Q: Do the IndyCar chassis tubs ever have to be replaced from age or mileage, or are they just replaced when damaged?
Geoff Branagh
MP: There are a few original 2012 DW12s still in rotation, but most teams opt to buy new tubs every few years for the sake of having the freshest unit possible. Most take a few hard hits and have a few repairs done over a few seasons, so it’s worth going new and erasing any questions as to whether torsional rigidity is compromised.
Q: I was impressed with the nifty marketing video featuring McLaughlin produced for St. Petersburg. It was compelling. Now, tell me that Kanaan will be the driver featured for the 500?
Marcus “Air-icsson” might have won at Indianapolis last year, but he has a more compelling story to tell for this year’s Music City GP.
K.S., King County, WA
MP: I mean, if we say it’s TK in the mailbag, it’s got to be carried out by IndyCar, right?
Q: We’ve seen the F1 cars damn near double in size, to the point they’ve outgrown places like Monaco, and Baku gets really tight. How much, size-wise, have the Indy cars changed in the past 25 or so years? I know, we’ve had the same car for 12-ish years, but I feel like the previous generations before this one, in the 2000s specifically, the cars seemed a little smaller.
Michael, Brownsburg, IN
MP: Last non-spec Dallara Indy car chassis was the universally loved 2007 Panoz DP01, so that’s the most recent comparison we can made.
The road course-only DP01 is 190 inches long and 78 inches wide. Today’s Dallara DW12 in road course trim is 201.5 inches long and 76.5 inches wide.
Q: I just don’t get how that melee that was called a race can happen. Is the St. Pete track too narrow? If so, then change the track to provide more room.
We keep saying this is the most competitive series in the world with the best drivers, and six cars are taken out before the first lap is complete? IndyCar is a laughing stock, and imagine what the F1 fans and drivers think after seeing such chaos.
I would say the blame is on the drivers. The cars have both a throttle and brakes.
I love IndyCar, but am hanging my head in shame.
Jim Doyle, Hoboken, NJ
MP: And then we’ll go to Round 2 and forget about Round 1. If St. Pete was an annual crashfest, I’d share in your concern. But it isn’t. It was a bad race with way too much crashing. It happens. If it happens again next year, then let’s cry wolf.
Q: I have always wondered why they don’t use the oval T1 on the Indy road course like they did with F1? To me, it was fascinating to watch cars at high speed coming down through T1 backwards and onto the main straight. It would seem to make plenty of drafting and passing opportunities. Instead, they dive down into the infield into the slow, Mickey Mouse-type turns. They could still dive down in there for and use it for pit in, but IMS is about speed and should incorporate as much of the oval as possible, much like Daytona does for the Rolex 24. What is the reasoning for not using T1 of the oval for the road course?
Also, my son and I took our first trip to St. Pete over the weekend and enjoyed every aspect of it. Friendly people, lots of food/drink booths, easy in and out on the shuttle, and convenient to the airport. We had pit and paddock passes and were able to get up close to all the action all weekend, especially during the pre-race. This goes a very long way with building fans, and I believe the series understand the importance of it. I am employed by a big NASCAR sponsor and while we have access to the garage and pits, the normal fan does not. This is a huge perk that IndyCar and IMSA gives to its fans.
Rod, West Chester, OH
MP: Great to hear about your first St. Pete visit. Fans who’ve only known NASCAR or F1 events always come away from their first IndyCar race –with the exception of the Indy 500, which isn’t as wide open as the other rounds — in complete shock at the amount of access that’s available.
Great question on the oval Turn 1 section, but considering how F1’s last visit to Indy went and the extreme tire problems that were seen, I’d guess that there’s a limited desire to invite such problems two days before the start of Indy 500 practice.
Q: It seems that at least in every IndyCar race, one or two cars suffer punctures that put the teams out of contention. The culprit is usually the sharp extrusions on the front wings of the Dallara-18. They may help the aerodynamics, but they also ruin races and can be dangerous if the car gets a puncture in a bad spot. Why can’t they either remove them or redesign them to be less prone to causing punctures? Just seems like common sense to me.
And another thing. Why does it seem that all IndyCar street courses are designed for maximum chaos during a race? Formula 1 tracks are designed with plenty of runoff room and are usually very wide. Indy street courses are very narrow and seem to be designed to cause accidents in tight spots where there is nowhere to go but into the car in front. I know they are street courses, but they seem to be designed with zero thought.
John G. Hill
MP: It’s been done before and there was some improvement, but you don’t need a knife to puncture a balloon. Apply enough force with a blunt instrument, or squeeze it with your hands, and it will pop.
I assume you’ve heard of Monaco, the original street course that features none of the attributes you ascribe for F1 street courses? We have F1 drivers running into each other at every F1 street race, so let’s dial back the baseless “F1 does it better” rhetoric on this one. They do lots of other things better than IndyCar. This just ain’t one to crow about.