Originally Posted by EagleEye
I think there could be some failures, especially in practice and qualifiying trim, especially early on. Indycar will be keeping track of the engines and their development to try and ensure they are close in performance. Competition certainly can push some to the limits. I still remember the Honda CART motors blowing plenums sky high during practice.
We are still waiting to hear what the spare car situation will be. Back in the day, you had your primary and spare or "T" car, which was race ready with an engine. When Honda became the loan supplier, they did not want extra engines "sitting" connected to cars, which is now why we have spare cars that sit w/o the engine. I could see us going back to the old spare situation, but that will depend on what the engine suppliers want.
The Honda engine will be built by HPD in CA, while the GM engine will be built by Ilmor (who supply the current Honda engine). Lotus will be supplied by Judd. Each of these groups have had success at various levels, so I think we can expect some good reliability.