Indycar aeroscreen well received

“NO GAME-STOPPERS” WAS THE PHRASE used by Scott Dixon and echoed by Indycar director of engineering and safety Jeff Horton after the first test of Indycar’s aeroscreen, which has now become ‘windscreen’ in Indycar parlance.

Following simulator tests by 2014 Indy Lights champion Gabby Chaves, the device was trialled on track for the first time at the newly renamed ISM Raceway in Phoenix last Thursday. The #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara-honda was the first car to have it fitted and Dixon lapped the 1.022mile course in 4.30pm sunlight, then dusk and finally darkness, trying to replicate the various lighting conditions that will be encountered by drivers once – if – the screen becomes standard.

Dixon said the Ppg-built device – made of a proprietary Opticor advanced-transparency material as used in its production of fighter-jet canopies – felt “different” and there was a very slight magnification but no distortion. In fact the four-time champion was generally positive, but noted the two major side-effects that couldn’t have been confirmed in a sim.

“The weirdest thing is how quiet it is,” he said. “You have no buffeting, the car feels very smooth, it feels like you’re in a luxury car. But… we need some cooling, just because you get no airflow through the car. Kudos to [Indycar and PPG], but there’s definitely things that we can improve on and make better.”

Horton agreed, telling Autosport: “The screen prevents the airflow hitting the helmet, so it was really quiet, but it could get very hot in the cockpit. We understood that from the CFD studies we’d done – and we also understand there will be helmet buffeting at some of the faster tracks like Indy because there’s no air on the face of the helmet. So we may have to pump some air into the cockpit to fix that. This is a prototype screen so PPG hasn’t created a final mould for it yet. Scott picked out a little area of focus change, really minor, and we are sure that will go away when PPG make the final piece for us.

Horton told Autosport he hopes to run a screen-equipped car in a one-off session on a street track this year. He also said that tear-offs will be applied to the screen to deal with debris-induced abrasions, and that rain-repellent coatings and speed will disperse rain water.

The other major talking point at the two-day Open Test was how the cars behaved with Dallara’s new spec aerokit. Manufacturer testing had been carried out at ISM last autumn, by Team Penske and Ed Carpenter Racing for Chevrolet, and by Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Ganassi for Honda, but for the majority this was the first time with the new kit on a short oval.

Despite this, the only incidents of note were a spin and wall-nudge for Dixon and four(!) wall-brushes by AJ Foyt Racing rookie Matheus Leist. Thanks to the vast reduction in downforce, drivers are having to lift the throttle and change down a gear at Turn 1, even when running alone, and on older tyres were lifting for Turn 3.

Marco Andretti, who was fastest of the Andretti Autosport quartet, said: “I really struggled [before]. You were either slammed with downforce or it snapped. With this thing, it’s on the edge the entire time but there’s some predictability you get from it, you feel it more.

If I had to pick one, I would prefer this.”

But the most eloquent demonstration of how different these cars are to drive came in bald figures. Chris Simmons, Dixon’s race engineer, revealed that in qualifying at Phoenix in 2017, his driver hit 197.2mph on the straights, with a minimum apex speed of 185.5. Last Friday, on a qualifying simulation (low fuel, new tyres, no draft), Dixon was reaching 196 on the straights but had to accelerate from a turn speed of 175.5.