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BimBo29
champcarnut
Joined: 04 Aug 2007
Posts: 2070
Location: Riverdale, Hell's Kitchen, Greenwich Village, Lower Eastside, Astoria, Flushing, Jones Beach, etc.
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Ruhiat.Ari
champcarguru
Joined: 27 Oct 2005
Posts: 1605
Location: Virginia Beach
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 Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:42 am Post subject: |
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| SPEEDtv wrote: |
The 2012 Lola
Lola Cars unveiled the final 2012 IndyCar chassis today, completing an array of cars proposed by Dallara, Swift, and Delta Wing. Bearing strong visual cues to the modern generation of cars fielded in ChampCar and the IndyCar Series, Lola's proposal is unique in that the carbon fiber IndyCar tub and nose could also be used in Indy Lights, provided the series adopts the design.
Lola's 2012 design solutions offer ChampCar-esque visual cues as seen here, and one that looks similar to the current naturally-aspirated IndyCar with a larger engine cover. (Lola Cars)
While costs for the IndyCar/Lights package were not provided, Lola did follow the theme of expressing a desire to have the proposed 2012 car build in America. The Italian Dallara firm made the same overtures in their 2012 reveal on February 5th. Swift, based in California, and Delta Wing, based in Indianapolis, would produce their cars domestically, provided their designs are ratified.
Lola's release touched on a number of items that the legendary British constructor feels will make their design a leading candidate for 2012:
Delivering advanced technology and capturing the legendary IndyCar spirit with practical affordability, Lola USA today announce additional detail and present the first images of the proposed Lola B12/00 and B12/01 IndyCars for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series.
The 'total solution' package will deliver two attractive and aero performance balanced racecars that will deliver a return to close and gladiatorial racing. Safety, efficiency, styling and affordability have been at the forefront of the Lola special projects team that have been working on this project throughout 2009 to date.
At the heart of Lola's proposal is the dual body style concept developed extensively by Lola engineers. This work has already received very positive comments from the IndyCar fan fraternity. This concept will give exciting visual variety to the IZOD IndyCar grid and stimulate teams, drivers and fans alike.
The two styles highlighted in the image will be performance matched but use the same common chassis. Parity in aero performance will be maintained across the ride height range to ensure that no advantage is gained by either kit. Both styles of cars can be raced without technical advantage and with different engines. Common parts throughout will enable teams to switch upper surface styles should they choose to do so.
The Lola chassis for IndyCar will achieve cohesion by being eligible for the Firestone Indy Lights Championship. This will in essence mean that Indy Lights teams will be able to graduate more cost effectively to the IZOD Indycar Series and teams will find it more commercially attractive to enter cars in each series and to entice new entries in to competition.
In addition, the ease of changing the car specifications from one series to the other will ensure high quality and full entries for the Indy 500.
Central to Lola's extensive aerodynamic research has been the necessity to guarantee close and exciting racing. Wheel to wheel duels on the variety of circuits that the IZOD Indycar Series races on will become the norm rather than the exception.
Focusing on the rear under-body of the Lola Indycar, designers have found a cost effective and simple breakthrough to ensure that there is a minimum wake for following car. This means that drafting and slipstreaming will be in the drivers own hands rather than that of the aerodynamics itself.
In Lola's twin-use scenario, the blue areas (tub and nose) would be universal between the IndyCar and Indy Light series. (Lola Cars)
As well as releasing more technical detail Lola today also confirm that they will be selecting a new assembly facility in the USA. Discussions with US business partners for component supply are at an advanced level. Lola are mindful of supporting as many existing US jobs as can be achieved through this opportunity.
Lola have been working with and commissioned high-tech universities to work on environmentally sustainable materials and other green technologies. Maximum effort will also be utilised by Lola engineers to ensure that minimum energy is lost by the racecars when on track.
For Lola it is imperative that fans enjoy the cars and a great racing spectacle at trackside and on TV," said Lola Executive Chairman, Martin Birrane.
