Danica and Marco Weigh in On the Putrid Ovalation

Race.com -- and you should all be like the pdog and immediately subscribe to Racer Magazine -- just shot me a link to a story on Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick's thoughts on the state of oval-ation in IndyCar.

It seems Racer has asked Danica "What Would Danica Think" would fix oval racing. The good news about Richmond's putrid affront to all that is oval is that it has people making suggestions for improvements.

Sure, some of those suggestions will be WACK, but that's fine. When it comes to ideas to fix things, quantity leads to quality.

Read Racer's most excellent story on Marco and Danica HERE.

Comments

[Sam Prest]

I think I'm missing something here. The problem is that when a fast driver comes up on a slow driver, they can't pass. So how will increasing downforce help this situation? The league has decided to do this already, and Marco says in this interview that "we need bigger wings for running in traffic". That would work if only the following car had bigger wings, but if you give both cars more downforce, there will be a larger wake created by each car, and relative performance when following someone will be further reduced.

Marco continues with the suggestion that more power would help, because it would create a larger difference between minimum corner speed and maximum straightaway speed. This makes sense, and I agree it would improve the racing. But couldn't this also be achieved by reducing downforce? The best solution is probably a combination of both.

To me it is clear that downforce is the bain of passing. Take a look at F1 vs. MotoGP for a clear example.

[pressdog]

I have no knowledge in the world of downforce. Seems the goal is to be able to make cars more able to handle turbulent air so they can approach and pass other cars. It also seems to me F1 tried to approach this with smaller wings and the famous diffuser. But, again, I'm not the expert.

[AZZO45]

Young Marco confuses me... he wants BIGGER wings when F1 just REDUCED their rear wing to promote PASSING!!! Also dumped the lil' aero bits & winglets that had covered the cars for the last decade

More HP might have Marco pleading for BIGGER wings ...as he has been the poster boy for some of the biggest OMG Wrecks with the current "under-powered" Indycar!!! :) :) :)

[H. B. Donnelly]

Sam, I think the idea behind the downforce is to give the cars more grip in the higher groove. The bigger hole in the air will, I suppose, let the following car catch up better on the straights. Of course, if the tires are still too soft, there will still be insan-o-marbles on the track...

I say we just have a spec series of Kurtis-Offys. THAT would be fun to watch.

[Mike Rice]

Wings make downforce and create ‘aero drag’ in the process. That makes a car both quicker in the corners (cause it’s stuck to the track better) and slower in a straight line (because again, the wings create drag).

Reducing downforce creates a faster straight-line speed and a slower cornering speed. Recall the phrase "trimmed out." It refers to the optimum trade off of increased straight-line speed (by reducing downforce, equaling less drag) and cornering stability/speed still being good. So yeah, reducing downforce puts more emphasis on a driver's skill since they have to negotiate a corner at competitive speed using car-control without the aid of that same aerodynamic downforce we’ve reduced/removed.

Wings become the device that a driver is largely depending on to keep his/her car "stuck". Having airflow to a car interfered with by a car in front of it, is going to upset a driver's ability in the following car to maintain speed in a corner. They can't get close enough to make a pass. The aero grip they depend on is too screwed up to go faster through a corner than the car in front of ‘em, so they can’t get closer to the car in front of 'em. Having equal engines means they don't have any power advantage, so they have no means to pull alongside and pass.

Dramatically decrease (or take away) the wings and cars will be able to race more closely through corners, without a huge disruption to the driver's ability to keep the car where they want it. A lack of aero-aided grip will emphasize a driver's car-control. The difference will show: the best drivers will be fastest, slower drivers will be slower, and there will be no loss of a car's cornering capability by running close together…so they’ll still be able to maintain what they do, faster or slower, based on their skill.

Watch a Sprint Car or a Midget race…the real ones, without wings. They run side-by-side, high, low, passing and re-passing, trying different lines, etc. Car control is premium. The driver can make the difference. That kind of emphasis on a driver's control of a car is what will bring Indy cars back to 'good racing'. The question is, can the fans still ‘get-off’ on racing if lap speeds are going to be reduced by 30+ mph in qualifying? Do you want to see a good race, or higher speeds?

[Sue]

My vote is for good racing. If all I want to see is high speed, I'll watch the land speed runs at Bonneville.