So Indy car is looking at retro CHAMP car style bodywork for 2018-2020

So the basic DW12 tub is going to carry on until 2020 rather than being replaced in 2018. It looks like Indy car are looking to get rid of the Aero kits and the existing bodywork and going for a look more akin to the late 90's Champ cars.

RACER Article

It sounds like the main drivers are removing the air box and getting rid of the sponsor blocking panels bhind the front wheels that make it hard to see the existing side pods. Instead the side pods will come further forward and be wider. The rear 'bumpers' that stop the rear tires being damaged in a light tap could get much smaller or be superspeedway only.

I've been looking for morphs or photoshops, this is all I've found.

Another mockup from the Twittershpere. More thought gone into this one and it looks good to me.

I think it's a mistake to tie this to 20 year old CHAMP car design philosophy, not because I think that's necessarily bad, but because it makes it sound retro which should happen in top line sport. The good thing is they will be going to more underbody grip than upper body winglets etc. That's good because the trailing car should be able to get close without so much dirty air.

I have high hopes, but I always do for Indy car and it keeps falling just a bit short, although the racing is spectacular.

At least theyre trying to address the ugliness of the current Indycars. To me, the new rendering kinda looks like a current Indy Lights car. I hope they do something about the massive rear wing endplates, man those are hideous!

They should go back a bit further.

DukeOfUndersteer wrote: At least theyre trying to address the ugliness of the current Indycars. To me, the new rendering kinda looks like a current Indy Lights car. I hope they do something about the massive rear wing endplates, man those are hideous!

On top of not looking good, the rules have made some rather delicate wings, which have been breaking very easily. Which I hate. And those odd wing additions over the tires? Really?

If F1 can teach us anything, give the cars more under car generated downforce and less wing, as that is more stable to following cars.

Maybe we go to the more complex surface shapes, but fewer elements and sizes. That way they look more modern than the flat wings of the CART cars but are more simple to reduce downforce.

I'm one of the few who liked the DW12 when it was launched, I think it looked better than the F1 cars of the time. I do like the idea of fewer elements in the wings though. I prefer a 'clean' car rather than something with two much going on. Make the parts more robust and less of them as a cost save too.

What happened to all the talk of driver protection ?

iceracer wrote: What happened to all the talk of driver protection ?

I don't think anyone has come up with a solution, either halo, canopy etc. that all can agree will work without creating other potential issues. This will be keeping the current DW12 tub so it could be difficult to start adding things on after the fact. Also, other than Justin Wilson's horrific accident the DW12 has been a very safe race car compared to the number of fatal and serious accidents with the prior IR-03

I like open wheel cars to look like they have open wheels, so I approve the change.

I haven't been watching indy cars since they went and got goofy looking,I'm down for the change back.

Anything that improves the current design would be welcome. I can't think of an uglier open wheel car that the current version. The aero kits did nothing for appearance nor the racing. Other than costing a lot of money for the teams, I'm not sure what the idea behind them was.

I have to agree with Adrian however, it does appear to be a very safe car.

Definitely prefer the retro to the current fugly car

AFAIC if they're going to stay with a spec CF tub they should go "retro" with something that belonged (visually) on the grid of a F5000 race. Before they added airboxes. Something like this:

In reply to stroker:

Nice idea, but would never work from a safety point of view. Look how exposed the driver would be.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

And I think there should be some modern tech in the car. We've learned a lot about aerodynamics since the 70's- and even if we limit it, it will look like there has been some advancement.

Or is Indy car way beyond the day that it was close to F1's tech that it's now a throwback class?

In reply to alfadriver:

I agree that is shouldn't be a retro series and I'm regretting saying that in the title. Having some 'styling' aspects that harken to a previous era doesn't mean they forget the last 20 years of aerodynamic development, it means they implement it in a different way within the boundaries they are setting themselves.

Having a deliberately retro class with modern tech as a high level clubmans class would be awesome though, and I do me awesome as in awe inspiring. Imagine 1,000hp, sub 1,000 cars with little to no aero four wheel drifting through corners. Wow.

To your point about challenging F1, I don't think that's possible now and I think it may never be possible. First of all open wheel racing has never and probably will never recover from the Tony George created simultaneous shots to the head and foot. NASCAR was the only winner from that and open wheels will never recover.

The other issue now is that the cost, development and marketing for F1 is up to 50+ times the cost of Indy car. Indy will never compete with F1 again especially with the car in general falling out of favor with younger people. No audience in the future. Formula E on the other hand....

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Don't need 1000 hp and sub-1000lb cars. I think you'd be surprised at the result if they offered a cf spec tub and a no/low aero F5000 class again with a build cost limit ala The Challenge using FMV.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

RE- tech and F1- I know Indy is no longer challenging for Tech, and haven't for a long time. I just don't want them to regress.