IndyCar to continue experimenting with first practice format at Long Beach
The NTT IndyCar Series will try a different version of its 75-minute opening practice format in Long Beach this weekend to the one it trialed in St. Petersburg. The idea for the new format was pitched by its drivers during its preseason meetings.
At St. Petersburg, teams were given the first 20 minutes to run as they pleased with the 27 cars in attendance before pitting and after a five-minute pause, the remainder of the session split the field into alternating groups that ran for 10 minutes apiece.
At Long Beach, 45 of the first 75 minutes will be open for the 27 entries to use as desired before a five-minute break will separate the field into two groups, where a 13-car cluster will have the track to themselves for 10 minutes before they pit and the other 14 drivers will get 10 minutes of their own to close the day. Rookies are the only exception and will be permitted to run at all times.
“We’re definitely onto something,” A.J. Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci told RACER. “I like the bigger opening session. The second part just needs to be adjusted from track to track, based on the length of the track. We’re doing four to five laps per run, and the laps take around a minute at Long Beach, so I wonder if shorter session towards the end that are more fitted to [qualifying simulations] would be better. Instead of 10 minutes, maybe six minutes so we get more of the split sessions. Or maybe eight minutes. But something shorter that’s more representative of the time we’d need to do a few quali sims.”
With 70 of the 75 minutes accounted for in the revised Friday format, the five leftover minutes have been reserved in the event of a stoppage, which history suggests tends to happen at least once per session.
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ALSO.....
IndyCar’s second-generation aeroscreen will make its competition debut this weekend in Long Beach, one month ahead of schedule. Its second-generation upper frame — the “halo” — debuted in St. Petersburg.
Designed and manufactured in a partnership between Red Bull Advanced Technologies, Pankl, PPG and Dallara, the first version of the aeroscreen appeared as a mandatory driver safety device to start the 2020 IndyCar season and has prevented multiple cockpit intrusions — ranging from wheels and tires to suspension components and bodywork — since its introduction.
Although the aeroscreen has taken IndyCar driver safety to unparalleled heights, the device’s combined weight of nearly 60 pounds with the titanium halo from Pankl, the 9mm thick PPG laminate screen, plus its chassis mounting frame, has contributed to the Dallara DW12’s heft.
The use of the screen in front of the halo has also been an ongoing contributor to heat management issues in the cockpit due to the limited amount of onrushing air reaching the drivers, who also sit between the engine’s oil and water radiators which transfer an exceptional amount of heat into the cockpit.
With weight and driver cooling as the clearly defined areas to improve, the second-generation aeroscreen has undergone key developments to address both areas. Thanks to a new manufacturing process developed by Pankl that requires less material, the weight of the titanium halo has been reduced by nearly seven pounds — 6.8 to be exact. It’s a reduction that will benefit the field for years to come.
The new 6mm aeroscreen from PPG, which was originally meant to go live at the May 10-11 race on the IMS road course, will be used exclusively on road and street courses. IndyCar’s 2020-spec 9mm laminate, will stay in service for the Indianapolis 500 and all remaining ovals with no alterations.
The first-generation laminate offers immense strength and is perfectly suited to handle oncoming objects at speeds of 200mph or more on big ovals, but that thickness and its related weight has been more than what the project partners have deemed as necessary for the slower road and street circuits.
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