Radical DeltaWing rocket-shaped car proposed to revitalise IndyCar

Gizmag.com ^ | 2/11/10 | Loz Blain

[Reaganesque]

Two of four submissions have now been unveiled by the companies wishing to produce the next generation of IndyCar open-wheel racers, and the most recent one is one of the most fascinating looking racecars we've ever seen. The DeltaWing submission is a radical departure from traditional open-wheeler design - in fact, the only thing you could really compare it to is the bizarre lovechild of a drag racer and a Batmobile. With its comically narrow rocketship front end, broad rear end and narrow tyres, the DeltaWing aims to outperform the current crop of IndyCars for significantly less money, while delivering extraordinary efficiency gains and leaving a clear airstream for following cars, in order to promote close racing and overtaking. But is the public ready for a car that looks... so little like a car?

IndyCar racing is a close-fought and exciting spectacle, tailor-made for the American TV audience with its combination of oval tracks and road racing. In recent years, it has become pretty much a one-make series - Honda engines in a Dallara chassis - and while the Dallara gear has been successful, IndyCar's organizers are looking for a way to move forward in a way that promotes closer racing and technological development.

The Dallara chassis looks a lot like a Formula One car - open wheelers with big, flat wings at front and rear - and it's this aerodynamic configuration that has been proving problematic of late, as it has in Formula One. Because the cars rely on such massive downforce from their front and rear wing spoilers for cornering traction, a car that's following behind another car is at a severe disadvantage because it's traveling in a turbulent airstream that's been disturbed by the car in front. Overtaking becomes more difficult and the racing becomes less fun and compelling to watch.

The new machines need to help bring costs down too - in the aftermath of the global financial meltdown, there's not as much money going around to spend on things like racing, so the series is hoping to find a local American manufacturer that can bring entry costs down and encourage more teams to participate.

On top of that, the new designs are being evaluated on their safety, light weight, modern look, green credentials, sponsorship logo area and their ability to outperform the current generation's laptimes despite a drop from 3.5 liter engines to 2.0 liter engines. Quite an ask.

The DeltaWing solution

Through 2009, a group of IndyCar team owners collaborated on a secret project to develop a prototype racer for the next generation of cars. The team surfaced publicly in December last year, and yesterday revealed their radical proposal for the IndyCars of tomorrow.

The DeltaWing solution is a wild-looking machine that pushes the boundaries of what you'd call an 'open-wheeler' to concentrate on massive aerodynamic drag reduction.

For starters, the wheels are almost fully enclosed - as much a safety feature as a drag consideration, when you think about how close IndyCar racing can get and how often wheel entanglements can send one car or the other airborne.

The front of the car is incredibly narrow, the wheels only 24 inches apart leading a spaceship-style fuselage that swoops back toward the cockpit. The rear of the car becomes gradually wider toward the rear wheels, which are 70 inches apart, and the rear wing spoiler has been ditched in favor of a vertical tail fin, helping to stabilise the car and prevent high-speed spinouts. The vast majority of downforce is produced by the ground effect underbody, which sucks the car down onto the track while producing a negligible wake - trailing cars should find it much easier to overtake.

Crucially, the car will weigh only half of what the current generation IndyCar weighs, and will produce only half the aerodynamic drag. This means it should be able to reach similar top speeds, around 240mph (386kmh), but with substantially smaller engines and getting somewhere near double the fuel efficiency.

Teams should be able to buy the car, complete with engine, for around US$600,000 - and it will be manufactured in America by various parts suppliers and constructors, keeping transport costs to a minimum.

Dallara's competing design has already been shown - a fairly conservative reworking of the current IndyCar shape, but it's still going to be Italian-made, which will go down as a point against it as the IndyCar organisation considers proposals over the next few months.

The drivers seem to like the idea of it, and in addition to appearing to meet all the criteria, the DeltaWing is also the only one of the four entries to have produced a full-size demonstration model. So it's in with a good chance. We'd love to see one driven in anger - it's certainly the most radical and remarkable racecar shape we've seen proposed for a major code.

[Niteranger68]

This is Brian France quality stupidity!

[reagan_fanatic]

Yuck. Gives new meaning to the term Fugly.

[LasVegasMac]

Not a Nascar, more like, “something wicked this way comes!”...wow!

[Red Badger]

Unless they can rub the wheels fast enough to create ignition, yes............

