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Champ Car co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven and Indy Racing League founder Tony George appear to still be on speaking terms despite the skeletons loosed from the open-wheel racing closet by leaks about their dialogue. That’s good news for anyone who cares a lick about American open-wheel racing. The bad news is that characterizing their discussions as “merger talks” is a tad premature. By most accounts, Messrs. George and Kalkhoven get on tolerably well, if not famously. However, ameliorating the suspicion, enmity and practical differences that have developed between the Champ Car and IRL camps during the decade-long “civil war” is another matter. Walk before you run; foster trust and mutual respect before merging.
When it comes to those practical differences, the bad news is there is no easy way out of the fact that the Champ Car World Series and the IRL’s IndyCar Series operate under two very different rule books, particularly when it comes to engines. By definition, the CCWS utilizes the 2.65-liter turbocharged V8 Ford Cosworth XFE while the ICS utilizes the 3-liter, normally aspirated V8s of which Honda (with its HI6R Indy V8) is now the sole supplier. Published figures put the XFE’s output at 750 hp, compared to the HI6R’s “650+” hp.
From square one, then, a simple “merger” of the two series is problematic.
As matters stand, the rules afford the XFE a significant edge on the HI6R. Barring equivalency formulas (which nobody wants), the Champ Car teams (and/or the IRL teams switching to Cosworth power) would enjoy an unfair advantage, the last thing the sport would need in the delicate first stages of reunification. Nor can Honda be expected to voluntarily serve as a second class “field-filler” for the greater glory of American open-wheel racing.
However all is not lost on the engine front. The good news is that both manufacturers are intimately familiar with the “competing” engine technologies. Honda, of course, competed in the Championship Auto Racing Teams-sanctioned CCWS with 2.65-liter turbo V8s from ’93 through ’02, while Cosworth developed a 3.5-liter normally aspirated V8 which made its way into the ’03 ICS badged as the Chevrolet Gen IV (and which was subsequently downsized to 3 liters in accordance with the series’ mid-’05 rules change).
So why not just flip a coin to decide on the engine rules? Heads, Honda dusts off its blueprints for the HR-2 last used in ’02, retools and runs off a batch of three dozen for the ’07 season. Tails, Cosworth follows more or less the same route with the “Gen IV” and everyone lives happily ever after.
The bad news is that it’s not nearly so simple. For openers, Honda and Cosworth (which, by the way, is co-owned by Kalkhoven and Champ Car partner Gerald Forsythe) have invested millions in their current engines. Neither can be expected to cavalierly write-off their high tech boat anchors.
Nor can Honda or Cosworth start building new “old” engines for a unified series at the drop of a hat. Recall that the HR-2 was designed during the cost-is-no-object engine war with Ford Cosworth and, more significantly, bitter rival Toyota. Times and technology have changed. Toyota is focused on NASCAR and Cosworth has four more years of experience with turbo V8s, particularly in the areas of durability and uniformity dictated by Champ Car’s spec engine rules; rules which are sure to be applied in some fashion to a unified series.
Likewise, Honda has a decided technological edge when it comes to 3-liter, normally aspirated V8s. Not only did Honda trounce the Cosworth/Chevy in ’04 and ’05, but Honda has progressed still further along the learning curve in preparing to supply the full ICS field in ’06. As with Cosworth and the XFE, rather than more power, much of Honda’s new-found knowledge relates to the reliability and consistency which – to reiterate – will be central to the engine rules of a unified series.
And there’s more bad news for anyone imagining a seamless switch from Ford Cosworth XFE to Ford Cosworth “Gen IV” power in a merger of the two series. As part of its pact with Chevrolet, Cosworth transferred the intellectual properties associated with its engine to the Bow Tie folks in ’03, and would surely face substantial legal challenges were it to unilaterally ramp up a new run of Gen IV-based engines for a unified series.
