IndyCar gives update on 2012 car/engine

Tony Cotman and Will Phillips gave an update on the 2012 car and engines for 2012 Friday morning at the Indy Motor Speedway. Some new information was revealed today including what parts of the car will be off limits and what parts can be modified. Tony Cotman and Will Phillips gave an update on the 2012 car and engines for 2012 Friday morning at the Indy Motor Speedway. Presented here is an outline summary of the update.

Prototype Chassis Evaluation

Goals

• Provide teams with a proven reliable product
• Prove it meets performance targets
• Evaluate on all types of circuits prior to team distribution

Method

• Chassis based at the Dallara facility in Speedway, IN
• 1st Prototype testing August 1st to September 30th
• Honda engine will be in first Prototype chassis until another prototype is ready

Engine Manufacturer Testing

• All manufacturers will buy their own test chassis
• Those test chassis will be serviced out of the Dallara facility through December 15th
• Manufacturers must adhere to a common test schedule through Dec. 15th
• Manufacturer test days will be unlimited prior to the start of the season. This gives manufacturers 5 months to perfect their product
• Manufacturers may use drivers from teams they have signed contracts with

Timeline Summary

• August 1 to September 30 IndyCar/Dallara chassis testing
• August 15 – Manufacturers given opportunity to purchase their test chassis
• October 1 – Manufacturer testing begins barring any major issues found
• December 15 – Teams get their first car
• January 15th – Teams get their second car

Engine Allocation Program

• Each manufacturer shall be given the opportunity to pair up with an anchor team
• Pairings between the Manufacturers and Teams shall be made on an annual basis (This does not preclude multiyear agreements, but IndyCar, at AR1's urging, is considering making only the Anchor Team deals multi-year and all others one-year deals so if new manufacturers come onboard in 2013 and beyond they won't find all the best teams tied up with multi-year agreements and, therefore, would have no chance of landing a good team
• Teams running additional cars at one-off events including the Indy 500 shall automatically be assigned to the manufacturer they are partnered with already
• Teams can only partner with one manufacturer per season
• Manufacturers must be prepared to supply up to 40% of the field

Concept Cars

• Appearance – why are they different? One is a low downforce oval kit and one a high downforce road course kit to show how different the cars can look
• Are these what the 2012 will look like? No, but Dallara's probably won't look terribly different
• Why is there an airbox on a turbocharged car? That is where the input air will feed from into the turbo for everyone. It also means the airbox will provide more real estate for sponsor logos.

The colored areas are portions of the car the aero kit makers can play with

Aero Kits

• Intention is Aero Kits will be introduced at the Indianapolis 500 in 2012
• Teams will be able to choose between the Dallara kit and one additional kit
• What components can we expect in an aero kit?

Aero Kit Timeline

• September 1 – CAD interface information available – TBD by IndyCar pending testing
• October 1 – Confirmation of aero regulations and only subject to change due to critical issues in running of the car
• October 15 – List of approved aero kit suppliers announced by IndyCar
• April 2012 – First official Indy Aero Kit test

Engine Comparisons

Chassis Comparisons