 Tomorrow at the Museum of Art in Indianapolis IndyCar's CEO Randy Bernard will unveil the Iconic Committee's selection of IndyCar's 'Future Car Strategy'. The committee's final vote takes place tomorrow morning just before the event at the Museum of Art. It's said there will be a hologram with the new car rising out of the current car, but more than that none of the contending car builders and designers know anything about their chances.
"We will not vote on the final decision until that day," Bernard said last week at Watkins Glen. "So anyone who tells you they know the answer are lying through their teeth. I promise that. I don't want anyone knowing. We'll vote on that day. At this point, no chassis has been ruled out."
At the Glen I talked with this year's five Izod IndyCar championship contenders about what they would like to see from the new car and engine. Championship leader Will Power reminisced about his trips as a kid to Surfers Paradise from his home in nearby Toowoomba and said he would love to see a return to more horsepower like CART's Indy cars turned out a decade ago.
"They've got to have 750 horsepower plus," Power remarked. "That'll make the racing better because it'll be harder to drive and the cars will look more spectacular. More horsepower will also mean the tires will go off which makes them more spectacular. I remember when I was a kid going to the Surfers race when they had 900 horsepower and the ground would rumble. It was unbelievable and it just looked and sounded fast. They revved to 17,000 rpm. It sounded awesome.
"That's what they need," Power added. "It's like when you go to a drag race. When they put 6,000 horsepower or whatever they make to the ground, it just shakes the ground. It's spectacular. So there are so many good reasons to have a lot of horsepower on the road courses." Read more (gordonkirby.com)
If you enjoy Gordon's articles, please check out his work in his following list of books, most recently 'Thanks' with Rick Mears. Also be sure to read his articles as the US Editor in Motorsport magazine, and blogs at http://www.motorsportmagazine.co.uk/
- The Art of Motor Racing with Emerson Fittipaldi, Nutmeg Productions, 1987
- Unser--An American Family Portrait, Anlon Press, 1988
- Bobby Rahal--The Graceful Champion, David Bull Publishing, 1999
- Greg Moore--A Legacy of Spirit (with Dan Proudfoot and Jim Taylor), Whitecap Books, 2000
- Mario Andretti: A Driving Passion, David Bull Publishing, 2001, winner of the 2002 Motor Press Guild Dean Batchelor award, and the 2002 Independent Publishers Book Award in the sports/recreation division
- A Winning Adventure, Honda's Ten Years in CART, co-authored with John Oreovicz, David Bull Publishing, 2003
- Rick Mears-Thanks' the story of Rick Mears and the Mears Gang published by Crash Media Group/Autocourse in May, 2008
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