IndyCar drivers respond to Aero Kit debris field

The bunny ears that stick up on the front wings of the Chevy kit car are easily broken off.

It was the Sunday before Easter and even then Team Penske IndyCar driver Will Power couldn’t help but see "Bunny Ears."

The defending Verizon IndyCar Series champion was racing around the demanding 14-turn, 1.8-mile street course in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg as the "Bunny Ears" kept getting in his path in a quite peculiar way.

The "Bunny Ears" are what Power calls a part of the Chevrolet Aero Kits that made their series debut in the season-opening race. Honda teams also debuted its new Aero Kit at the event, but Honda’s front wing looks more like a razor-blade cartridge than the Chevrolet "Bunny Ears" – an add-on part to the front wing.

And then as Power was racing around at the front of the field, one of his "Bunny Ears" got knocked off, drastically changing the handling characteristics of his Team Verizon No. 12 IndyCar.

"It made a difference," Power said. "It definitely lost front end when I knocked that off. They gave me good traction out of the corner. They're not on there for no reason. They (Chevrolet) spend millions of bucks and have wind tunnels to have nice little rabbit ears.
"It's better if you don't knock 'em off."

On Saturday, the Chevrolet drivers believed they had a "robust" Aero Kit that would hold up if it made contact with another car in the race. But it didn’t take long after the green flag waved to see that wasn’t the case as bits and pieces from both Chevrolet and Honda kits littered the track, creating a debris field at times. And for the parts that weren’t big enough to create a caution period, there were little shards of Carbon Fiber that several drivers said they could feel pelting them in the windscreen and helmet visor.

"So they added all these bits to fall off, though," Power said. "It was amazing the amount of stuff that fell off. Rabbit ears lying all around the track. It was just everywhere, right? Chevy boys getting into it and every once in a while you'd see a piece of a Honda."

It got so bad for A.J. Foyt Racing driver Jack Hawksworth that his crew actually brought out last year’s front wing just in case there was any more damage to the wing on Hawksworth’s Honda. The end plate broke off the side of Hawksworth’s front wing and it actually improved the handling of his race car as the second year driver from Bradford, England finished eighth.

The Aero Kits provide significant increases in downforce levels and that allowed the drivers to race deeper into the corners before lifting or braking.
"I think you can probably rub," Power said. "But you should probably have less contact than with the other car.

"You definitely go for gaps you wouldn't go for with this car since we've had the old car. If I'd gone for a gap, I probably wouldn't have gone for it in the old car, but I went for it with Montoya. If I miss a bit, we just rub off and it doesn't put him in the wall."

Third-place finisher Tony Kanaan was asked if he felt the little pieces of carbon fiber debris during the race.

"No, I just saw big pieces flying," Kanaan said. "You know, you're not supposed to hit anybody, man. It's open-wheel. It's not stock car or touring car racing."
Although some drivers were surprised by the amounts of debris that became a crucial part of the race, the winning drivers was not surprised at all.

"I was expecting that," Montoya said. "I talked to Brian Barnhart (INDYCAR Race Director) and I said, ‘You watch, there are going to be a lot more cautions for debris while people get used to the aero kits, understand the limitations.’

"I think it's going to make it more exciting in a way that people know they got to give each other a little more room, the cars are more fragile. They're used to working with cars that you bounce off people and nothing happens. Now you bounce and look at what happened to Will – he lost part of his front wing just by touching me."
The winglets and additional pieces on the rear wing also created a bit of a visibility change in the side-view mirrors.

"The mirrors are a little busier because you have more pieces," Kanaan said.

"My mirror just shakes," Power responded.

"You're going too fast," Kanaan quipped. "Slow down. If you slow down, it will stop shaking, trust me.

"You just need to get used to it."

Drivers and teams are continuing to get used to IndyCar’s "Era of Aero" and it remains a work in progress as the series heads to NOLA Motorsports Park for the next event – the Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana – on April 12. Bruce Martin/Fox Sports