"Lola have endeavored to capture the great spirit and heritage of IndyCar racing in its thorough commercial and engineering studies. With its vast experience in producing powerful single seaters Lola are proud to be considered as a partner in writing the next chapter for the IndyCar nation." |
Looks pretty cool, hope Lola will win the contract.  
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Mospeada
champcarguru
Joined: 31 Jul 2004
Posts: 1584
Location: near the fence, on the other side...
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| Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 4:20 pm Post subject: |
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The Lola looks like more of the same. Sure, its a good looking OW car, light years ahead of the crap-wagon they have now, but it's indistinguishable from most of the other series. I suppose if you subscribe to the notion that Indycars need to look different, that matters. I'm not sure I do, the cars certainly don't need to look different for me, but would setting Indycars apart from F1, GP2, etc attract more fans?
Mos
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BimBo29
champcarnut
Joined: 04 Aug 2007
Posts: 2070
Location: Riverdale, Hell's Kitchen, Greenwich Village, Lower Eastside, Astoria, Flushing, Jones Beach, etc.
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Ligier_AL
champcarguru
Joined: 16 May 2006
Posts: 1912
Location: Mid-West
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| Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 2:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Racecar-Engineering wrote: |
Fifth firm to reveal Indycar 2012 concept next week
Bruce Ashmore, Alan Mertens and Tim Wardrop develop 'safest' design yet
Three Indianapolis 500 winning designers have joined forces in a bid to become the next IndyCar chassis supplier. The BAT project, named after its three principals, Bruce Ashmore, Alan Mertens and Tim Wardrop, combines not only tremendous experience but also an initiative to rebuild the racecar industry of Indiana.
If it is successful in its bid, the firm will design and build the entire car within a 30-mile radius of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, using American labour.
BAT's initial move was to meet with Indianapolis surgeon, Dr Terry Trammell and IndyCar's Safety and Technical Directors, Jeff Horton and Les Mactaggart. This enabled them to establish the safety features of the design, in particular the cockpit and driver position. The goal has been to combine the safest cockpit available while at the same time positioning the driver in such a way that he can drive the car in a more aggressive fashion.
Full details of the design have yet to be announced. However, it is known to feature the strength to sustain minor knocks and stable aerodynamics to allow the cars to run closer together. The wheels are protected from interlocking although it still retains the coke bottle aero shape to the side pods. The airflow path is directed underneath the rear decking and towards the centre of the car, therefore assisting overtaking. The downforce is generated more from the stable centre body profiles rather than the turbulent sensitive front and rear wings of current open wheel designs.
The BAT team already has a complete drawing office using the latest in CAD and CFD software. An agreement has been reached with ChassisSim, which has developed a user friendly Adams type modelling simulation program so that all aspects of the car design are said to have been covered.
The team is also working on a further plan to expand the racecar industry that once thrived in the area, which arguably gives it an edge over its California, Italy and UK-based rivals who have also said that they will bring work to Indiana.
Over a 16-year period Ashmore, Mertens and Wardrop were among the most influential of IndyCar designers. Mertens was Chief Designer at March during the years when it won five consecutive Indianapolis 500s and two IndyCar championships. He left to form his own company, Galmer Engineering and was again successful at the Indianapolis 500, once more winning the race in 1992. As Chief Designer at Lola, Ashmore was responsible for four consecutive IndyCar championships as well as the 1990 Indianapolis winning car. The latter has been described as possibly the most efficient IndyCar design to date. He went on to become President of Reynard North America during a time when Reynard captured the 1995 and 1996 Indianapolis 500 and dominated the CART series. Wardrop assisted with the initial design of the Galmer G92, developed the first two generations of the G-Force, which won at Indianapolis in 1997 and 1999, and went on to work with many race teams on car setup. He still holds the record and the setup parameters for the fastest lap that has been turned at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The skills of Mertens and Ashmore are said to be complimentary, the former being best known for his mechanical design ability, the latter for his aero work. |
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/cars/443787/fifth-firm-to-reveal-indycar-2012-concept-next-week.html
Should be interesting.
