Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers might be despatched to mailbag@racer.com. We love listening to your feedback and opinions, however letters that embody a query usually tend to be revealed. Questions acquired after 3pm ET every Monday will likely be saved for the next week.
Q: I simply examine Ford joining the WEC, which is fairly superior. I’m excited to look at that. However I’m severely involved about the way forward for IndyCar. It nonetheless appears no different producer desires something to do with the sequence, and there isn’t a brand new chassis coming till 2027. Is that sufficient? The Indy 500 was once the one factor that introduced producers (I’m pondering the Buick/Menard within the Eighties and ’90s in addition to the Mercedes 209 in 1994) to the forefront of motorsport. What’s the attract of IndyCar with its constitution system and spec chassis? What incentive does IndyCar give to a producer’s ROI if it’s strictly a spec sequence?
Kris, Kokomo, IN
MARSHALL PRUETT: Not a lot I can add to the dialog that I haven’t added 100 instances or extra since Lotus left after its disastrous single-season of engine provide in 2012.
Solely merchandise to tune up, probably, is we are able to’t dangle this one on Penske Leisure as being at fault. Penske’s owned the sequence for 5 racing seasons — about to develop into his sixth — and IndyCar’s lack of ability to obtain a 3rd or fourth producer is 12 seasons previous and about to develop into 13 seasons as soon as St. Pete will get below method. The Hulman George household bore large duty for that, and IndyCar CEO — now twin IndyCar and Penske Leisure CEO — Mark Miles who was introduced in by the household and has been in that place since late 2012, which covers your complete two-manufacturer span.
That covers off the previous and 2025 (and 2026, which is claimed to be the final yr for the present automobile and engine method). What issues is what occurs with TV rankings, viewers development and positive factors in youthful followers in 2025, as a result of that’s what new and potential producers will likely be watching to resolve whether or not they wish to begin getting motors prepared to affix in 2027 below no matter engine method is ratified.
So, sure, complete mess from 2013-24 when it comes to touchdown a 3rd. However the hand-wringing is over. What issues is the positive factors Penske Leisure makes this yr to indicate its sequence is price main funding from the auto business.
And a ultimate notice: It additionally must get each of its present producers to agree to remain. Chevy looks like a lock, contemplating Penske’s ties in making Chevy’s motors by the Ilmor Engineering agency he co-founded and co-owns. Honda? Wait and see.
Q: I used to be at this yr’s Daytona 24 Hours and I had an exquisite expertise. Through the evening I noticed the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Porsche spin after it appeared to blow a tire exiting NASCAR Flip 2. That incident had me pondering, and after digesting some video highlights of the race, it appeared to me there have been plenty of tire and suspension failures from what I’ve seen in Daytona races previous.
What points did Michelin come throughout over the course of the race? Had been there some suspension set-ups the groups have been utilizing that might trigger the tire failures like those we noticed?
Brandon Karsten
MP: I don’t recall any developments in tire or suspension failures from the race that led me to assume there was a problem with the tire distributors or suspensions as a complete. Groups don’t share setups, in order that’s arduous to reply, however there was new curbing on the Le Mans Chicane (aka the Bus Cease) which might have had an opposed impact for many who have been overly aggressive in driving over them. Additionally, a tire puncture from particles is a reasonably widespread factor in endurance racing; plenty of hours so plenty of elevated odds of it occurring.
Three producers. Ah, the great previous days. F. Peirce Williams/Motorsport Photographs
Q: This query comes from earlier than your time, however I’ll wager Large Possum remembers when tire firms (and I don’t recall if it was Goodyear or Firestone) would run advertisements bragging that their tires simply lasted 500 miles at Indy or Daytona or wherever.
How a lot quicker may they’ve been with present tire compounds? Why don’t organizations require more durable compounds so they’d be extra sturdy, and in addition get rid of or cut back marbles, which could make higher racing with extra passing choices?
John, sadly, in Illinois
MP: How a lot quicker would previous tires be in the event that they have been new tires? My mind is confused on that one.
Laborious tires present restricted grip, which tends to make for horrible racing, until you want actually lengthy brake zones, and plenty of coasting by corners as a substitute of accelerating, and ready till the automobile is pointed straight after the nook to hit the throttle. Drag racing, mainly.
Goodyear, Firestone, Michelin and Pirelli can all make arduous tires that final endlessly and solid few marbles. After which we’d all be complaining about how the racing sucks as a result of no person might move. For those who’re in search of an instance, discover the Iowa Speedway IndyCar doubleheaders from final yr and watch and see how lengthy it takes earlier than you go to sleep. I used to be there and wanted three cups of espresso to maintain from loud night breathing.
Q: With the unbelievable development in IMSA from each a producer and fan perspective, the one factor lacking is extra races on the schedule. The present schedule has such massive gaps it’s straightforward to lose fan curiosity. Have there been any rumblings about including races at among the nice venues like Mid-Ohio and COTA?
Joe Hartsel
MP: There haven’t. It’s simply a completely completely different type of racing the place its endurance underpinnings is the present. Take your 17 IndyCar races, all of which final just below two hours (Indy is the exception). That’s 34 hours for these 16, races. IMSA tops that after its first two races — the Rolex 24 and Sebring’s 12 Hours — with 36 hours of motion. And that’s nothing new.
I don’t disagree; I’d like to see it up round 15 or 16, up from the 11 it’s run for a short time now, however the prices to race for twenty-four hours, and 12, and 6 at Watkins Glen and Indy, and 10 to shut the season at Petit Le Mans add as much as a fortune, plus the 2 100-minute road races and the remaining that are 2h40m.
In Europe, IMSA’s counterpart on the WEC, which has an identical scenario — it holds simply eight races, together with the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The European Le Mans Sequence does six races.
If issues proceed to prosper for IMSA and its producers and groups wish to do it, I’d like to see one thing that bridges the six weeks between Daytona and Sebring. No less than for comparisons, IMSA does have an extended season to take pleasure in with its first race in January and final in October. IndyCar’s first is in March, and has a steadier frequency till its final in August.
