Power: Spec IndyCar aero kit will improve racing

Everyone says a spec aerokit would help IndyCar. But it's almost too late aleady for 2017 according AR1.com

Team Penske’s Will Power told motorsport.com that if the Verizon IndyCar Series does switch to a spec aerokit in 2017, then it should take the opportunity to make the cars better-looking and more raceable.

Power told Motorsport.com: "It's pretty much what you'd expect. The guys who struggled with the aerokit want to go back to a spec kit, the guys who got it right want to keep that advantage.

"I guess if going to a standard kit saves the teams money, then fine. But I think the real good thing about it is that it would be a chance for the series to improve the racing.

"Whoever designs the spec kit has got to understand what makes the current car so bad in dirty air. I always thought it was the little winglets which is definitely a part of the problem.

"But the front wing is about 70 percent responsible for the pattern of the downforce in the way it directs the air over the car, over the rear and pulls air out from the floor."

Power says that while the current manufacturer-built aerokits are impressive in the amount of downforce they create, and therefore how much they have raised cornering speeds, what makes them efficient has also harmed the racing.

"The front wing endplates on the old [2012-‘14] DW12 basically did nothing," he commented, "and we had some of the best racing IndyCar's ever had. But now, if you get behind someone, the disturbed air over the front wing causes you to lose rear grip too.

"Everyone thinks that running in dirty air causes the front end to wash out, but actually it affects the whole car and you just can't follow someone close in fast or medium-speed corners since the aerokits came in."

According to Power, the DW12's natural rearward bias has exacerbated the problem. He said: "If they had the weight distribution right, much further forward, the aero issue wouldn't be so bad.

"But because the weight is already too far to the rear on these cars, then when you lose that rear grip following another car, you get a pendulum effect and you just can't keep up. You're fighting your own car instead of the car in front.

"So if everyone agrees on a spec kit, IndyCar needs to really use the chance to get something that looks good, doesn't have all this winglet crap stuck all over it, and doesn't create all this dirty air.

"I don't think the fans will mind if an aerokit is less efficient, if it improves the racing and looks great."

AR1.com View: We agree with Power but it may already be too late to design a proper aerokit, test it on the track and have it ready for all the teams in time for the start of the 2017 season. That design must already be well underway.