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Ruhiat.Ari
champcarguru
Joined: 27 Oct 2005
Posts: 1605
Location: Virginia Beach
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| Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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| SPEEDtv wrote: |
BAT Unveils 2012 Car
Three of the most successful designers in recent IndyCar history have joined forces, and will look to return to the winners circle at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with an innovative new IndyCar design once again starting in 2012.
The BAT fits somewhere between radical and conventional amongst the 2012 IndyCar that have been unveiled so far. (BAT)
Bruce Ashmore, Alan Mertens and Tim Wardrop announced on Friday the formation of BAT Engineering (Bruce, Alan, Tim) and will be submitting a comprehensive proposal to the Indy Racing League as the next chapter in IndyCar racing is being written.
The BAT proposal focuses not only on creating a dynamic new competitive platform for the IndyCar Series, but it also brings an extensive plan for job creation in Indiana.
The three designers, each of which have been part of milk-drinking outings at the Indianapolis 500, bring experience, innovation, and extensive research to the process. The opportunity to develop a clean-sheet design was one that all three principals found too exciting to pass up.
The next IndyCar design will bring the next chapter in the sports history by providing a safer environment for the drivers, delivering a compelling on-track racing product for the fans, and pushing the sport forward through a concentration on clean aerodynamics and high-efficiency energy use.
The BAT Engineering design has not only produced a very fast car, but it also provides the strength and structure to allow the drivers to race hard and go wheel to wheel without ending their race early. This close racing and the durability of the car design, will add to the on-track spectacle and competitive format with more entries making the dash to the checkered flag.
IndyCar is well positioned to introduce a new product and take full advantage of the exciting new shows that the BAT Engineering project car will promote.
The BAT Engineering entry is the right car to help this process, and will serve as the catalyst for re-energizing the motorsports industry that surrounds the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The new design proposal will create new opportunity for the region through the design, build, and support of the next generation IndyCar. BAT Engineering's proposal will best address each of these targets as the team puts their technical capabilities, years of experience, and design innovation on display once again.
Following meetings with renowned Indianapolis surgeon, Dr. Terry Trammell and IndyCar's Safety and Technical Directors, Jeff Horton and Les Mactaggart to ensure maximum safety, BAT Engineering started the design process with a core consideration-driver safety.
With the very latest in Computer Aided Design and Computational Fluid Dynamics software to develop the shape and aerodynamics of the new race car, BAT Engineering is putting technology on their side for the design, and the firm has also made agreements with various software and simulations companies to most efficiently manage the modeling and pre-build testing of the entry long before it hits the pavement.
BAT's bid is based on a program that would see the design entirely built within a 30-mile radius of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, using highly skilled American labor. Further details of the concept, which features strength, protected wheels and stable aerodynamics to ensure close racing, will be announced in the near future. |
So now we have a fifth car design for Barnfart to play with... either we are idiots or Barnfart will make idiots out of us.
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BimBo29
champcarnut
Joined: 04 Aug 2007
Posts: 2070
Location: Riverdale, Hell's Kitchen, Greenwich Village, Lower Eastside, Astoria, Flushing, Jones Beach, etc.
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KarnEvil9
champcarguru
Joined: 25 Oct 2004
Posts: 1805
Location: Brain Salad Surgery at Fillmore East in NYC
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| Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:38 am Post subject: |
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| Autosport wrote: |
Lola: Single make still best for Indy
By Matt Beer
Lola has warned that maintaining a single chassis supplier is the only cost-effective option for the next generation IndyCar Series chassis.
The Huntingdon firm is one of five contenders for the 2012 IndyCar deal, along with Swift, Dallara and new firms BAT and DeltaWing. The latter has made reintroducing multiple chassis builders a key part of its bid, declaring that its design is a rules concept that other companies can build.
But Lola's head of special project Peter McCool said that while his company would love a return to the level of chassis competition it enjoyed in Champ Car's heyday, it did not believe such a situation was sustainable now.
