IndyCar EXPLAINED!

hi guys i'm mike and i'm stephen and this is indie fanatics your home for indy car content with weekly podcasts and feature videos back to the channel and to another feature video last time out we looked at the career of nascar legend jimmy johnson so if you haven't already check that one out remember if there is a driver team or topic you'd like us to look at in the future comment below but today we have a slightly different video for you for new fans or returning fans who just want to remind themselves about the finer details of the sport we are going to be explaining everything you need to know about the series heading into the season so let's jump straight into it so let's start off with the engines and the cars used in the series there are two engine manufacturers within the series honda and chevy they provide the teams with their versions of the 2.2 liter v6 twin turbocharged engine that produces around 550 to 700 horsepower depending on the turbo boost pressure used at the track they are racing at let's use the indy 500 as an example for the distribution of the grid between the engine manufacturers as that will be where the most entries are over the course of the season after the confirmed rides the grid is split between 15 chevy powered cars and 1700 powered cars and there isn't really much at all to split between the two engines the series uses a standardized fuel for its competitors in the form of the speedway e85 which is a blend of 85 ethanol and 15 gasoline moving on to the car itself and is a stock chassis used by every team in the series which is provided by dalara called the ir12 it was first introduced in 2012 and also is fitted with the ir-18 error kit which is a standardized error care after lack of success of the 2015 to 17 era kits provided by the engine manufacturers the only difference in the error kits now is that there is a road and street core spec and an oval spec other than that since 2020 the cars have all been fitted with the new aeroscreen all cars operate without power steering and all use firestone fire hawk tyres now the tyres are an interesting one because it is the first note of where we can say teams and strategy make the difference so there is the sticker red tires which is the softer and quicker compound and there is the sticker blacks which is the harder slower but more durable compound at the start of the race drivers have freedom of choice over the tyres they use but both compounds must be used over the course of the race indycar is also a series where refuelling is allowed during the race so fuel strategy and management also comes into play and the pit stops overall are definitely key moments within the races in indycar there are only six members allowed over the wall to perform the duty of a pit stop the first job is to activate the pressurized pneumatic jacks with a pressurized air hose inserted at the rear of the car after this the other five mechanics are responsible for changing the tyres and refueling the tyre changes will also be responsible for making any adjustments to the front wing clearing any debris from the car performing minor repairs and taking off a sheet from the aero screen the last job before the car pulls off is to spray water around the fuel port to wash off any excess or spill fuel now mentioned in the pit stops was part of something where the individual teams can make a real difference between each other and that is the setup so mention that the front wing angle can be adjusted slightly during the race but working with the race engineers the driver and the team can work on setups for the weekend through practice into qualifying and the race to find the best balance in the car for the weekend to hopefully achieve the best result now like anything the bigger teams have access to better drivers and engineers so therefore the improvements and effectiveness of these setup changes overall lead to better race cars over the season leading to those cars competing for the championship though with the indy 500 the biggest race of the season it really is an open playing field as any team is capable of over the month of may of finding a quick setup and having a chance of winning the ultimate prize well as we talked about drivers having an influence on the setups let's talk about them in the calendar a bit more so this year is a 17 race calendar and over the past decade that has been around the normal amount of races you would expect to see in an indycar season usually running from march to september the calendar is compromised of road courses which are permanent racing facilities street courses which are temporary circuits constructed within the cities themselves and ovals the traditional race track in america with a history stretching back to the early 1900s each pose their unique challenges and drivers have to be adept at all three disciplines to stand a chance of winning the championship unlike other series indycar drivers and teams aren't restricted to running a full calendar number of cars per team and even in rare cases been linked to the same car all season as with anything in motorsport money talks and there has to be a certain amount of funding behind a driver provided by either the team driver or external sponsors or a combination of those three some drivers within the series won't be able to fund a full season and the best example at the moment is probably conor daly with ed carpenter racing since his debut with del coin he struggled to secure a full-time seat in the series often running part-time with ed competer but also in a situation that arose with max chilton at carlin motorsports not wanting to run ovals other than indy he could run a complete season just spread across two teams sometimes it's not the financial constraints that stop a driver from running full time in the series it might be out of choice from the driver so for example jimmy johnson and roman grosjon both have opted not to run the ovals this year on the grounds of not feeling comfortable safety wise as ovals provide high-speed high octane action but naturally with speeds over 200 miles per hour that brings with it an increased risk so we have heard about the cars and the people who drive them but how do those drivers score points well actually a quick interjection there is no constructions championship like formula one due to the amount of spec parts in