aero options - used collectively or individually -- can be tailored to track conditions and driving style. The car's configuration will be allowed to differ between four-lap qualifications for the PEAK Performance Pole Award on July 31 and the Aug. 1 race under the lights. "We had numerous conversations with drivers, team engineers and team managers and asked their opinions what needed to be done and these were chosen as the direction based on majority opinion," said Brian Barnhart, the Indy Racing League's president of competition and operations. "We've tried to give teams more options and tools, and they have choices now which downforce level they want to run both in qualifying and in race configuration. "We focused on allowing those choices in downforce level to be done in an efficient manner. The rear tire ramps, sidepod extensions, wheel in-fills are all effective and efficient forms of downforce with minimal drag added. These are items the teams have always owned; they aren't items they needed to do any wind tunnel testing or straight line testing. Some people are going to run more downforce than others, which should make for better overtaking and passing opportunities on the racetrack."
Scott Dixon, the 2003 and '08 IndyCar Series champion, is all for the options, which potentially will create more overtaking opportunities and excitement for spectators/TV viewers. "The tire ramps and wheel flips should really help so we'll have grip when we are in traffic behind people," Dixon said. "I think those are good options. They should start bringing those changes back. Between that and wheel bases width; it's some of what we used to have. We are heading in the right direction. I'm not sure about the wing angles but they are a little higher than we used to have so that should create more drag. One, it gives you more grip and two, it gives you more drag so it's easier to get a draft on somebody or suck up behind them."
