IndyCar announces next generation car

Strapped with sagging TV ratings and a shrinking fan base all precipitated by the launch of one of the most hideous looking racing cars in the history of mankind; and realizing that the recent aero kits added to the existing Dallara, amounted to nothing more than putting 'lipstick on a pig,' and with the lipstick (sorry aero pieces) flying off into the grandstand injuring fans, IndyCar was faced with being put out of business by the insurance companies.

Something drastic had to be done, and done fast.

IndyCar's Derrick Walker borrowed Adrian Newey from Red Bull and asked him to pen the most mind-blowing IndyCar he could.

Looking to capture the millions of lost F1 fans who left the sport after it switched to horrible sounding hybrid turbo engines, The X1 will be a single-seater canopied prototype wing car with covered front wheels. Powered by a 1000hp direct-injection normally aspirated screaming V8 turning 15,000 RPM. The goal is for the car to be so mind-blowing, you will be forced to step back from the fence when it passes by.

Adrian Newey, master aerodynamic engineer and Red Bull Racing's chief technical officer, was so bored with designing F1 cars, he was put on special assignment and incorporated a "Fan Car" technology, into the design of the X1 Prototype for IndyCar.

A "fan car" is a vehicle having a fan mechanism which forces the air out from underneath the car to reduce air pressure under the car's floor. The resulting suction draws the car to the ground surface and creates a massive amount of downforce. And because it can create downforce regardless of the vehicle’s current speed, it dramatically raises it’s cornering speed capability even in low speed corners.

Fan cars are not new to the automotive world, and the technology has already been tested and proven. The Chaparral 2J fan car entered, first appearing in the 1970 Can-Nam series, was so fast that it was banned after just 1 season. Even in the F1, where tremendous speed is the name of the game, the BT46B fan car that was entered in 1978 at the Swedish GP by Brabham, only to be banned after its debut race.

Thanks to the insight of Mr. Newey, the X1 will be able to achieve an astonishing level of performance according to the computer models. Its top speed will be 450km/h (279.6mp/h), with a maximum lateral acceleration reaching up to 8.75G, pushing the vehicle to the very limits of what a normal human body can withstand.

As a comparison, this is more Gs than a fighter pilot feels during full afterburner, and more than astronauts experience during a shuttle liftoff. IndyCar drivers will now wear G-suits to prevent them from passing out due to the high g-forces.

In fact, IndyCar expects this new car to bring in so many new race fans, they have asked their promoters to double the capacity of their grandstands by the 2017 season, when the new car will debut.

Check out the images showing what the car will look like.