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Radoye

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Aeroscreen era launches at COTA open test

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Image Joe Skibinski / IndyCar

 

By: Marshall Pruett | 4 hours ago

 

 

It was almost one year ago to the day when the NTT IndyCar Series told its drivers a custom aeroscreen would be designed and introduced for the 2020 season.

 

With 25 cars in attendance carrying the Red Bull Advanced Technologies-designed driver safety device for this week’s open test at Circuit of The Americas, the intensive efforts to mass produce and install the multi-purpose driver protection unit has met its desired outcome. And, with rain in the forecast for the test, drivers will have plenty of chances to offer feedback on its functionality with visibility and cockpit cooling during the four long sessions at COTA.

 

“We’ve done over 1500 laps and 2000 miles of testing with the aeroscreen so far,” IndyCar president Jay Frye told RACER. “It overwhelmingly passed our tests, and now it’s the teams who will carry it forward. We’ll learn more here at COTA. And if anything jumps out to implement before our first race at St. Petersburg, we have time to investigate and see what we can do.”

 

Frye praised the partners involved with supplying the field with aeroscreens in time for the February 11-12 Open Test visit to Texas.

 

“It wasn’t easy, but full credit to Red Bull and its Advanced Technologies team for making this come together quickly and smoothly,” he said. “And Pankl, which makes the frame; PPG, which make the screen; and Dallara, which make the mounting points on the chassis. It was truly a collaborative effort where all the partners worked together to get us to where we are.”

 

During Monday’s media day in Austin, Carlin Racing driver Max Chilton told those in attendance that IndyCar was prepared to remove the aeroscreens and let the field run without them in conditions where visibility was poor. Frye disputed the claim.

 

“Is it possible to race without it?” he said. “Yes, it’s possible, because it detaches; but no, there’s no intention to race without it. It’s meant to be a total driver safety solution with it married together with the car.”

 

 

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Cold start for COTA Open Test

1018011422-lat-20200211-lepage-200211-co Image by LePage/LAT
 

By: Mark Glendenning | 15 minutes ago

 

 

IndyCar’s first full-field session for the 2020 season turned into a parade of woolly hats and gloves at COTA, where the morning period of the first day of the Open Test was flagged due to poor conditions.

 

Forecasts of rain proved accurate, but it was cold temperatures that denied the series a first chance to give the new aeroscreens a multi-car test run. A combined track and ambient temperature of 100 degrees is broadly-accepted benchmark for the lower end of the tires’ operating window, but three-quarters of an hour after the track went green, the thermometer was still showing an ambient temperature of 44, and a track temperature of 45.

 

Only three drivers – Josef Newgarden (photo above), Max Chilton and Sebastien Bourdais – made any attempt to complete a lap, and while Newgarden’s 2m42.6005s stood as the best, it was still almost a full minute shy of Will Power’s pole time from last year. His cockpit camera during that lap – a whirl of busy hands – told the story.

 

“I didn’t have any issues with the aeroscreen, it was the temperature,” Newgarden said. “It’s a little cold for us. They told me to go one time by, and I just about wrecked the car six times.”

 

Outside of those three, Power, Oliver Askew, Felipe Nasr and Scott McLaughlin ventured out for installation laps before deciding that there was nothing to gain from staying out.

 

It’s currently unclear whether conditions will improve sufficiently to allow for any running this afternoon.

 

 

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The IndyCar field will have to wait until tomorrow to do any meaningful running after the first day of the Open Test at COTA was brought to an early end by bad weather.

 

After an abbreviated morning session produced just 10 laps between seven drivers due to the cold temperatures, the green flag time for the afternoon segment was pushed back in the hope of finding a better window of weather. But only a handful of cars tiptoed around during an initial 10 minute exploratory period, and the decision was made to call it a day.

 

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Ja sam lociraT u Kanadi, pratim na NBC sta oni prenose na TV (otprilike pola sezone), trku u Torontu gledam na licu mesta a ostalo lovim strimove.

 

Taj dan kad je Njugardenov onbord radjen vozeno je sveukupno samo par krugova, temperatura je bila preniska (6-7 stepeni celzijusovih) pa gume nisu radile, zato se i klize toliko. Vremena od juce su skoro 40 sekundi bolja od onog prekjuce.

