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I've been daydreaming about this for a couple of years now, and I have taken my admittedly rudimentary, aviation-oriented knowledge of aerodynamics and fan's knowledge of chassis design (WAY less advanced than my aerodynamics, I'll admit) to sort of brainstorm what a modern, front-engine Indy car might look like. I've come up with two that I posted on my racing history web site, one with wings and one without wings. I went into this thinking that whether the roundy-round purists like it or not, we are going to need some semblence of aerodynamic ground effects on the cars, one way or another, because at the speeds these cars are going to be running there will need to be SOMETHING holding 'em on the ground, even if there are no "wings" per se. So I came up with 2 designs.
The winged one I envisioned being kind of like a "standard" formula-type Indy car, pointy-nosed and with sidepods and wings, but with the engine mounted in front of the driver and the driver pushed back a couple of feet, but it does have front and rear wings that operate like the ones we have now, with all of the associated benefits to adjustment and handling. Sort of like a slimmed-down Panoz ALMS roadracer. I figured if the Panoz could be built and run halfway competitively, it shouldn't be that big a leap to build a single-seater, open-wheel version.
The second design, non-winged was kind of hard to figure. We do want to have a certain amount of inherent aerodynamic downforce, but without wings at either end. What I ended up with was a car with sidepods but no front or rear wings, but a kind of wedge-shaped, shovel nose like the front end of a 1972 Eagle, and a sort of adjustable rear blade spoiler. It kind of ended up looking like a McLaren M15 or Lotus 56 with a longer nose and sidepods. (Sidepods are also a convenient way to solve some packaging problems, for example, where to put the radiators and oil coolers, etc.) RWD, of course, although given the packaging of these cars it might be easier to make them (gasp) front-wheel drive....
Both cars would have a carbon-fibre center section for crashworthiness not much different from what the current cars have, but it would be just that, a sort of standard "core." What you build around that is subject to a bit more creative interpretation, as long as it basically fits within the rules.
Engine-wise, I have always liked the idea of equalized stock-blocks like they run in the various roadracing classes, where you have bored-out Chevy V8s running against Ferrari V12s and Audi and BMW inlines or what have you; I don't see why it shouldn't work in an Indy car format with a little judicious rulemaking. I wouldn't like too many pure-race engines running unhandicapped. I would like my Indy cars to have a little wiggle-room, in the design, to allow for weight penalties or inlet restrictors to keep things competitive, yet still allow a little more "run-what-you-brung" in the engine compartment.
As for the series they run in, everybody here knows I like roadracing, but I'd keep the number of such events down to maybe 5 out of 20 at the country's best road courses, and maybe Long Beach for the "event"-ness of it. The majority of the events would stay on ovals, rather like next year's schedule. Indy cars are traditionally an oval discipline with a few select road courses thrown in. Personally I'd love to see my front-engined cars on the road courses, just for the sheer "what-the-hell?!?" factor of it. I would grandfather the old mid-engine cars out over 2 or 3 years so that backmarker teams or upstarts could afford to get in, but the mid-engine cars would have to be subject to very limiting weight or restrictor penalties so that they don't run off with everything. The front-engine Indy cars would still be fast, but I'd like 'em around 210 to 220. Will they get faster after a few years of tinkering? Who knows. Probably. But they would be a unique class unto themselves again, and hopefully easier for American open-wheel guys to get a handle on.
What do you think....?
The winged one I envisioned being kind of like a "standard" formula-type Indy car, pointy-nosed and with sidepods and wings, but with the engine mounted in front of the driver and the driver pushed back a couple of feet, but it does have front and rear wings that operate like the ones we have now, with all of the associated benefits to adjustment and handling. Sort of like a slimmed-down Panoz ALMS roadracer. I figured if the Panoz could be built and run halfway competitively, it shouldn't be that big a leap to build a single-seater, open-wheel version.
The second design, non-winged was kind of hard to figure. We do want to have a certain amount of inherent aerodynamic downforce, but without wings at either end. What I ended up with was a car with sidepods but no front or rear wings, but a kind of wedge-shaped, shovel nose like the front end of a 1972 Eagle, and a sort of adjustable rear blade spoiler. It kind of ended up looking like a McLaren M15 or Lotus 56 with a longer nose and sidepods. (Sidepods are also a convenient way to solve some packaging problems, for example, where to put the radiators and oil coolers, etc.) RWD, of course, although given the packaging of these cars it might be easier to make them (gasp) front-wheel drive....
Both cars would have a carbon-fibre center section for crashworthiness not much different from what the current cars have, but it would be just that, a sort of standard "core." What you build around that is subject to a bit more creative interpretation, as long as it basically fits within the rules.
Engine-wise, I have always liked the idea of equalized stock-blocks like they run in the various roadracing classes, where you have bored-out Chevy V8s running against Ferrari V12s and Audi and BMW inlines or what have you; I don't see why it shouldn't work in an Indy car format with a little judicious rulemaking. I wouldn't like too many pure-race engines running unhandicapped. I would like my Indy cars to have a little wiggle-room, in the design, to allow for weight penalties or inlet restrictors to keep things competitive, yet still allow a little more "run-what-you-brung" in the engine compartment.
As for the series they run in, everybody here knows I like roadracing, but I'd keep the number of such events down to maybe 5 out of 20 at the country's best road courses, and maybe Long Beach for the "event"-ness of it. The majority of the events would stay on ovals, rather like next year's schedule. Indy cars are traditionally an oval discipline with a few select road courses thrown in. Personally I'd love to see my front-engined cars on the road courses, just for the sheer "what-the-hell?!?" factor of it. I would grandfather the old mid-engine cars out over 2 or 3 years so that backmarker teams or upstarts could afford to get in, but the mid-engine cars would have to be subject to very limiting weight or restrictor penalties so that they don't run off with everything. The front-engine Indy cars would still be fast, but I'd like 'em around 210 to 220. Will they get faster after a few years of tinkering? Who knows. Probably. But they would be a unique class unto themselves again, and hopefully easier for American open-wheel guys to get a handle on.
What do you think....?
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