[Reaganesque]

From the article..."The front of the car is incredibly narrow, the wheels only 24 inches apart leading a spaceship-style fuselage that swoops back toward the cockpit. The rear of the car becomes gradually wider toward the rear wheels, which are 70 inches apart, and the rear wing spoiler has been ditched in favor of a vertical tail fin, helping to stabilise the car and prevent high-speed spinouts. The vast majority of downforce is produced by the ground effect underbody, which sucks the car down onto the track while producing a negligible wake - trailing cars should find it much easier to overtake.

[uglybiker]

That car doesn't have enough wood in it!

[Red Badger]

...The vast majority of downforce is produced by the ground effect underbody, which sucks the car down onto the track while producing a negligible wake...

Why don't they do this on ordinary cars?.............

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Pretty soon you’ll be saying “That’s sick” as our California teenagers do.

[popdonnelly]

It resembles two Land Speed Record cars from the 1960’s - the Summers’ Brothers Goldenrod in the front, and Breedlove’s Spirit of America from the windscreen back. So it should be fast in a straight line. When wind is blowing across the track, as it does at Indianapolis, that rear fin would be detrimental. It also produces unnecessary drag. As do those sidepods. But as a styling exercise, it does look cool.

[Eye of Unk]

I would like to try a theory of aeronautical principles of creating an artificial "supercavitaion" of the surface area immediately in front of a vehicle, possible utilizing sonic wave emitters set at a certain frequency to create a dead air space. Bicyclists have reached over 100 mph by being in the slipstream behind a railway passenger coach decades ago, and of course we all know what "drafting" is in Nascar. The latest high speed underwater missile/torpedoes use the effect of turning the area ahead into steam to reduce the effects of drag. In theory air molecules could be "shoved" aside like a wedge by sound.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Let them race.

Let the faster car (over a 500 mile race) win. (Hint: if the “newer” car really is fast, really does save fuel, then it can gain miles while the other car is in the pits, even if it is slightly slower. If not, so be it.

[ecomcon]

Complete and utter total disaster. Nothing at all indicating that there may be an internal combustion engine powering the thing. I suppose that is the point.

I long for the old days when there were many different builders and cars.

Green credentials huh? BARF. Perhaps you can cap and trade seconds off your lap time if you have X number of solar cells. Or if you don’t spin the tires the entire race, or for not making “jackrabbit starts”. What, now even MOTOR racing has to appeal to women?

I wouldn’t watch that global citizen crap for anything.

Supposed to be the Indianapolis 500.

As in almost everything, excessive rules and regulations makes for boredom and destroys the spirit of adventure and achievement.

[camle]

it’s OK to disagree, but I really doubt that the ‘stabilizer fin” will be enough to counterweigh the torque of that thing going into a corner at 200+mph. centrifugal force would be a lot.

I bet the design doesn’t make it, unless there is supposed to be a cap on speed.

people who have driven trikes and sidecar-equipped bikes are familiar with the cornering concept. whilst this thing is much more stable, the concept remains, force is force, and the car will want to roll.

[Reaganesque]

Makes sense to me.

[Red Badger]

B-b-but that wouldn't be faaaair......................./whiney liberal voice

[Robert A Cook PE]

...The vast majority of downforce is produced by the ground effect underbody, which sucks the car down onto the track while producing a negligible wake...

Why don't they do this on ordinary cars?.............

Ordinary car does NOT need hundreds of pounds of downforce to hold the road while cornering. the extra downforce increases rolling resistance (just like adding weight does) to increase tire hold force.

Regular car turning at regular (less than 80 mph) speeds on regular roads doesn't need the extra drag. But a regular car DOES need the inches of ground clearance to get over potholes and store entrance ramps and up and down parking lots. Give a ground effects car ground clearance and you lose ground effects.

[biff]

The differentials will have computer controlled traction that will apply proportionaly (left/right) torque in order to negotiate turns. F1 has this system now.

The guy that designed this thing has a long successful race car design history. Amoung his best was the 2002 or 2003 Lola for the CART.

Way far out and maybe before its time. I personally prefer a V8 turbo’d motor screaming at 17,000 rpm. CART, 1995.

[RobRoy]

Fins are back. Cool. :)

[Upstate NY Guy]

Way wicked cool. Automotive beauty. This design should allow for pretty good maneuverability at high speeds. Would love to watch these race at 240 mph - screaming engines, weaving cars, smoking tires...awesome!

[Wings-n-Wind]

Been done.... ROFL....

Old news.....

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Humor only.... have a great day!