Via IndyCar.com

This season marks the fourth of engine competition between Chevrolet and Honda, and both are supplying corresponding aerodynamic body kits for the first year.

The Dallara rolling chassis will be utilized for the March 8 season opener in Brasilia, Brazil. The road/street course and short oval aero kits along with the newly-mounted engines make their competition debut March 29 in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

The engine homologation date is Jan. 12. Basically, homologation is granting approval or confirming the meeting of standards, and – as it refers to the series – the sealing of mandated components for the 2.2-liter, twin turbocharged, direct-injected V6 engines that are fueled with E85.

The parts and complementary technical drawings will be used as references – a spot check system for engine manufacturer competition – during engine teardowns.

The engines produce up to 700 horsepower with a 12,000 RPM rev limit. INDYCAR controls the turbo boost and sets the push-to-pass parameters relative to each of the 17 races. Each full-season entrant is allowed four fresh-built engines from the season start until the start of the following season with a corresponding 10,000-mile allotment.

Marvin Riley, INDYCAR director of engine development, discusses implementation of regulations for 2015 and provides a general outlook for what INDYCAR is investigating for the next generation Verizon IndyCar Series engine platform.

Q: There aren’t many parts on this year’s homologation list. Is that due to the aero kit development?

This season is a much smaller open homologation list, but in the sense of the architecture available to the manufacturers to change I think the engines will still be somewhat visibly different to the fans.

The main difference this year is the aero kits, which includes the air horn, side pods, and engine cover. Because the air horn and space available under the bodywork is changing, the subsequent parts that include the pipes that feed to and from the turbos can be different. That’s where I think the engines will look unique and certainly look different from Brazil to St. Pete.

As far as areas available for upgrade, we always have the open items which includes pistons, the valves, the springs, spark plugs, etc., and the connecting rods have a one-year homologation every year. But for the most part, it’s an off year for the engineers working on the engine internals.

 

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Photo via INDYCAR

Photo via INDYCAR

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