Don’t despair. There’s good news in all of this, namely, that Honda, Ford and Cosworth have – each in their own way – staunchly supported American open-wheel racing through thick, thin and thinner. Ford, you may recall, might well have killed the IRL before it ever got off the ground by refusing to honor its lease contracts (contracts designed for CART’s CCWS) with teams that “jumped” to the new series in ’96. But Ford continued leasing engines to IRL teams in the hopes of serving as an intermediary to bring the IRL and CART back together. And when Honda and Toyota went to the IRL, Cosworth threw the CCWS a lifeline in the form of the spec XFE, which Ford subsequently supported both by badging the engine and joining Bridgestone as a sponsor of the CCWS.
For its part, Honda was an outspoken supporter of the CCWS throughout the late ’90s into Y2K, ’01 and ’02 before – in its eyes and those of most observers – CART sold it down the river in a clumsy attempt to keep Toyota in the series. Since moving to the IRL, Honda has supported the ICS to the tune of millions in technical development and “collateral” marketing support and, of course, threw the IRL a Cosworth-like lifeline in ’06 by deciding to supply the full ICS field in the wake of the pull-out by Toyota and Chevrolet.
What’s more, even in the most contentious days of the CCWS engine wars, Honda and Ford/Cosworth retained a respect for one another’s integrity and – dare I mention the word – “sportsmanship.” The real hard feelings, as anyone who spent time in the CCWS paddock at the turn of the century knows, were between Honda and Toyota. Neither Honda nor Ford nor Cosworth race to lose, of course. But it was the Honda vs. Toyota dynamic that proved to be the catalyst for the nightmarish escalation in costs that, ultimately, proved ruinous to CART and the CCWS between ’96 and ’02.
The good news, then, is that Honda and Ford/Cosworth can compete with one another in a spirit of sportsmanship. What’s more, Robert Clarke, president of Honda Performance Development, Dan Davis, director of Ford Racing Technology, and Forsythe are intelligent men who know from experience that the CART (and, for that matter, IRL circa ’03-’05) model of scorched earth competition between manufacturers is unsustainable, particularly in an arena viewed as irrelevant by a large segment of the American populace. Equally importantly, however, like George and Kalkhoven, they know all too well the Champ Car vs. Indy Racing League model has done much to destroy American open-wheel racing.
Thus while developing a common engine formula for a unified series of American open-wheel racing series presents a formidable, even monumental, hurdle, that hurdle need not be insurmountable. Particularly when honorable and competitive companies and those who guide them have so much to gain – or lose – in the process.
When it comes to those practical differences, the bad news is there is no easy way out of the fact that the Champ Car World Series and the IRL’s IndyCar Series operate under two very different rule books, particularly when it comes to engines. By definition, the CCWS utilizes the 2.65-liter turbocharged V8 Ford Cosworth XFE while the ICS utilizes the 3-liter, normally aspirated V8s of which Honda (with its HI6R Indy V8) is now the sole supplier. Published figures put the XFE’s output at 750 hp, compared to the HI6R’s “650+” hp.
From square one, then, a simple “merger” of the two series is problematic.
As matters stand, the rules afford the XFE a significant edge on the HI6R. Barring equivalency formulas (which nobody wants), the Champ Car teams (and/or the IRL teams switching to Cosworth power) would enjoy an unfair advantage, the last thing the sport would need in the delicate first stages of reunification. Nor can Honda be expected to voluntarily serve as a second class “field-filler” for the greater glory of American open-wheel racing.
However all is not lost on the engine front. The good news is that both manufacturers are intimately familiar with the “competing” engine technologies. Honda, of course, competed in the Championship Auto Racing Teams-sanctioned CCWS with 2.65-liter turbo V8s from ’93 through ’02, while Cosworth developed a 3.5-liter normally aspirated V8 which made its way into the ’03 ICS badged as the Chevrolet Gen IV (and which was subsequently downsized to 3 liters in accordance with the series’ mid-’05 rules change).
So why not just flip a coin to decide on the engine rules? Heads, Honda dusts off its blueprints for the HR-2 last used in ’02, retools and runs off a batch of three dozen for the ’07 season. Tails, Cosworth follows more or less the same route with the “Gen IV” and everyone lives happily ever after.