 

Ovo je prvi zvanicni test svih timova zajedno, a bila su do sada dva na Sebringu jedan u decembru i jedan u januaru gde je samo par bolida vozilo (pored ovih obaveznih za sve testova Indikar ima i nekoliko termina po izboru - svaki tim ima odredjeni broj dana u godini za solo testiranje, pa mogu da koriste te datume za to).

Kompletni rezultati od juce:

 

https://racerdigital.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/indycar-results-pcomb-p3.pdf

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Komentari vozaca na novi kokpit:

 

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Marcus Ericsson: “It was the first time for me with the aeroscreen in IndyCar. It was a new experience. I think it worked really well and did what it should do. There were no issues whatsoever driving with it.

 

“Obviously, it feels a bit different compared to when there is nothing there, but you quickly get used to it. I think INDYCAR has done a really good job there to implement it on all cars for this test – it’s very impressive! I look forward to continuing with it.”

 

Felix Rosenqvist: “I think mainly the Aeroscreen worked really well. In terms of cooling, it was better than expected. Also, visibility was really good. The only thing was when the sun got low there was a lot of glare going on, which will be something to look at.

 

“We have to see what the other IndyCar drivers’ feedback will be. I think honestly the biggest difference is the way it affects the car handling in terms of weight and aerodynamics. Otherwise, it was a really smooth day.”

 

Charlie Kimball: “I think there are still some cooling issues to work through. It is not particularly warm today but at the same time, I didn’t have any vision issues and it’s a lot quieter in the car. There is a lot less wind noise, and I think the radio is clearer.

 

“So if we can figure out how to stay cool on a really hot day we’ll be in good shape. Even with the puddles and the dirt and all the other stuff that’s been on the Aeroscreen, I haven’t felt like I lost any significant vision in the IndyCar.”

 

Takuma Sato: “The experience was very interesting and quite cool actually but very different from anything I drove before. It was a lot quieter with no air moving inside the cockpit. Overall, I think it is very positive. I felt really safe and protected. The visibility is better than I expected.”

 

Graham Rahal: “So far, so good. The Aeroscreen has been no issue. Little bit warmer on the car but not too bad. Visibility is great. I followed someone through a puddle and actually a ton of water came up on the Aeroscreen and it dissipated immediately. Better, better than what we would have experienced honestly before this.”

 

Zach Veach: “Honestly, I think the first real test day with the Aeroscreen was a complete success. The cooling was adequate for the conditions – and a little too good for as cool as it is. I think we’re going to be in good shape when we get to St. Pete for Rd 1 of IndyCar and it’s hotter. We got to run in the rain, and I had no visual issues with the Aeroscreen at all. As different as it is for the car look, I was very happy with what I saw from the cockpit.”

 

Sebastien Bourdais: “No particular complaints at all, you just have to get accustomed to the new environment. We ran somewhat in the wet, a tiny bit, (there were) projections dirtying up the screen when you follow someone, but it seemed under control, so no major complaints. Obviously, it is very cold, so it was actually not a bad thing that it was warmer than usual inside the car.”

 

Will Power: “I really wish someone ran in the wet-wet so we could know where all the water gets in [with the leak]. We already saw areas where the water was getting in. Seems like it needs a lip around the top because water drips in as you drive.

 

“The windscreen is great. It just clears. So, yeah, that’s sort of the things we were trying to find out. You don’t even recognize the screen. As soon as you’re out there, you’re focused on way up there, not right here.”

 

Patricio O’Ward: “I was pretty impressed with it honestly because it’s a first try. It is an add-on to the car. It’s not like it’s built into it. It was done very well. I think it was done the best way it could have been done.

 

“I’m excited to see whenever the new car comes out how it really incorporates into a car that’s developed around the aero screen or with the aero screen. But I think safety-wise obviously it’s going to be safer.

 

“Not that it’s such an issue, but we’ll definitely feel quite a bit of difference whenever it’s hot and humid because it is quite hard to get air into the area we’re at to circulate. We have to be going quite a bit faster to really feel anything.

 

“Usually the sensation when you lift your visor and you’re sweating, you would lift it to clear out the sweat or something. It didn’t seem to be the case when I tested in Sebring. There’s going to be some things we’re going to have to work through. I think as a first try, it was pretty remarkable.”

 

Max Chilton: “I’m a big advocate of it. We just looked like sore thumb out there. I would have been happy with just the halo, but it’s nice that IndyCar went the next step.”

 

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