One of the greatest strengths of V8 engines, compared to regular car engines, is their special packaging. When the engine is fully dressed, it assumes a cubic shape, allowing the engine to fit in perfectly to rear-wheel drive vehicles, and even to some FWD vehicles. Compared to an inline four that comes with the same single cylinder bore spacing, the V8 is slightly longer, but much shorter to an inline-six. V8 engine’s short length puts its center of gravity behind the car’s front axle. This in turn helps improve car handling while allowing the car’s hood to slope at the front, boosting aerodynamics. Aerodynamics is vital is Indy cars since this help drivers to put their cars to top speed.

V8 engine’s short length, meanwhile, offers Indy car’s a packaging advantage in comparison to an inline-six or a V12 engine. This is simply because of the fact that V8 engines are the smallest type of car engine featuring first and second order balance that permit large car engine displacements. High engine displacements can assist the car to generate high power-to-weight ratios. Despite this, the V8 engine is still more compact when compared to the V12 that also provide about the same amount of displacement. Moreover, V8 engines are much cheaper to produce compared to other engine types.

Although V8 engines is cheaper than the V12, a V12 featuring the same overall displacement is capable of generating more power in the expense of an added weight and size. Because of this, there are some Indy Car manufacturers that make use of supercharged V8 engines in order to achieve V12’s superb engine performance, but retain the V8 engine’s small size and fuel economy.

The V8 engine’s compact size allows it to be front mounted, but still installed at the back of the front axle. V8 engine remains as the popular choice for Indy Cars and other race cars. This is mainly because of its advantageous small size and light engine weight. The car can benefit from a lighter engine without compromising power output. The engine’s smooth running characteristic is considered by many as an asset while the unique exhaust sound it creates provide complexity and is essential to the performance of the car’s exhaust system.

For the upcoming 2012 Indy Season, it has been reported that a new engine plan will be introduced. Indy cars that will race next year will carry the 2.2L V6 turbocharged engine configuration. This engine is specially tuned to generate around 550-700Hp and would come with a 12,000 RPM limit. The new V6 engines are said to run on E85 fuel, which will replace the fuel grade ethanol being used in the Indy series from 2007 to 2011. The new engine will also have a ‘push to pass’ feature which will allow it to limit its power gain up to 100 horsepower.

However, a lawsuit regarding the “IndyCar” trademark surfaced but was fortunately amicably settled in December 1996 in an off-court arrangement. No one knew about the full terms of the agreements between CART and George’s group but it was notable that the former did not use the “IndyCar”.

IDL’s first race schedules were made up of three races that included the Indy 500 but many of the race car drivers, at the time, were on the verge of retirement or the so-called “unknowns”. A new race season which was composed of 10 rounds began on August 18, 1996 and ended on October 11, 1997. Tony Stewart was the champion of this race and had stirred up a little controversy because he just won a single round all throughout the competition.

IRL acquired its own cars in 1997, and these were run by production-based, methanol burning, 4.0 liter V8 normal aspirated engines manufactured by Oldsmobile and Nissan. On the other hand, the chassis were distributed by Dallara, Panoz and Riley & Scott.

In 1997, Davy Jones was injured and Kenny Brack from Sweden replaced him. Brack was able to snatch the IRL championship the following year. It can be remembered that Tony George had criticized CART for allowing plenty of foreign drivers to race in CART but around these times, IRL was already recruiting a lot of non-US drivers for top teams. The list of foreign drivers included France’s Stephan Gregoire, Brazil’s Raul Boesel and Marco Greco, and Denmark’s Arie Luyendyk.

From 2000 to 2003, the engine formula was changed to a 3.5 L format. This required a drop in the production-based feature. For the 2003 season, IRL adopted the name Indy Car Series. There were several significant changes in the race season too—former CART teams competed in the race, Toyota and Honda replaced Infiniti in distributing engines and most of IRL’s veteran racers experienced some difficulty in competing with the manufacturer-driven race.

Aerodynamics: Indy cars have put great emphasis on aerodynamics. Aero drag is vital when it comes to racing speeds since this help Indy cars to run on top speed. Because of this, aerodynamics has been the main focus of Indy car makers. This is evidenced by the steam age stream-lining found in Ray Harroun’s Marmon Wasp (1911 model). Before aerodynamics was only applied in racing cars, but today even regular cars employ aerodynamics to maximize the car’s fuel efficiency by cheating the wind. Car models, like the Honda CR-Z and Toyota Prius, now take advantage of a better understanding of aerodynamics to help provide car users with better fuel economy.

Front Wheel Drive: In 1924, Miller racing cars, which feature engines that sat infront of the car, have successfully won Indy 500 races using front wheel drive. Front wheel drive designs allowed Miller racing cars to offer better stability especially when driving in slippery road conditions. The extra road grip offered by FWD provided racers with greater racing advantage.

