Successful IndyCar Aeroscreen Test Completes at Indy

[Andrew Harper]

Looks dont solve the aero problems the device can bring you know. Current implementation is being done in a car that was not made to receive it, next chassis could maybe be able to have something like this, have patience.

Oh no my friend, I'm not complaining. I think what all of us have felt is that it's a shame that the original aero screen design wasn't adapted or adjusted. The current design just looks a little too much like an afterthought.

I suppose the problem with HALO is it's a metal tube covered in carbon. Fingers crossed over time it can be shaped differently and blended in more, this is the issue with the design above as the curvature in it is most likely too tricky to reproduce (at the moment).

Like you say it will develop over time

 

[Jason M Fuller]

That looks like something somebody fabbed in their back shed.

 

[FinFan]

I, too, think they should go with the closed cockpit much like NHRA Top-Fuel dragsters have. It would still be an open wheeler. The screen is balistic glass, bullet proof, and I don't remember a driver complaining about not beeing able to look trough it. Maybe in the beginning but not recently. There is bullet proof glass in street cars. Of course it is a process of adaption. I am not sure how the get a driver out if the car turns upside down. I think you can remove the hinges from the outside or something like that. Whatever, I am certain there is a way of doing it. And let's face it. A racecar with a small radius canopy will never lay completely centered when it rolls over. It will always turn to one side. So while driver extraction in an emergency certainly is something to keep in mind I don't see it as the argument against canopies.

 

[robnitro]

Why not just cover the wheels too and make it match a better sport, like Lemans/proto series Haha

 

[Stogie]

How many Indy drivers die a year?

 

[wombat999]

How many Indy drivers die a year?

One would be one too many!
I dislike the current solution intensely, and I'm certain a much neater solution is available.
However, this series is far more dangerous than EffWun and despite my annoyance on the continual quest for 'safety' in ALL forms of motor racing, I can remember the deaths of CART drivers like Greg Moore and Jeff Krosnov vividly.

 

[Knoxstar]

As a lover of history in sports I'll take you back to the era in hockey before the full mask, before the half mask and before the helmet. Very few players played with their sticks up knowing the kind of damage it could do. While still a very physical sport, it has become (with safer equipment allegedly) a much more brutal sport. Players feel safer and have less respect for other players because they have the same protection. Go ahead and watch some clips from the past and present.
How does this relate? Racing when the cars were dangerous was more respectful out of necessity. Have a look and see if drivers swerved to point of running their competitor off the road. They didn't. If someone was faster or got the jump on you, you let them go and worked to re-pass them later....to live for another day. Drivers feel safer now and take massive risks with their rivals. F1 cannot afford this and Indycar with its high speed ovals is worse. I won't watch an oval race live anymore. Not even the Indy 500. If I don't see breaking news of a massive crash and death, then I watch it. I understand the world we live in makes a windscreen like this an advancement in safety. But will it end up like hockey and give drivers a false sense of security. It would have saved one life at Pocono but it would not have done a thing for Robert Wickens.
The best direction to take for safety in motorsports and particularly open wheel is to penalize the daylights out of drivers who take big risks and cause accidents or run others off the road or into a wall.

 

[ohyeah2389]

It's... ok, but I think it looks a bit too tall.

 

[Dux]

Looking from the thumbnail image, thought it was some simracing car

 

[samcar304]

So I should stop riding motorcycles then?

Did i say that? No, but I assume you wear a Helmet? which is for minimising risk and injury. Same thing. But if you don't wear a helmet good luck and I hope you stay lucky.

 

[protonv5]

Did i say that? No, but I assume you wear a Helmet? which is for minimising risk and injury. Same thing. But if you don't wear a helmet good luck and I hope you stay lucky.

Huh. Your comments are bizarre and bereft of any knowledge.
Thanks for 'hoping I stay lucky'. What a stupid comment.
I do wear a helmet. Just like the IndyCar drivers do. But that's not enough for you apparently. This is my point.
If it's all about staying safe and making it home to ones' family as you say, then perhaps we are better off not racing. And perhaps I'm better off not riding a motorcycle. If not, then we should just keep adding safety features to remove as much risk as possible. This is your argument. If you really believed this yourself, which you don't, then you and all in your family would wear 5 point harnesses and helmets when you go to the grocery store in your car. I could also put a massive inflatable balloon around my bike when I ride. You know. Just in case.
I say we put a 4 inch thick steel plank on top of IndyCars, the full length of the car. You know. Just in case the news helicopter lands on someone's car mid-race. Because you just never know. It's all about safety and making it home.

 

[protonv5]

As a lover of history in sports I'll take you back to the era in hockey before the full mask, before the half mask and before the helmet. Very few players played with their sticks up knowing the kind of damage it could do. While still a very physical sport, it has become (with safer equipment allegedly) a much more brutal sport. Players feel safer and have less respect for other players because they have the same protection. Go ahead and watch some clips from the past and present.
How does this relate? Racing when the cars were dangerous was more respectful out of necessity. Have a look and see if drivers swerved to point of running their competitor off the road. They didn't. If someone was faster or got the jump on you, you let them go and worked to re-pass them later....to live for another day. Drivers feel safer now and take massive risks with their rivals. F1 cannot afford this and Indycar with its high speed ovals is worse. I won't watch an oval race live anymore. Not even the Indy 500. If I don't see breaking news of a massive crash and death, then I watch it. I understand the world we live in makes a windscreen like this an advancement in safety. But will it end up like hockey and give drivers a false sense of security. It would have saved one life at Pocono but it would not have done a thing for Robert Wickens.
The best direction to take for safety in motorsports and particularly open wheel is to penalize the daylights out of drivers who take big risks and cause accidents or run others off the road or into a wall.

Agreed

 

[samcar304]

Huh. Your comments are bizarre and bereft of any knowledge.
Thanks for 'hoping I stay lucky'. What a stupid comment.
I do wear a helmet. Just like the IndyCar drivers do. But that's not enough for you apparently. This is my point.
If it's all about staying safe and making it home to ones' family as you say, then perhaps we are better off not racing. And perhaps I'm better off not riding a motorcycle. If not, then we should just keep adding safety features to remove as much risk as possible. This is your argument. If you really believed this yourself, which you don't, then you and all in your family would wear 5 point harnesses and helmets when you go to the grocery store in your car. I could also put a massive inflatable balloon around my bike when I ride. You know. Just in case.
I say we put a 4 inch thick steel plank on top of IndyCars, the full length of the car. You know. Just in case the news helicopter lands on someone's car mid-race. Because you just never know. It's all about safety and making it home.

I'm just gonna leave it from here, Its obvious i'm not gonna agree with your point and you won't with mine. Fun discussion and an interesting one regardless of interpretations. Have a nice day.

 

[Angeltheartist]

look like a Star Wars X wing fighter with wheels.

 

[Ryan Soucy]

Knock the lights off and the wheel fairings and race THESE already. Jeebuz, people would love it...

 

[aka2k]

They should apply a roof on those cars and call it a day instead of keeping butchering them.

 

[MetalMania]

Wow. I love Indy Car racing, and really like how they look with the current aero kit... but this is hard to love from an aesthetic perspective. I actually like the Halo better. Woof - just give them F-16 style bubble cockpits with a protective frame underneath. If it really works and saves even one life then fine... but I really hope I get used to it because this looks bad.

Sports car racing has become my favorite in recent years. Every car in the field looks GREAT.