Hope? Good news? Dallara IL-15

[Wheel-Nut]

Maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

http://motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com/2014/05/22/the-new-dallara-il-15-indy-lights-chassis-is-officially-revealed-at-ims/

http://motorsportstalk.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/dallara-il-15-3.jpg?w=600&h=350

[Rus'L]

Maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

http://motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com/2014/05/22/the-new-dallara-il-15-indy-lights-chassis-is-officially-revealed-at-ims/

http://motorsportstalk.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/dallara-il-15-3.jpg?w=600&h=350

Looks a hell of a lot better than an Indy car.

They will get more fans than the IRL.

Perhaps the way to save the sport is to put Dan Andersen in charge of Indy car...

[Al Czervik]

Did Dallara lose their first race 'by a nose'? There's got to be about 2' of extra ugly on the front of that thing! Like all things H-G related, it is half-assed and poorly executed.

[NismoZ]

Well, whaddaya know! Finally! It's that "Super-Atlantic" I longed for here all those years ago. A 450+ hp turbo-4 Swift/AER Mazda is what I had envisioned (those are very Swift-like sidepods, though) but the worry was it'd be faster than the Indy Cars! I wonder how they justify a car that isn't "safe"-looking, like the one Dario drove last season? I guess the kids coming up the ladder have to EARN the right to have one when they get to the bigs. Still using Coopers, though.

[chop456]

Did Dallara lose their first race 'by a nose'? There's got to be about 2' of extra ugly on the front of that thing! Like all things H-G related, it is half-assed and poorly executed.

Exactly. It's like they finished the whole car except for the nose and said "Know what? It's not nearly stupid-looking enough. Throw a couple more feet of front end on there to be sure the whole thing's unbalanced."

Must suck to be Swift or anyone else capable of building actual race cars.

[G.]

Looks 4000% better than the DW.


The nose uses the concept of the "lever". Need more down-force? Use a longer lever! Slap a barndoor on it for grater d-f!


It's all very scientifical.

(Maybe even 5000% better-looking)

[Andrew Longman]

Sadly I think the idea is mostly just that.

They can get more downforce with less wing angle and drag by hanging it out front through the lever physics. On ovals I guess that's the idea.

OTOH CART rules allowed for more downforce with less drag through the tunnels and under tray. On speedways the wings were hardly big enough to notice.

But this new car does not assault my eyes

[Chief]

Can someone explain Dallara's obsession with naked undertrays? Isn't deformable sidepod structure a good thing?

No air box, no stupid bumpers. Thats why it looks good. I hope they dont screwup the front wing like on the clown car.

http://motorsportstalk.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/dallara-il-15-5.jpg

[stroker]

Maybe I'm blind, but WHOSE "4-cylinder" engine are they using?

[G.]

Maybe I'm blind, but WHOSE "4-cylinder" engine are they using?

Advanced Engine Research - AER

It's apparently homegrown.

I'm confused, though, the Mindy presser says the AER-P63, but an earlier release says the AER-P07. Nov. announcement (http://motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com/2013/11/26/aer-picked-as-indy-lights-engine-supplier-from-2015/)


This version of the engine, the AER-P07, will produce up to 450 horsepower and an additional power-to-pass boost, like its IndyCar brethren, available for driver control.

But the P-07 is the LMP2 engine.
http://www.aerltd.com/products.html

Did they detune the P07 and call it a P-63?






The potential, too, exists for the engine to be open to badging from interested manufacturers per a RACER report. At the moment though, this is an AER through and through.Of course it's available...

[opinionated ow]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Dallara make some excellent racecars. Much as I hate the concept of GP2 & GP3 those cars are very good as are the Renault World Series 3.5 car.

In terms of competitive cars, their Formula 3 cars are so good that few others can get a look in. Aside from a few wins by Mygale I don't think anybody else has one a race in the last 10 years.

This, like their Indycar, would have been built to a brief given by IRL or whatever they call themselves these days...lay the blame at their feet.

[Gnam]

I can picture some Indycar executive taking the pencil out of a Dallara engineer"s hand and redrawing a longer nose while babbling on about branding. "It needs to be more Indy..."

It really is a good metaphor for the flawed organization that built it. Great parts and talent cannot overcome a poor design.

I'm not surprised they got the nose wrong. I'm shocked the rest of the car looks decent.

[G.]

Not to defend anyone, but didn't Dallara claim that they were shocked that the IRL kept the demo bodywork for the DW-12?


Maybe I'm just having a hard time accepting that a seemingly intelligent company could design something so stupid-looking, except as concepts. Concept cars (and high-fashion, I guess) are the opportunity to be silly. I don't think Dallara expected the IRL to say "OK".



(Pontiac Aztec offered as the exception example, of course.)