Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. We love hearing your comments and opinions, but letters that include a question are more likely to be published. Questions received after 3pm ET each Monday will be saved for the following week.
Q: Given the lack of progress in securing a third OEM for IndyCar, and a new engine formula supposedly just a couple of years away, has IndyCar ever given a reason why it hasn’t looked into using the highly successful IMSA formula?
Scott C, Greenwood, IN
MARSHALL PRUETT: This might be the most popular question/solution on this topic in recent years, but unfortunately, the same answer applies: An IndyCar chassis has a very short, narrow, and low space provided to carry an engine. Every GTP or GTD engine – except for Acura’s ARX-06 motor, which is the same 2.4-liter engine IndyCar was meant to use – is waaaaaay too big.
The space in an IndyCar is like a Size Small, and everything in IMSA is a Large or XL.
A big part of what makes an IndyCar perform like it does is the lack of weight, hence the Size Small motors. You’d double that weight, or more, going to an IMSA motor, and it would destroy the handling with all of that wide, tall and long mass rolling all over the place. And to fit those motors, there would need to be a comprehensive redesign through which the cars would get longer and possibly wider and taller, and gain a ton of pounds.
Q: You’ve said you’re confident in there being more than 33 entrants for the Indy 500. Is it safe to assume they will come from the Honda camp?
Don Weidig
MP: Yes. With Chevy at 15 full-time and Honda at 12, Honda’s in the relatively unfamiliar role of being the go-to for extra Indy motors.
Q: You mentioned that some of the TV crew people had moved over from NBC to FOX. I wondered if you could give us an idea as to the number of personnel and their positions are required for FOX to present coverage of an IndyCar race? I assume there are significant differences between a road course, such as Road America, compared to short oval like Iowa, but would just be interested in what the average number of people besides the six faces we see are involved.
Butch Welsch, St. Louis, MO
MP: I tried to get a number on how many went from NBC to FOX but could not. Let’s go with dozens on the trackside part, and I’ll see if I can get something definitive.
Q: Last year it was a “scheduling conflict” with Texas. This year, no Texas. Guessing it’s gone for good then. Outside the 500, there aren’t any more superspeedways right? Any rumors of another large oval coming on?
Bernardo, San Antonio, TX
MP: Not that I know of. The desire to continue with IndyCar has been lost in Denton, Texas.
IndyCar had some good times at Texas over the years, but the track went out with a whimper. Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Q: I read your article “Why St. Petersburg was IndyCar’s best season opener in years,” and I had to read it several times. But I would argue that it wasn’t as big as when Nigel Mansell brought the global attention when he came to IndyCar and won the Australian IndyCar Grand Prix.
Anyway, if the series gets two million viewers, do you think we could get an IndyCar/NASCAR doubleheader in the future? I know it wouldn’t happen in 2026, but dare I say in 2027 it would be nice to see it happen in Austin or Phoenix.
Alistair, Springfield, MO
MP: Thanks, I don’t recall saying it was bigger than Nigel’s debut, or even the early days of the St. Pete race with big names like Dario and Danica, so I’m not sure what what’s being argued. I was there, working as a mechanic in the Formula Atlantic series that 1993 season, and Mansell Mania was insane; having the reigning Formula 1 world champion in IndyCar was amazing.
The IndyCar and NASCAR thing is tricky, since both want top billing. I know IndyCar played the undercard at the second Indy GP/Brickyard 400 event where nobody cared about the IndyCar part, and if I’m NASCAR, I’m doing nothing to help IndyCar to gain more fans and challenge its supremacy. That’s just bad for business. But if there’s anyone who could get both sides to consider it, it’s FOX Sports CEO Eric Shanks.
Q: Do you know what the weight distribution of the current DW12 is? As far as I can remember, the last time IndyCar shared some numbers was probably during the 2011-12 winter, which at that time was 43/57 front/rear. But then came the aero kits, first the engine manufacturers’, then the universal one used nowadays; then the aeroscreen and last year Harry the hybrid. So, how did it evolve from what it was 13 years ago?
You previously wrote that the current car has a “suboptimal” weight distribution and the fact that with Harry’s extra weight (which is positioned at the rear) and power boost, the rear end tends to slip very easily. However, I heard some drivers such as Dixon and Rossi seem to actually prefer oversteery cars. So, what would, in your opinion, be an ideal weight distribution? Or at least one that would make most drivers content?
Lastly, in which areas on the current car do you think Dallara could trim some weight and apply this to design the upcoming one? Also, how about downsizing the internal combustion engine a little bit? Could going to a 2.1 or 2.0L engine displacement help saving a few pounds? If IndyCar plans to increase both the hybrid’s peak power and the ESS capacity, wouldn’t it make sense to do so?
Xavier
MP: To start with the last question, you’re aware that going from a 2.2-liter motor as used today to a 2.1 or 2.0 doesn’t involve making a smaller motor, right? It’s a reduction in the cubic capacity within the cylinders of the existing motor, which is like taking a Size 12 shoe and stuffing some padding into the toe area to make it a Size 11. Neither Chevy nor Honda would spend countless millions to make brand-new and slightly tinier engines to help IndyCar save a few pounds. Not unless IndyCar wanted to pay for it.
Hard to say on an optimal weight distribution, since the answer is dictated by driver preference. Dixon isn’t a lover of oversteer as much as he wants the nose of the car to be pinned to the ground, so in his case, he’d prefer a higher weight distribution number on the front axle. My old friend Sebastien Bourdais was 100 percent the opposite, wanting the rear pinned at all times and to manage speed through understeer, so his magic number was biased towards the rear axle.
According to my engineer friends in the paddock, the energy recovery system that sits between the engine and transmission has shifted between 0.5-1.0-percent of weight to the back of the cars, which has moved the weight distribution to somewhere between 43-44 percent up front and 56-57 percent at the rear. The ERS has added a lot of rearward weight. The aeroscreen has added 50-ish pounds to the front, so together, there’s a slight tilt to the rear, but nothing to drastically alter the early F/R split. Just a lot more pounds.
There’s some weight to be saved with a new tub design, but it isn’t a huge savings, according to IndyCar’s technical department. I’ve heard of a lightweight gearbox being floated, but how it would withstand more horsepower and more torque is good question to consider.