The bad news is that it’s not nearly so simple. For openers, Honda and Cosworth (which, by the way, is co-owned by Kalkhoven and Champ Car partner Gerald Forsythe) have invested millions in their current engines. Neither can be expected to cavalierly write-off their high tech boat anchors.
Nor can Honda or Cosworth start building new “old” engines for a unified series at the drop of a hat. Recall that the HR-2 was designed during the cost-is-no-object engine war with Ford Cosworth and, more significantly, bitter rival Toyota. Times and technology have changed. Toyota is focused on NASCAR and Cosworth has four more years of experience with turbo V8s, particularly in the areas of durability and uniformity dictated by Champ Car’s spec engine rules; rules which are sure to be applied in some fashion to a unified series.
Likewise, Honda has a decided technological edge when it comes to 3-liter, normally aspirated V8s. Not only did Honda trounce the Cosworth/Chevy in ’04 and ’05, but Honda has progressed still further along the learning curve in preparing to supply the full ICS field in ’06. As with Cosworth and the XFE, rather than more power, much of Honda’s new-found knowledge relates to the reliability and consistency which – to reiterate – will be central to the engine rules of a unified series.
And there’s more bad news for anyone imagining a seamless switch from Ford Cosworth XFE to Ford Cosworth “Gen IV” power in a merger of the two series. As part of its pact with Chevrolet, Cosworth transferred the intellectual properties associated with its engine to the Bow Tie folks in ’03, and would surely face substantial legal challenges were it to unilaterally ramp up a new run of Gen IV-based engines for a unified series.
Don’t despair. There’s good news in all of this, namely, that Honda, Ford and Cosworth have – each in their own way – staunchly supported American open-wheel racing through thick, thin and thinner. Ford, you may recall, might well have killed the IRL before it ever got off the ground by refusing to honor its lease contracts (contracts designed for CART’s CCWS) with teams that “jumped” to the new series in ’96. But Ford continued leasing engines to IRL teams in the hopes of serving as an intermediary to bring the IRL and CART back together. And when Honda and Toyota went to the IRL, Cosworth threw the CCWS a lifeline in the form of the spec XFE, which Ford subsequently supported both by badging the engine and joining Bridgestone as a sponsor of the CCWS.
For its part, Honda was an outspoken supporter of the CCWS throughout the late ’90s into Y2K, ’01 and ’02 before – in its eyes and those of most observers – CART sold it down the river in a clumsy attempt to keep Toyota in the series. Since moving to the IRL, Honda has supported the ICS to the tune of millions in technical development and “collateral” marketing support and, of course, threw the IRL a Cosworth-like lifeline in ’06 by deciding to supply the full ICS field in the wake of the pull-out by Toyota and Chevrolet.
What’s more, even in the most contentious days of the CCWS engine wars, Honda and Ford/Cosworth retained a respect for one another’s integrity and – dare I mention the word – “sportsmanship.” The real hard feelings, as anyone who spent time in the CCWS paddock at the turn of the century knows, were between Honda and Toyota. Neither Honda nor Ford nor Cosworth race to lose, of course. But it was the Honda vs. Toyota dynamic that proved to be the catalyst for the nightmarish escalation in costs that, ultimately, proved ruinous to CART and the CCWS between ’96 and ’02.
The good news, then, is that Honda and Ford/Cosworth can compete with one another in a spirit of sportsmanship. What’s more, Robert Clarke, president of Honda Performance Development, Dan Davis, director of Ford Racing Technology, and Forsythe are intelligent men who know from experience that the CART (and, for that matter, IRL circa ’03-’05) model of scorched earth competition between manufacturers is unsustainable, particularly in an arena viewed as irrelevant by a large segment of the American populace. Equally importantly, however, like George and Kalkhoven, they know all too well the Champ Car vs. Indy Racing League model has done much to destroy American open-wheel racing.
Thus while developing a common engine formula for a unified series of American open-wheel racing series presents a formidable, even monumental, hurdle, that hurdle need not be insurmountable. Particularly when honorable and competitive companies and those who guide them have so much to gain – or lose – in the process.
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