"Intense competition and battles with other constructors is a fantastic spectacle and a rich environment for our engineers to be in," McCool said. "However it is not conducive to keeping cost down. Which has been one key criteria.
"The R&D alone is cost prohibitive and at present it would be counter productive for the IndyCar series. This is exactly why the dual body style Lola IndyCars will short cut a great deal of the concerns of the series.
"A return to multi-chassis grids may well be one option in stronger economic times. If the landscape is right then Lola in terms of the engineering challenge would enjoy this environment."
Lola's proposal instead features two alternative body styles for teams to choose, which will be performance balanced.
"The main reason for choosing one Lola bodywork configuration over the other would be a preference for the visual variety," McCool explained.
"How it will work practically is that Lola will match the configurations in the windtunnel across the entire ride height range to ensure parity.
"It is most probable that the teams' engineers will try very hard to get an advantage from one kit or the other, but there will be means of policing that action.
"Lola has also designed a series of sized and configured aero blockers for the underbody that can be stipulated at a particular race venue. These will have the purpose of varying the downforce where required, but also ensure that one design does not gain an advantage over the other."
Another central element of the Lola concept is that the same basic chassis would be used for both IndyCar and feeder category Indy Lights, which McCool reckons could be the key to increasing grid sizes.
"The common chassis idea was creative thinking at Lola and generates a cost effective solution in the current economic climate and secondly in trying to assist the teams in terms of pragmatic racing in two series that run on the same bill," he said.
"The crossover when you look hard at it helps both series and will encourage new teams to enter both IRL and Indy Lights. Above all it will ensure over subscribed Indy 500 grids come May."
Lola also hopes its design would provide significantly better racing via an underbody and rear end design that aims to eliminate turbulent wakes, and that it would offer a significant step forward in safety. |
Have a feeling that LOLA will win these sweepstakes - they have the best idea behind the concept and great looks as well.
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Ligier_AL
champcarguru
Joined: 16 May 2006
Posts: 1912
Location: Mid-West
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| Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:57 am Post subject: |
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| Autoextremist wrote: |
Inside word from the IndyCar talks suggests that a decision on a fundamental engine architecture is close. No one has revealed as of yet whether we're talking a 4-cylinder turbo, a turbocharged V6 or a small turbo V8, but one piece of information that's emerging is that the discussions have moved to the point where a common engine architecture is close to being agreed upon. By the sounds of it this would mean a "spec" engine is imminent, which would mean the same-old, "business as usual" type of scenario, but that wouldn't be accurate in this case.
The fundamental difference emerging from these latest discussions is that even though there might be a common bottom end to the engines, the induction/fuel-injection systems would be "free" and left up to the participating manufacturers' own designs. This would encourage more manufacturer involvement - meaning more teams, sponsors and bigger fields - which is something that everyone involved in the discussions wants. It would also mean that IndyCar's biggest event - the Indianapolis 500 - would become a prime target once again for manufacturers wanting to make promotional hay about winning the sport's greatest single race.
This emerging new engine scenario has already piqued the interest of several new manufacturers who haven't been on the rumor radar screens of late as companies interested in participating in IndyCar. As a matter of fact this may change everything, with as many as a half-dozen manufacturers now eager to play, given the direction of the new rules.
But there could be potentially more to this new engine scenario too. Much more. What if the new IndyCar engine design package also became eligible for use in the American Le Mans Series' LMP1 class? Wouldn't it then make sense for manufacturers participating in IndyCar to amortize the costs of their involvement across more than one series, with the technical transference aspect - the overriding raison d'etre of the ALMS - becoming even more attractive?
I would hope that the powers that be in IndyCar finalize this new engine package asap, because without it I can see the day when Indy-style racing might disappear altogether. And I would also hope that the ALMS and the ACO take a long, hard look at this new IndyCar engine package when it emerges.
Because it has the potential to be the lifeblood of their series as well. |
http://www.autoextremist.com/fumes1/
But first another engine manufacturer needs to step in the series and it won't happen unless they go to a L4 engine.
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