Aero kit 2015 Q&A: ‘Not going to be a spec car’

Via IndyCar.com

Starting with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 27-29, INDYCAR will introduce chassis competition in the Verizon IndyCar Series based upon aerodynamic bodywork designed, manufactured and supplied by Chevrolet and Honda.

Cars will be differentiated by their shape as the manufacturers have designed aero kits for speedways and road and street course/short ovals for the Dallara rolling chassis.

Manufacturer track testing of prototype components opened Oct. 6 and continues through Jan. 18, which is the same date as homologation. Production will ramp up to meet the March 1 deadline for one road and street course/short oval kit to be delivered to each entrant. The speedway aero kit, according to the INDYCAR timeline, will be delivered by April 1.

The initial team on-track test is scheduled for March 16-17 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala. The 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 24 will mark the debut of the speedway aero kit.

In the Q&A below, INDYCAR director of aerodynamic development Tino Belli provides insight into the regulations of the aero kit legality boxes and options available to teams for the 2015 season:

Q. You’re one of the few who has seen both manufacturers’ aero kits on the track. Will fans notice differences from last season.

Differences between the 2014 Dallara chassis and the 2015 aero kits and between the Chevy and Honda aero kits will be quite easily spotted by an interested fan. Especially to someone who is interested in technology, they’ll see many differences between the cars. At speed and with different color schemes, it might be more difficult to see the differences.

It’s certainly not going to be a spec car, and it’s not spec even within the Chevrolet or Honda environments.

The Chevy might not always run in exactly the same configuration between a Penske and Ganassi car, and the same with Honda between, say, an Andretti and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports car because teams will have options.

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