Why airborne because race car

Incidentally, was the year gasoline was phased out for methanol, though mechanics continue to work on the race cars in Gasoline Alley. Now we await the day when Roger Penske takes a long, hard look at the rules and finds some loophole that will allow a carbureted, gas-powered engine to develop like a thousand horsepower, which he secretly builds, enters, and wins with. This, and the sad and continued absence of Jim Nabors, brings us to the 99th running of the Indianapolis , where there is some innovation on the track: new body kits for the cars.

Previously, the cars, be they Honda- or Chevrolet-powered, wore the same outfit: It was created by the fashion designers at Dallara, which also designed the rest of the car. All along, different body kits were planned, but they finally arrived this year. But there was a problem. Chevrolet appears to have done a better job of designing its body kits for the street- and road-course races, which is all the types that have been held this year.

Plus, at the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, the complex aero pieces were also fragile when struck by the out-of-practice, overeager field, and they shed parts like a modern-day Yugo. Most of these were Honda parts, thanks to a nose that was seemingly designed by Salvador Dali. One of those parts, as you may have heard, was apparently booted off the track by another car and landed on the head of presumably former race fan Brigitte Hoffstetter, fracturing her skull.

The pregnant Hoffstetter supposedly was yards from the track at a concession stand. The body kits were reworked before the Long Beach, New Orleans, and Barber Motorsports Park races and seem to shed fewer parts, but the Hondas were still slower than the Chevrolets. But those are not superspeedway oval races, and an entirely new body kit is being utilized for Indy.

Team owners were concerned about the lack of testing of the new kits. Now we have a split field. And this was before he, or anyone else, had gotten the opportunity to real-world test the superspeedway kits at Indianapolis. And when they did: Yes, the Hondas were still slower. But it also seemed like the Chevrolets were crashing and going airborne. First was Penske veteran Helio Castroneves, who got loose, corrected, spun, and took off like a V Osprey.

And then Ed Carpenter, polesitter the last two years, spun earlier than anyone would have expected in a turn, hit the wall, and did not exactly launch, but still went upside down, sliding on his roll bar. A TV broadcaster asked the uninjured Mast what he was thinking as he slid down the pavement. IndyCar responded by telling Chevrolet teams to remove an odd little wickerbill-thing that is essentially a little vertical strip that ran from nose to cockpit.

No one made any guarantees that it was the problem, but it was easy to address. Nobody went airborne. Honda teams were upset that they were required to make the same changes to their setups as were Chevrolet teams since no Hondas had gone airborne, but the company and the teams kept that mostly to themselves.

Everyone in Gasoline Alley is checking rocker arms. Great demonstration Diandra. Clearly understood and I have only a minor degree in Mechanical Engineering.

If a driver holds a major degree in ME, looks like he would understand also. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Twitter Facebook Instagram.

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