Rear View Mirror: Back in the year 1911, it was a common practice for every Indy race car to bring a co-pilot in the car, aside from the driver. The co-pilot is tasked to provide warning to the race driver. However, Ray Harroun didn’t see the benefit of carrying the extra weight in the car. So, he fitted is 1911 Marmon Wasp, with what is considered as the very first model of the rear view mirror. Though, at the time, many believed that this was a dumb and unsafe move, not long after, racers follow suit and so does the car industry.

Four Wheel Hydraulic Breaks: During the first 2 decades in the car industry, automobiles only use breaks on two wheels. At the time, the break system of cars is believed to be purely mechanical. Compared to street drivers, race car drivers have high demands for their breaks. Because of this, in 1921, the first advancement in car breaks has been introduced by Duesenberg Motor Company. During this year, a race car fitted with hydraulic brakes at all four wheels was introduced for the first-time.

Other Indy car technology that is now being employed in the cars we used today include seatbelts, turbo engine, crash data recorders, all-wheel drive and turbo charging.

Dario Franchitti

He is known to be one of the Indy drivers with the most intense personality. Born in the 19th of May in 1973, Dario is a Scotsman coming from an Italian heritage. He started his Indy Racing career on the 26th of May in 2002. Meanwhile, Dario earned his first racing victory in the 25th of July in 2004. However, he got his first big racing break when he competed in the early 1990s as part of the team of a the famous Formula 1 driver Jackie Stewart.

Will Power

At the young age of six, the young Will started racing with go-karts. And it was not until the year 2000, when he realized that he wanted to pursue a career in professional racing. Power began his career by joining the Formula Ford State Series, where he earned the title for the Queensland State Championship. When his racing success started to grew, Will decided to move to England where he competed for the British F3 and World Series. In 2008, Will debuted at the IndyCar Series. In 2010, Power had five victories, earned eight poles, and took home the Mario Andretti Road Championship trophy.

Scott Dixon

Scott was born in Australia but carries a New Zealand citizenship. Dixon won for the first time when he was 13 years old and took home the title for the New Zealand Formula Vee Championship, where he was given a special license to compete. Scott won his first Indy Car series race during the 2003 season opener. He was placed third on the 2010 IZOD Indy Car Series race and was able to record three victories on the same year. With an impressive racing record, Dixon has the potential to become the top Indy Car driver in the upcoming 2012 season.

Takuma Sato

Takuma is the only Japanese who competed full time in the Indy Car Series 2011. With Sato’s incredible racing skills, he progressed quickly in the ranks that landed him to join the Indy Car Series race in 2010. Sato had his first Indy Car Series appearance on the 14th of March in 2010 at the race track of Sao Paolo in Brazil. Meanwhile, he won his first pole on June 24th of this year at Iowa Speedway. Finishing 21st in the 2010 IZOD Indy Car Series Standings, Takuma Sato definitely has the makings of a great Indy car racer.

New Indy Car Chassis Design

Once the new ICONIC rules have been implemented, Indy race car teams will have to comply with the new chassis design. All cars that will race in the Indy competition need to be fitted with the core rolling chassis, which is technically referred as the ‘IndyCar Safety Cell’. The new chassis design was developed by Dallara, who is an Italian designer. Apart from the new chassis design, Indy Car teams also need to outfit their car with what is called as Aero Kits – a separate body work – consisting of sidepods, front and rear wings, as well as engine cowlings. Tony Purnell, one of ICONIC committee members, has provided open invitation to various car manufacturers, including GE and Lockheed Martin, to manufacture these kits. It is said that the kits will be available to all Indy Car teams at a maximum price.

The new IndyCar Safety Cell is set to be assembled in Speedway, Indiana at the new facility owned by Dallara (the designer of the new chassis). The chassis is said to carry a selling price of $349,000, while the Aero Kits will carry a price tag of $70,000. While individual prices for the chassis and aero kits can be quite hefty, Indy Car teams are given the option to purchase a complete Dallara IndyCar Safety Cell and Aerokit at a more reasonable price.

Dallara previewed the first concept Indy race cars on the 12th of May 2011, which carry a full Aero Kit configuration. While most IndyCar owners welcomed the new chassis design, they voted 15-0 in favor of delaying the use of multiple Aero Kits in the 2012 Indy Car season, with expensive cost as the cited reason.

The IndyCar Committee corroborated on the 14th of August of this year that the introduction of the multiple Aero Kits has been pushed to 2013, mainly because of economic reasons. Lotus and Chevrolet, meanwhile, has expressed their intention to manufacture the Aero Kits.

Indy Car Engine Upgrade

Another significant change to Indy Cars will be focused on their engines. Indy race cars on the coming 2012 season will be equipped with 2.2 L V6turbocharged engines, which are specifically tuned to generate 500-700 hp and will run on E85 fuel. The change in the engine formula of Indy cars, which will be implemented on 2012, will limit horsepower car gain to up to 100hp.