Sebastien Bourdais, Coyne, IndyCar, Sonoma, 2018

Pictures: More of 2018’s new IndyCars in action

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IndyCar’s eye-pleasing new cars were in action again yesterday as several more teams tested at the Sonoma circuit in California.

Sebastien Bourdais showed off a new livery on his Coyne machine (top picture) while the Carpenter team also have a new look for the upcoming season.

IndyCar is due to conduct the first track test of a windscreen designed to enhance driver safety on Thursday at Phoenix.

Ed Carpenter Racing, IndyCar, Sonoma, 2018
Ed Carpenter Racing, IndyCar, Sonoma, 2018
Simon Pagenaud, Penske, IndyCar, Sonoma, 2018
Simon Pagenaud, Penske, IndyCar, Sonoma, 2018
Spencer Pigot, Carpenter, IndyCar, Sonoma, 2018
Spencer Pigot, Carpenter, IndyCar, Sonoma, 2018

See more pictures of the 2018 IndyCar field in action:

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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43 comments on “Pictures: More of 2018’s new IndyCars in action”

  1. Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
    6th February 2018, 10:35

    Proper Indy Cars.

    1. Agreed! Testing from Phoenix to be live streamed Friday and Saturday.
      http://www.racer.com/indycar/item/147244-indycar-phoenix-test-to-be-live-streamed

  2. Those cars do look elegant, quite a cohesive design.
    Modern F1 cars on the other hand, with all those aero flicks and appendages, look busy and somewhat ugly at times. It’s kind of like the extreme case of form following function.

    1. F1 is All about form following function. Within the limitations of the rules.
      Indy Car is all about a standardized chassis and aero kit (a rig that you buy like every one else) that was designed to “look” like it is fast and OOooooo so cutting edge.
      Yes F1 cars do look really bad at times, but under that skin you know that the designers have sacrificed looks for speed. Just that of late, the rules keep getting in the way of both aesthetics and speed.
      No auto manufacturer’s it would seem in Indy beyond the engines. Just waiting for the no. 26 Wonder Bread car.

      1. He said just after F1 agreed to “sponsor friendly” body work.

        Guess it’s not all based on speed now, is it?

      2. NS Biker

        Indy Car is all about a standardized chassis and aero kit (a rig that you buy like every one else) that was designed to “look” like it is fast and OOooooo so cutting edge.

        No, it was designed to be fast with good looks in mind. Just like pretty much everything in the world we live in. This makes it so much better than F1 cars, which are vomitted out by the engineers with no thought about their aesthetics. There’s been more thought put into the aesthetics of my fridge, my remote control, hell – even my toilet seat, than the ugly F1 cars that are meant to be… watched after all. This is pathetic.

        And 1 thing you missed – IndyCars are the 2nd fastest racing cars in the world. If that’s not fast then nothing is fast.

        Yes F1 cars do look really bad at times, but under that skin you know that the designers have sacrificed looks for speed.

        They didn’t sacrifice looks, because they never think about the looks to begin with. Well, they used to do (as admitted by the engineers) – go back to the mindblowingly beautiful Brabhams of 1980’s.
        They spend millions of dollars on details that don’t make any difference to the sport, but can’t make this 1 fundamental thing better. That’s awful.

        1. Do you really care what the cars look like?

          I have never cared what F1 cars look like, just like I do not care what military aircraft actually look like. The Hawker Hunter is a stunning aircraft to look at, the spitfire is a thing of beauty but I would much rather be in a modern military aircraft when I need to fight…

          They are primarily designed to go very fast. If they happen to look good in doing so then that is a bonus not a requirement.

      3. Oh the irony. The new generation of Formula 1 cars were designed to look more aggressive. Look at the angled rear endplate. Form over function. I wouldn’t go blindly criticising other formulae if you haven’t checked the fundamental regulatory philosophy of the series you’re defending.

        Looking forward to watching IndyCar this year!

  3. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    6th February 2018, 11:27

    Well it’s official, for the first time ever another tier of motorsport has overtook F1 for me. So excited for the Indycar season to start. Whereas I’ve not really found myself following the F1 news the same anymore.

    1. Do they still disallow changing direction AT ALL if you have a car behind you?
      Because I saw that a few years back and I was like “screw this noise, I want racing”.

      1. If I understood correctly, they are perfectly allowed one move to cover the inside. They just have to do it before the other car dives, they can’t block in reaction to the other car’s move. Which I found very sensible, easier and less subject to interpretation that the F1 rules (some of which aren’t even to be found).

        1. That’s literally how F1 works. You can’t block a driver, and you can’t crowd them out of the track.
          What I saw in Indicar was someone being penalized for changing their position on the track (from right to left), BEFORE the other car was alongside him. This was on an exit of a corner.
          It was pathetic.

      2. Blocking is definitely allowed. What you were referring to was a rule about 7 or 8 years ago where the race director said “imagine a white line on the track” that you were not allowed to deviate from.

  4. It’s really nice to see the name Fittipaldi progressing on the formulas.

    1. Isn’t it!
      It’s the 3rd generation of Fittipaldis, just like Marco is the 3rd generation of Andrettis.

      Is there any other family like that in motorsport? And I mean a family of F1/IndyCar/major racing series winners.

      Damon Hill’s son quit racing 5 years ago, so we were close with that one.

      1. Brabham? Sir Jack then Geoff and now Matthew.

  5. F1 teams really need to start taking a page out of the American book of liveries.

    1. Another thing – look how rich and varied in colours the entire field is. We’ve got:
      – all green
      – all yellow
      – all grey
      – black-white
      – black-white-cyan
      – blue-red-white
      – black-yellow + touch of red

      1. Exactly my first thought too!
        Oh! Green! Black! Red white and blue!* A yellow one (with a shark painted on!!). (* why on earth is the hass F1 car corporate grey and not a crazy star spangled affair!?)
        If motor racing cannot appeal to the gleeful giddy kid within then it has disappeared too far up its own exhaust to be any fun…

      2. Also: winter testing. This is what F1 should be doing right now…
        I must say that I’m really excited about the upcoming Indycar season. The F1 season…meh.

