Indycar 2018 - News and Discussion

[SBan83]

Bottom post of the previous page:

About the heating up thing, can't they have ram air ducts in the visor?

[Ian-S]

Not much point when the technology already exists to keep them cool another way, maybe they already use cool suits? I dunno.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Go Takuma.... fastest in testing.

Sato was fastest in three of the four three-hour sessions and second to only team-mate Graham Rahal on the Friday night.

Combined results: Phoenix test

Pos Num Driver Team C/E/T* Time Session
1 30 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan D/H/F 0:19.3790 Sat evening
2 12 Will Power Team Penske D/C/F 0:19.3878 Sat evening
3 14 Tony Kanaan AJ Foyt Racing D/C/F 0:19.4018 Sat evening
4 1 Josef Newgarden Team Penske D/C/F 0:19.4257 Sat evening
5 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan D/H/F 0:19.4574 Fri evening
6 98 Marco Andretti Andretti Herta w/ Curb-Agajanian D/H/F 0:19.4658 Sat evening
7 27 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport D/H/F 0:19.4729 Sat evening
8 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing D/H/F 0:19.5152 Sat evening
9 22 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske D/C/F 0:19.5256 Fri evening
10 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport D/H/F 0:19.5358 Sat a’noon
11 18 Sebastien Bourdais DCR w/ Vasser-Sullivan D/H/F 0:19.5746 Sat a’noon
12 10 Ed Jones Chip Ganassi Racing D/H/F 0:19.6019 Sat a’noon
13 4 Matheus Leist (R) AJ Foyt Racing D/C/F 0:19.6296 Sat a’noon
14 21 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing D/C/F 0:19.6425 Sat evening
15 19 Pietro Fittipaldi (R) Dale Coyne Racing D/H/F 0:19.6521 Sat evening
16 6 Robert Wickens (R) Schmidt Peterson D/H/F 0:19.7495 Sat a’noon
17 26 Zach Veach (R) Andretti Autosport D/H/F 0:19.7560 Sat evening
18 23 Charlie Kimball Carlin D/C/F 0:19.7618 Sat evening
19 59 Max Chilton Carlin D/C/F 0:19.8278 Sat evening
20 88 Gabby Chaves Harding Racing D/C/F 0:19.9229 Sat evening
21 20 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing D/C/F 0:19.9759 Sat evening
22 5 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson D/H/F 0:20.0465 Fri evening
23 32 Kyle Kaiser (R) Juncos Racing D/C/F 0:20.2367 Fri a’noon

*(C)hassis: D=Dallara | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)yre: F=Firestone

[Michkov]

Not much point when the technology already exists to keep them cool another way, maybe they already use cool suits? I dunno.

Cool suits need quite a big reservoir of ice/water. I cant see it used in an openwheeler due to packaging constraints. My guess is they will put a NACA duct on the lower sides of the screen. Or something similar to the Lotus 49.

[MonteCristo]

Danica Patrick to do the Indy 500 with Ed Carpenter Racing.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Yawns.

[Cheeveer]

Good for all. Would be a shame if she couldn't get a deal together. Good for ECR too for some much needed cash and attention, and good for the event itself.

[Ian-S]

Going on previous form she probably stands as much chance with Ed as what she would have had with Penske or Andretti, she also stands a fair chance of ending up on her lid in practice, since Ed's cars make at least one attempt almost every year.

[kals]

Well without Alonso this year Indycar needed to find a sideshow from somewhere (*joking...*).

It will be interesting to see how Danice gets on. These are very different cars to the last ones she drove. Danica's last Indycar race was that fateful day in Las Vegas over 7 years ago.

[Michkov]

As far as gridfillers go they could do worse

[MonteCristo]

Indy 500 projected entry list:

PROJECTED 2018 INDIANAPOLIS 500 ENTRIES

ANDRETTI AUTOSPORT
Marco Andretti, Ryan-Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi, Zach Veach, Carlos Munoz, Stefan Wilson (6)

TEAM PENSKE
Helio Castroneves, Josef Newgarden, Will Power, Simon Pagenaud (4)

DALE COYNE RACING
Sebastien Bourdais, Pietro Fittipaldi, Pippa Mann, Conor Daly (4)

RAHAL/LETTERMAN/LANIGAN
Graham Rahal, Takuma Sato, Oriol Servia (3)

SCHMIDT-PETERSON/SHANK
James Hinchcliffe, Robert Wickens, Jack Harvey (3)

ED CARPENTER RACING
Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter, Danica Patrick (3)

CHIP GANASSI RACING
Scott Dixon, Ed Jones (2)

A.J. FOYT RACING
Tony Kanaan, Matheus Leist (2)

CARLIN RACING
Max Chilton, Charlie Kimball (2)

DREYER & REINBOLD
Sage Karam, J.R. Hildebrand (2)

HARDING RACING
Gabby Chaves (1)

JUNCOS RACING
Kyle Kaiser (1)

LAZIER RACING
Buddy Lazier (1)

CHEVY: 16
HONDA: 18

Full story and background here: http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/14743 ... 33-entries

[kals]

I read a story earlier in the week that Cosworth are interested in becoming an engine supplier. I'll dig out the article and share.

[MonteCristo]

That would be interesting to read, thanks.

If only it were possible to have another chassis maker, but that's asking for way too much currently. A third engine maker would be great. If they could provide a decently competitive, but much cheaper engine, that would do wonders for the field numbers.

[SFIN1972]

https://www.autosport.com/indycar/news/ ... th-indycar
It would be great to see Ford back in, but that won't happen with Edsel alive.

[DoubleFart]

Can't read the article, but it says Cosworth rather than Ford?

[MonteCristo]

Some stuff:

Continental has expressed interest in taking over as the official tire supplier for the Verizon IndyCar Series: http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/14755 ... in-indycar

And an interview with the CEO says this:

Shifting to engine supplier talks, Miles was visibly enthused while describing the progress taking place behind the scenes between manufacturers and IndyCar competition president Jay Frye (pictured above with Miles). Converting those conversations into action, however, remains the same formidable hurdle to clear.

"It's all talk until we have the result, but people are taking the calls," he said. "There were at least half a dozen international calls after [the] Sonoma [season finale in September] and to this point. A couple of those are still ongoing sort of developmental conversations, so that's encouraging, and that doesn't include domestic manufacturers, where there's some activity, so we remain optimistic.

"And I think Jay's done a great job of treating those prospects, the broader pool, as though they were already in with respect to our future plans. The right people and those companies know what we're thinking about next for the next engine. They know what we're thinking about in terms of cycles and the future for the next car, and the feedback from all of them that are in any way meaningful prospects for us was really positive with the direction that Jay will be talking more about before too long."

Bringing a third or fourth manufacturer into the series is also tied to keystone items like future engine rules and timing for the successor to the aged Dallara DW12 chassis.

"I think at this point, when we sign in the next [manufacturer], we'll have something to say about when we do go to the next part of the program, so 2020 is possible," Miles continued. "2021 is the next opportunity, and we can assess as we go and pushback a change if that's helpful or move earlier to the earliest possibility to accommodate somebody new, if we have that opportunity."

http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/14755 ... e-partners

Also more general stuff (TV, etc) here:
http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/14753 ... -tv-future