IndyCar to go to turbos in 2011

[Rex Monaco]

Who will pay that diversity?

Charge me an extra $10.00 per ticket. I'd be happy to contribute.

[Chaparral66]

I'm not sure what Davis' future plans are. I agree, he did a very good job while heading up Ford Racing. I never met him but I've not heard anyone at Ford say a bad word about him. He (and Ford) put up with a lot of crap from Tony George, CART and Champ Car over the years. It's interesting that both he and Robert Clarke retired within a month of each other. Their jobs must have been like working with people set on committing suicide at every turn.

Anyway, Fiat's interest would likely revolve around the Alfa Romeo brand, which is supposed to be making a return to North America in 2010 or so. Fiat Group is already here with Ferrari and Maserati. I've heard BMW linked to the Fiat Auto/Alfa return. I've also heard Chrysler linked to that return. Who knows?

In global automotive, several interesting things are taking place. Porsche's takeover of VW/Audi should soon be complete. How that might affect racing programs at either concern is unknown. At the same time, VW wants more share in the U.S. and is expanding its presence in North America by building a plant in Tennessee. By 2011, one (or more) of the Big 3 will either be much smaller than now... or dead. That should affect NASCAR more than the IRL... but who knows what the fallout might be?

I wonder if the IRL can get any PR mileage out smaller displacement engines with the increased fuel economy, while attracking back the turbo fans of yore? Handled right, could be a win-win...

[Miatanut]

Why not make the engine design more open for the builders? Instead of saying it has to be a V6, just give a displacement limit and a cylinder limit and let the manufacturers decide what kind of engine they want to build.

Why control even that? Why not just give them an air restrictor diameter? That's why ALMS has 4's, 6's & 8's, and all different displacements.

[Rex Monaco]

Barnhart expects no more than "three or four" to be involved when the new configuration hits the track, but Honda, the league's only current supplier, would be happy to have competition.

It is up to the league, Barnhart said, to determine how many participants there will be in 2011 so the manufacturers will know how many cars they will need to supply.

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl...8/newsletter01

[Chaparral66]

Barnhart expects no more than "three or four" to be involved when the new configuration hits the track, but Honda, the league's only current supplier, would be happy to have competition.

It is up to the league, Barnhart said, to determine how many participants there will be in 2011 so the manufacturers will know how many cars they will need to supply.

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl...8/newsletter01

OK, now who would benefit the most from the new formula? Can anyone see any new rivalries coming from this, say Honda vs. Audi, or Nissan vs. BMW vs. Dodge? I think you have to have something like this to get a real substantial crossover of fans back into it.

[nigelred5]

2.0 Litre, turbocharged/intercooled 4 cylinder, fuel must be derived from biomatter. That could be ethanol or bioD. Relevance to the auto consumer, easily adaptable basic engine architecture to other formulae in NA, turbocharged or suprecharged applications. While i suspect they may go V6, I think the step all the way back to 4 cyl. make the most sense to the manufacturers from a marketing and engineering standpoint, and what manufacturer doesn't already have a 4 cylinder in the street car lineup they would love to promote right now?

[Bob Riebe]

After reading that article I truly hope Indy car racing self-destructs, what pile of crap.
A glorified SCCA quasi-spec. formula class, they actually make spec. CC look good now.

Mufflers to quite the current engine, whom ever is in charge is a complete asinine pile of fecal debri.

Bob

[Bob Riebe]

.

[Chaparral66]

Where'd that car come from?

[nigelred5]

For whatever reason, the IRL chose to follow CART's engine lease path. Depending on who and how many sign on, it'll be interesting to see how this issue is dealt with too.

I would assume that has something to do with the manufacturers' unwillingness to sell it's engines outright and then have it's reputation damaged when Joe Schmoe the engine builder drops his chewing gum in the crankcase and the engine goes blammo? Honda does not like having people see it's engines hand grenade. I remember the days of their F1 V12's. IIRC, they almost pulled out of F1 over it and I do seem recall virtually their entire engine team was dismissed at one point.

No way can I see a company like BMW or Audi entrusting their engine builds to a third party if they are going to be races in a series with the visibility like the IRL. Dinan building a few Grand AM Sports car engines for the Samax team is different IMHO, than supplying say 8 to 10 or more cars a season in Indycars. I don't believe Audi has any privateer teams in ELMS/ALMS P1 do they? I've lost track.

If the series decides against engine leases, I don't foresee anyone new entering the series in '10-'11 and providing any sort of agressive promotion of their involvement.


I would still prefer to see the league set down a set o guideline for supplying a minimum of 30% of the field based on the number of manufacturers, mandate a "pump" fuel criteria and give them the freedom to run what they brung.