      3. Unfortunately the variety in liveries is a result of the financial realities Indycar is and has been dealing with for the last decade or so. The teams for the most part can’t attract enough sponsorship to run a single paint scheme for the entire season, some cars will even appear in different liveries per race basis.
        The Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing machine looks good though, kinda reminiscent of the B&H Jordans

        1. me: “here’s a thing a really like about Indycar”

          you, an intellectual: “that thing you like is why Indycar sucks and can never ever be anything but a poor quality ripoff of the sacred and imperious FIA Formula 1 World Championship ™”

          just let us enjoy Indycar ffs!

  6. I know I’m terrible, but I can’t see that much difference between this year’s indycar car and last year’s. The rear wing, for sure, but everything else is mostly the same. It looks nice, mind you, but they always did, I feel.

    1. Compare the pictures here with this:
      https://www.autosport.com/indycar/news/133479/andretti-and-rossi-in-indycar-seat-swap

      Specifically look at the sidepods. The 2018 model looks dramatically better.

      1. Lol those look horrible! Wasn’t there 2 different aero packages that indy used last year or was that year before? Clearly the one you linked to must be the worse of the 2. Also it appears that some teams aren’t having trouble attracting sponsors! I’m sure the premium to sponsor indy cars is no where near of that for F1, thus a bigger bang for your buck. In all honesty there isn’t a single product on any current F1 car that I can think of that I own or have used other than Ferrari’s Ray Bay sponsor and having drank my last Red Bull about 8 years ago.

      2. Kevin, the pic you referenced is the Speedway Aero (Indy 500, etc…) package. The testing pics are Road and Rtreet Aero packages. For a comparison, here’s what the Speedway Aero package looks like now.

        On track windscreen testing starts Thursday the 7th at Phoenix.

    2. Here’s a 2017 vs 2018 comparison picture:
      http://www.racer.com/images/2017/Aug_1/IndyCar/side_impact/2018_IndyCar_Bodywork_Sidepod_Comparo2.jpg

      Main differences:
      2017 ———————————————> 2018
      central air inlet ———————————-> no central air inlet
      rear pods —————————————–> no rear pods
      V-shaped sidepods —————————–> Coke bottle sidepods
      sidepod integrated rear wheel aero covers -> seperate rear wheel aero covers
      complex wings and winglets package——–> fewer and simpler wings

      1. Thanks for that.
        I’m glad they got rid of the bits behind the rear wheels.

        Personally, I prefer the overhead air inlets. It makes the engine appear more ‘ferocious’.

      2. @damon Um, you say the 2018 car has ‘separate rear wheel aero covers’
        No they don’t. In fact the rear wheel cover has gone completely.
        https://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/indycar-sonoma-test-2018-30.jpg

        Why did they remove them? I thought it was a safety feature to stop other cars mounting from behind.

        1. I believe they are talking about these.

        2. @sato113
          Pay closer attention to what you’re reading, mate.

  7. Noice

  8. Even though I like the simplicity of the aero on Indy cars, they still strike me as toy cars compared to F1.

  9. That’s exactly it, they look like toy cars!

    I don’t get why everyone thinks these Indy cars are great, I think they look rubbish compared to F1 cars. The livery looks childish and over the top, definitely driven completely for sponsorship with no regards to aesthetics.

    I could imagine an F1 car eating one of these for breakfast, although I get the impression that it’d have better taste…

    1. No power steering and 2000 lbs less down force than last year. I think it would be Lewis Hamilton getting eaten if he were brave enough to drive one. Let’s see him do the 500 when he retires from F1!

      1. No power steering and less weight doesn’t really relate to my point that Indy Cars are cheap and ugly LOOKING than an F1 car. I’m talking purely aesthetics here (superficial, I know).

        In terms of everything else, F1 has its challenges but personally I’m not really interested in watching drivers at the pinnacle of their profession driving dumbed down machines for entertainment. My love for F1 is just as much about the talented drivers as it is about pushing the boundaries of engineering.

        F1 has many drivers that would be more than capable of taking up that challenge, not just World Champion Hamilton. Alonso’s experience last year comes to mind…

  10. And some trully SPECTACULAR visor cam footage for you all!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq5fl1HckIk

  11. The new IndyCar’s are beautiful! More IndyCar coverage this season please!!!

  12. I’m glad to see Wickens finally in a top single seater drive. Hard to believe he won an A1 race for Team Canada 10 years ago. We’ll see how he does but expect him to be quicker than Hinch by the end of the year

    1. Sorry to say, I think Wickens is going to have a tough time. Lots of excellent drivers in IndyCar.

  13. I think the people saying this is nicer than the F1 cars are utterly nuts.

    1. F1’s current aero is like IndyCar’s the last few years of aero wars. WAY too many wings, winglets, appendages… Too much junk in the trunk. It was very functional and created ridiculous amounts of down force, and it was ugly. The goal of the new package with 2000 lbs less downforce is to reduce turbulence, allow more overtaking due to less wake, make the cars a bit more unstable and more of a handful to drive. It should make the most exciting racing series on the planet even more exciting and unpredictable! The cars are also things of beauty to look at, unlike the hideous look of current F1 cars.

  14. I don’t have the best eyesight and when I opened this page, I saw the first image (very topmost large picture) and saw an enormous white tail section towering over the rest of the car… Then I realised that it was a building in the distance. Whew.

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