IndyCars: Worse, to worser?

Back to the old cars?

Sometimes you can’t catch a break.  Instead of concluding its season with an exciting shootout at Las Vegas, IndyCars endured the tragedy of Dan Wheldon’s fatal accident.  Amid reports that the 2012 car is plagued by serious problems, the IndyCar Series this week announced the departure of Brian Barnhart as Race Director.  To make matters worse, stalwart team Newman-Haas has closed up shop.

For those who haven’t followed (and we can’t blame you for turning away), Barnhart was hired by Tony George prior to the unification of Champ Cars and the IRL.  Universally reviled for a series of questionable decisions, pressure mounted on series honcho Randy Bernard to show Barnhardt the door.

Quietly, it was assumed by many that Barnhart would be relieved, but not during the season.   Randy Bernard is not that kind of manager.  Finally, the die was cast earlier this week, much to the relief of teams, drivers and critics in the press.  Let’s hope for consistent officiating that makes sense to the drivers, teams and fans.

Even with one problem solved, Marshall Pruett of SpeedTV.com has just published his detailed analysis of significant teething problems with the new car.  The car apparently has a mind of its own, with scary oversteer when it enters a corner at Indy, and fence-worthy understeer when exiting a corner.  The car is almost 20 mph slower than Alex Tagliani’s pole-winning speed at Indy last May.  We’re not experts, but we’re pretty sure no one asked Dallara for “slower”.

One longtime IndyCar engineer interviewed by Pruett lays the problems at the doorstep of Dallara, the Italian chassis-builder.  Like its lamented (read: piece of crap) HRT F1 car, Dallara has employed a significant amount of CFD (computational fluid dynamics) design.  CFD produces great results on a computer but correlating those in the real world is no mean feat.  And from what we’ve read, Dallara flunked.  This, mind you, was a car that was meant to save money and make the racing safer and more exciting at the same time.

We don’t even know where to begin.  The new car was supposed to energize the series, but everyone who has driven it says “pig” would be a compliment.  The cause of Wheldon’s death is under investigation, but there’s been precious little news on that front for at least two months.  A storied team like Newman-Haas can’t find any sponsors.

At least the much-despised Barnhart is gone, which is one good sign.  Plus,  TV ratings increased 10 percent, another positive in a series struggling to find them.

But it’s going to be a long winter folks.

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