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HandyNZL

Indy 2012

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IRL is shaking up their race series in 2012 with the introduction of a new chassis, as most would know. Dallara, Swift and Lola all put in conceptual bids, so too the dorky Delta wing which would never have turned a corner greater than 2-degrees.

And the winner was.......

.....Dallara...kind of.

They are going to supply a survival cell and a "framework", loosely the chassis, but from there teams are free to:

a- contact Swift, Dallara, or even McLaren to design and supply them two "styles" of body work e.g road and speedway versions

b- make the body work in-house

c- find a small aero shoppe and get them to design and build something

So a bit of a mix between a spec formula, and an open formula. Should be interesting to say the least especially in terms of direction the teams will go. Ganassi used to have a bit of a relationship with Williams F1, so I wonder if the IRL teams will look to F1 for some body work?

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IRL is shaking up their race series in 2012 with the introduction of a new chassis, as most would know. Dallara, Swift and Lola all put in conceptual bids, so too the dorky Delta wing which would never have turned a corner greater than 2-degrees.

And the winner was.......

.....Dallara...kind of.

They are going to supply a survival cell and a "framework", loosely the chassis, but from there teams are free to:

a- contact Swift, Dallara, or even McLaren to design and supply them two "styles" of body work e.g road and speedway versions

b- make the body work in-house

c- find a small aero shoppe and get them to design and build something

So a bit of a mix between a spec formula, and an open formula. Should be interesting to say the least especially in terms of direction the teams will go. Ganassi used to have a bit of a relationship with Williams F1, so I wonder if the IRL teams will look to F1 for some body work?

BAT applied, too, with their 3-cylinder vehicle, but had no monies so...

Not to be Serious Susan here, but DeltaWing actually could take the tightest of corners in the IRL (hairpin at Long Beach) and run a lap time the same as the current Dallara at Long Beach with just 300 hp. The rear wheels turned in addition to the front wheels, like an ice racing rally car or something similar. It looked like a penis, but it was a great idea. A very impressive car, just not the right impressive car for this series.

D. They can have up to two different suppliers as they need both oval and road course bodywork. So Penske could run his own bodywork on the ovals and swipe Ganassi's for the road courses (I believe all in-house bodywork must be available to all teams, not just the team building it).

E. I know at the moment Dallara will build bodywork. Lotus are in talks about it, too. Swift likely have no interest. Lola probably, too.

F. I'll admit this decision did take one of the great DeltaWing elements (the open-source-ness of it all).

The problem is that the bodywork has be less than $70,000, so no one (F1 teams included) would really want to supply it unless they'd make a profit. I don't know how much these things cost, so I don't know if $70k is a reasonable price for them. I imagine not; Dallara can do it thanks to the help of the Indiana government and all that nonsense. Having to ship it overseas would add costs (like the current Dallara), so...we'll see.

It's vaguely the right idea. I'd have preferred they just let anything go, but I realize the sport is in a really, really, really bad place right now and that would be too expensive. So, for realistic things, it was the best they could do. I just hope they do get multiple bodywork suppliers and multiple engine suppliers as well (which will be allowed, anything with 1 to 6 cylinders, smaller than 2.4L, turbocharged, 550 hp on ovals, 700 hp on roadies goes in 2012+ they say, though they've not specified fuel source if they will mandate NASCAR fans' beverage of choice Ethanol or be real racers and let anything go). So, within their limits, considering their situation...I approve enough to give it a chance.

For the CEO of a bull riding league, Randy Bernard really knows more about racing and how to run the sport than Indy Lights racer Tony George ever did. Now he just has to make sure the thing doesn't collapse in 2011 so we can get to 2012...:P

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Double post so I can outdo Handy.

full-1279126509.jpg

The car with Dallara's bodywork. The dark gray part is the "Safety Cell," which will be uniform throughout. The lighter parts are the Dallara conceptual bodywork, but will obviously vary by supplier and probably change by the time it gets to production in Dallara's new Speedway, Indiana facility.

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The survival cell should have left out half the nose.

That's the most distinctive feature of a formula car, the nose.

In F1 there was/is walrus noses, anteater noses (McLaren 06, 07, 08), platypus noses (Red Bull), needle/dart noses, and indycars had the iconic Guerney eagle beak noses.

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What do you think of the overall concept though DOF, ye of the anti-spec...?

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Double post so I can outdo Handy.

full-1279126509.jpg

The car with Dallara's bodywork. The dark gray part is the "Safety Cell," which will be uniform throughout. The lighter parts are the Dallara conceptual bodywork, but will obviously vary by supplier and probably change by the time it gets to production in Dallara's new Speedway, Indiana facility.

That is horrid. I hope to never again lay eyes on it past this thread.

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