It seems the age of modern open cockpit race cars will soon join NASCAR pit stops and car magazines on the rack at your local stores. Mike Hull of Chip Ganassi Racing released these two photos on his Twitter (@IndyMHull) showing for the first time a 2020 IndyCar Aero Screen equipped car.
This is obviously a move made to protect drivers. F1 has their halo system and the Indy guys have been working on their own solution. This is it. We’re all for keeping the drivers safe and we can’t really find an argument against this move by the series. Like all things for 2020, the world of racing is changing.
What’s your take on the look, on the tech, and on the evolution of Indy Car to be an effectively closed cockpit racing series. Yeah, we know there’s a hole up top but compared to what it was before, this is a major change.
One thing that is really interesting is that drivers in this series normally sell personal sponsorships on their helmets. Welp, as you can see, there’s not a lot of visibility there anymore. We’re guessing in-car cameras will help some of that but we’ll be interested to see how this effects the drivers and their ability to make more cash. Also, we’ll see who complains first.
There you have it. Give us your take!
Here are the first two photos from Chip Ganassi’s team
Much nicer than the formula 1 solution.
Open wheel cars are slowly but surely becoming taxi cabs.
What’s worse is the bumper bars along the sides. Looks like what you see on your local go kart rental track.
Aren’t these guys supposed to be the best open wheel drivers? Didn’t they graduate from bumper cars along time ago?
That\’s part of the floor which generates a large part of the down force. It\’s extended on the sides to protect the side pods. Pretty straightforward.
Ya good fer steppin up on with the cowboy boots to get in. Need sum mud flaps too.
AHHHGREEED!
Wow that’s ugly. I’d rather see an enclosed cockpit open wheeled car than that
Just get it over with and put the fenders on. In the name of safety of course
Trying to eliminate danger from a dangerous sport.
Why not just use a DSR canopy?
I agree with that concept.
I\’m not a fan of the nerf bars but I love the canopy! Looks MUCH better than the F1 Halo! I\’m sure Justin Wilson would approve
I’m all for safety. But damb the indy cars keep getting uglier by the year.
“In this world there is always danger for those who are afraid of it.”
– George Bernard Shaw
I don\’t like the look either. I like the F1 Halo better. But if this is safer. Well worth it. 6 races in and I will forget about it. And it will seem normal. You can\’t see the helmet sponsors past 50 mph anyway. Just for tv when they are in the pits
ADD safety shield, Add Kers recovery, phase out IC in favor of electric, nobody watches because it is no harder than going to the local electric cart track
Dem Nerf Bars look like what I got on my Dodge Ram
Fugly….but still far cooler than anything in asscar.
Yeah next year they’ll put blinkers on!
On the other hand it opens the door for new jobs. An indy car personal glass wiper. Hey it’s better than a cock pit cleaner!
Meh…
One of the most engaging aspects of motorsports is the DIFFERENCE between cars, not the sameness. I don’t think I watched more than 20 laps of IndyCar (other than Indy) this past years. Spec cars, spec engines, spec drivers. I’ll pass and watch more MAV TV sprint car shows.