the series and there is a manufacturer's cut between chevy and honda but it is certainly not of any real note compared to the drivers championship and the indy 500. so we'll put it up on screen so you can follow easily but if you're first you award 50 points second 40 and third 35. there's then a three point difference between third and fourth from fourth to tenth there's and then a decrease in two points per position with tenth being awarded 20 points from 10th to 25th there is a decrease in one point awarded per position with 25th being awarded 5 points and then the remaining entrance to a maximum of 33 at the indy are also awarded 5 points so if you start a race and aren't disqualified for foul play every driver will score a point within the race the season finale before 2020 added to this awarded double points there is yet to be confirmed this will return in 2021 but assume it to be the case bonus points are awarded as follows one for pole position one for leading a lap within the race and two points for leading the most laps the indy 500 is also double points award in race so doing well they can have a big impact on your season but it also has a unique qualifying point system if you use the girl poll for the indy 500 you score nine points and this decreases down by one point per position to ninth position which is awarded one point whoa you pulled the short straw to do the numbers game there steven but hopefully we have made it clear for you and with any of the points in today's video if you have any questions comment below and we'll do our best to answer now the indy 500 is arguably the biggest race in any motorsport calendar in the world and definitely out of the prestigious historic races is the most exciting currently to win the indy 500 makes you a legend of the series and can define careers to win it once is an incredible achievement to win it multiple times is something truly special and it is almost an event in itself within the season the month of may is basically indy 500 month you have the indie road course race near the start of the month and then everything after that is all geared towards the year's running of the 500 at the end of may there are multiple practice days including carb day which with traditionally the freedom 100 running has almost become a mini event in itself though sadly this will not be the case this year but qualifying is where it gets really interesting on saturday all entries to the 500 will get at least one running to set the fastest average speed over four laps the qualifying method that has been in place every year since 1939. from this day entries 10 to 30 will be locked in on the sunday one to nine will fight it out for pole getting one attempt each to set the fastest time at the other end of the field there is only a maximum of 33 cars allowed to enter the race and due to indie being the race that encourages the most one-time entry entrance for the season there is usually an excess of 33 cars trying to qualify for the race and the cutting of the field is referred to as bump day like the pole setters each driver will get one attempt to set a time to fight for the last three spots available to compete in the big spectacle the following weekend the race is of course 500 miles around the 2.5 mile oval and the winner receives not only a place in history but their face will be sculpted onto the famous borgwarner trophy just like every other champion before them and the team and the driver receive a specially made ring to commemorate the victory they are also hugely financially rewarded for their success and they can make all the investment into the career worth it to that point and then some so we've covered the main event and the last thing we will look at in this video is the qualifying for regular seasons races so there's a separate qualifying procedure for oval races and rodent street courses on an oval the run-in order is determined by reversing the championship stand-ins with the lowest precision going first and the highest going last the driver is then permitted two warm-up laps before two time-lapse with the aggregate time will be taken to determine their starting position in the race on road and street courses qualifying is split into three segments in segment one the entries are divided into two groups who each group get 10 minutes to set their fastest lap what is a curveball within this is that yellow flags are included in the 10 minutes so if someone has a big off it can sabotage the group qualifier the fastest six in each group progress to segment two and the eliminated drivers are assigned positions from 13th downwards with group 1 occupying the odd numbers and group 2 occupying the even numbers in segment 2 is another 10 minute session including cautions and then the top 6 progress to segment three and seven to twelve are assigned their position based on fastest times segment three is then a poll shootout between the six remaining drivers and they have a guaranteed six minutes of green flag track conditions to post a time whoa okay i think we've covered all the relevant information though if you think we have missed something please comment below but hopefully that gets you all up to speed ahead of the new season and you are just itching for those cars to get out on track and for us to go green at barber on the 18th of april also look out on sunday for a special bonus episode this week with a special interview is that enough special for you you won't want to miss it so we hope you've enjoyed today's video and remember if there's a driver team or topic you'd like us to look at in the future comment down below and if they're new around here or haven't done so already stephen they can like subscribe and ding that bell ding it so for now you indie fans keep bracing [Music] [Music] uh

Channel: Indy Fanatics

Views: 23,299

Rating: 4.9292517 out of 5

Keywords: IndyCar, IndyCar 2021, Indy500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indycar explained, Texas Motor Speedway, Barber Motorsports Park, Mid Ohio, Indy GP, New IndyCar Season, NBC, NBC Sports, NTT Indycar Series, Team Penske, Roger Penske

Id: 3ySAaipbU2Y

Length: 12min 30sec (750 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 09 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/No-Strength6970]

Those guys make great videos. A shame they're not getting hundreds of thousands of views.