Indianapolis 500 could be drastically remodeled by electric juice shakes

Indianapolis 500 could be drastically remodeled by electric juice shakes

Indianapolis – Helio Castroneves felt an immediate difference, a subtle but remarkable increase in speed, the first time he used the impulse of the power offered by The new Indycar hybrid engines around the Imposing Oval of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The question that the four -time Indianapolis 500 winner faces, together with the rest of the pilots in the initial grid of 33 cars to The 109 ° running Sunday, it is The best way to capitalize on the hybrid More than 200 turns completely spent to the edge.

Empty it completely and then wait for it to recharge, what could take several laps? Save it for short bursts for passes or to defend? Perhaps to use it slowly to run for the leader or develop a great advantage once in the front?

“There is much more in this than I think people realize or recognize,” said Indy 500 Graham Rahal veteran, whose Father Bobby Rahal won the 1986 race. “It is something interesting. I mean, the hybrid is quite powerful here. In a single round, if it uses it correctly, it is a big difference in the return time or the speed of the return.”

The genesis of hybridization began years ago, when Indycar Chevrolet and Honda manufacturers wanted to better align their career programs with A change in consumer demand Towards hybrid and electric vehicles. But the project was harassed by delays, since engineers fought to place a custom hybrid unit in the Indycar chassis designed more than a decade ago, and that had to meet certain weight and safety requirements, among other things.

The result was finally known before the INDY 500 of last year, a design based on ultracacitors instead of heavy batteries. It provides a rapid impulse to the 2.2-liter and turbocharming motors and turbocharger before the recharge to be used again.

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The system was introduced in Mid-Ohio in the mid-last year Indycar season and has been in use since then.

But it has never been used somewhere as Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where speeds at the end of each line can reach 240 mph, and the difference between winning and losing can be measured in thousandths of a second.

“I have had some really interesting conversations with drivers about how all the places where hybrid will make a big difference, it will be in Indianapolis,” said Indycar president Doug Boles. “I asked why and they say: ‘Well, you think of Indianapolis, how trimmed we are, especially in the qualification, any incremental difference in the power makes the difference.

“We are going to see some exciting races,” Boles continued, “and the strategies I have heard of the pilots in terms of talking about how to deploy the hybrid vary wildly. It will be fascinating to see how this is going.”

Nor has it gone without its share of problems, going out with an open test last month and until practice on Monday.

On the one hand, the hybrid is still registered in approximately 100 pounds, which is significant in a car that weighs only 1,600. And all that weight is on the back of the car, which has dramatically altered the way they are balanced and, ultimately, work.

“That is a lot of mass that you are adding”, Two times Indy 500 Josef Newgarden defender winner saying. “It’s almost like adding 200, 250 pounds to a stock car. If you said: ‘Hey, guys, let’s screw up 250 pounds to these cars, see what you think:’ I bet everyone would go, ‘ok, this is directed differently.’ And now we have to counteract it.”

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Andretti Global Kyle Kirkwood driver is among many who believe that the additional weight makes cars more difficult to drive, and Marcus Armstrong of Meyer Shank Racing said: “I think the window is considerably smaller, the balance window.”

Armstrong crashed into practice last Saturday and had to get into the field in a backup car on Sunday.

Then there is the fact that the hybrid unit, although mostly reliable, remains a machine, and the machines can have problems. Rinus Veekay’s hybrid did not work at all during his first classification race for the final row of the initial network, while the 2008 winner Scott Dixon had its practice on Monday after just six laps when a warning light blinked for a overheating problem.

However, hybrid technology will participate in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on Sunday. And if it is the final laps, it could be a large part, since the leader tries to endure and the hunters try to timet their impulse for a winning pass.

“I think it definitely adds some variables,” said Dixon, who will begin in the second row. “If you are sitting on the front, you could be a bit sitting, especially if everyone is a bit recharged and ready to go behind you.

“I think the most important thing that we probably learned so far, you must be ready for change, it is probably the most important,” he added. “But I think I could ultimately change how the end of the race develops.”

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