Q: We live in an age in which major racing series must be pragmatic with their rule books — safety, cost of development/operations/consumables/crash damage, tire design, fuels/energy, manufacturer interest, etc. Instances such as the Porsche 919 Evo are few and far between, and beloved events such as the Indy 500 and 24 Hours of Le Mans may never again see a near-open formula. So for a thought experiment, if a well-financed team with the daring driver were given a clean-sheet challenge, how hard would it be to design/engineer/assemble a one-off prototype (general sense of the word, not inherently a Le Mans prototype) combination that was capable of hitting 300mph on Indy’s straits and maintain 250mph through Turns 1 and 3?
Would the design resemble that of the Red Bull X cars dreamed up for Gran Turismo? Please have some fun with this and let me know what you come up with!
Kyle
MP: It wouldn’t be impossible; it would just be extremely expensive. The technology and expertise to make such a machine has been here for decades.
I’d imagine we’d see a car that deployed full ground effects that sealed the sidepods like we had in the late 1970s and early ’80s, a fan of some sort to create a bigger vacuum effect, with both being neutralized on the straights akin to DRS, extreme lightweighting of the chassis and related components, the addition of fairings to the tires to eliminate as much aerodynamic turbulence as possible, and an almighty turbocharged engine — likely from the 2.65L CART V8 era — would be a solid starting point.
The cornering speeds are nearly there today, so it would be the getting to 300mph that would be the greatest challenge, and that would need to be achieved with a combo of shape-shifting aero and power to turn the car into a streamlining dragster on the straights. Sounds like a perfect challenge for one of my race engineering/designing heroes, Gordon Murray.
Q: I understand Michael Andretti’s desire to go into F1, but I see some issues. Running an IndyCar team is already a full-time job; add to that running an F1 team an even bigger task. Each day only has 24 hours. I wonder if he will spread himself too thin and accomplish not much in F1 and go down the pecking order even more in IndyCar?.
Also, with Andretti buying into WTR as an easy way to get a piece of the action in GTP,s the objective of this deal to buy out Wayne in the future? Before the 2023 Daytona race, what were Acura’s plans for 2024? What would have happened for 2024 if the whole tire pressure scandal never happened? I doubt that Acura would drop a scandal-free MSR.
Was it to run one WTR + one MSR, or two WTRs + one MSR, or two WTRs? Wayne Taylor was very keen on getting a second car, but would he get it if the whole tire pressure issue never happened?
Vitor, Portugal
MP: Michael’s become a highly ambitious business and team owner, and for that, I have tons of respect. He’s hired a ton of talented people, so it’s not like Andretti’s singlehandedly doing all of this himself. Roger Griffiths is a perfect example; former HRC US technical director who went to work for Michael in Formula E running that program, and with Roger and a group of great folks, they won the FE championship last season. Michael owns the team and makes plenty of big decisions, but it’s lieutenants like Griffiths who are the ones putting in the long days and nights to deliver for Andretti Global.
Who knows if we’ll see his team in F1, but you are right; IndyCar is and has been his core team for a long time and it needs to do more than fight for occasional podiums. If the IndyCar program was up there giving Ganassi and Penske a hard time at each round, I bet a lot of concerns would be eased over the desired F1 expansion. And with the changes they’ve made for 2024, Andretti’s done what was needed to make that happen.
Buying WTR was smart — a title-caliber team that, as we’ve seen, is a nice complement to everything else Andretti has in his inventory of series. WTR wanted exclusivity in being Acura’s only GTP team and was working to make that happen before MSR’s tire pressure scandal. The scandal helped make that a reality, but it didn’t start trending in that direction just because of the scandal.
Q: Two weeks ago there was a letter requesting Indy dump Push to Pass for DRS. Are they crazy? Have they not watched the DRS trains that form where everyone is unable to pass because they are all close enough to use DRS? The other problem with DRS is you can only use it on long straights — usually just one place on most tracks.
P2P can be used anywhere the driver wants. It involves strategy as you have a limited amount of time and you have to figure in fuel usage. The drivers who are able to save fuel and P2P for the end of the race have an advantage by using the right strategy.
The only complaint I have about it is when slow cars being lapped use it to stay ahead and bunch up the leaders. This then forces the faster car to take risks to get by. Keep P2P, because it does improve the racing.
Mark B, Floral City, FL
MP: The Mailbag has spoken.
Q: Any word on how IndyCar is promoting Milwaukee? I live in the Milwaukee area and there has been nothing. I mean zero talk about sponsors stepping forward, potential entertainment, i.e bands, etc. It’s only January, yet, the Milwaukee double is less than eight months out.
Bradley J, Sussex, WI
MP: I asked the series to help with an answer and, in reference to the Milwaukee race that’s not happening for another seven months, I’m told:
“We just had David Malukas in town on Friday for a local media tour and he appeared at Motorsports Night with the Milwaukee Admirals hockey team Friday night and signed autographs and did some promotions during the game. Ticket sales have gone well initially and advertising/marketing/promotions will begin in earnest in a few weeks.”