As an avid motorsport fan, I’ve been following the saga of the new IndyCar chassis with great interest from the prospective of a fan, mechanical engineering student and hopeful pilot.

The proposals presented by Delta Wing, Swift, BAT and current chassis supplier Dallara  represent a shift in the mentality of the series from a spec racer model to a transitional model where the series can restructure and prepare for future growth under the stewardship of CEO Randy Bernard.

One issue I take with the series is its goal to remain relevant to current automotive technology, with the Delta Wing concept as the panacea for a cheap engine (small capacity inline 4) with low power that can still drive the car to 230mph+ at Indy as an example. 

This is not a good direction for the series to take, as one of the reasons that fans and drivers complain is due to the lack of the sense of speed and power that current IndyCars have over the former Champ Cars.  IndyCars were never about efficiency as much as they were exercises in ingenuity, technology and speed.

The American Le Mans Series is doing a much better job of being relevant to automotive technology development than IndyCar ever did during the USAC or CART/IRL days, with the Michelin Green Challenge for total mileage per gallon over distance traveled, so let’s leave that in the realm of sports cars, since fuel efficiency is actually relevant in endurance racing.

In its place, the series should adopt the forced induction formula with allowances for engine type, provided they are based off of currently available engine designs for easier branding and maintenance.

For example, Ford could commission Cosworth to build a 3.0 liter twin turbo V6 with EcoBoost branding, Volkswagen could provide another twin turbo V6 based off of its narrow angle VR6 designs and so on, while Honda has preliminary plans to manufacture a twin-turbo V6 package. For smaller teams, a stock block option could be offered with allowances for parity, potentially opening up the series to USAC, WoO and other teams from other series.

Teams could get Champ Car levels of power with adjustability for each type of circuit, lets say up to 700bhp as the limit for ovals and 600 as the bare minimum for street circuits along with a push to pass button good for an additional 150bhp across one minute. Since the biggest complaint for the drivers is the lack of power with the Honda V8, the switch to forced induction will improve the driveability of the cars and force drivers to drive the cars in the corner.

As for chassis, all of the proposals should be approved with a cost ceiling of 400,000 for the bare chassis or $700,000 with all parts and spares included.  With the requirements that all chassis be locally produced, this would significantly reduce the costs of manufacturing and shipping drastically compared to current levels with the 7 year old Dallara IR3.

These are just some of the ideas I had, but the biggest one is that all of them be adopted instead of relying on another spec chassis.  Let the teams decide what chassis to run, not a committee. Let the committee hash out costs and the preliminary rules, but take into account the history of the series.