steering wheel, Vitor Meira, IndyCar Series, Ryan Hunter-Reay, ethanol, Marco Andretti, Indy Pro Series, Kyle Moyer, Scott Dixon
Crunching numbers
them at the end of a stint what I need
from the car, whether I need a turn of front
wing or whatever.
“You have to do so many things to make
a race go your way: tuning your car as the
race goes on; saving ethanol while you can
save it, and not give up so much time that
you’re unable to gain it back in the pits. Plus,
you have to make sure everything is perfect
in the pit lane and not miss a shift. It’s
tough to stay mentally on point for that
long, cover all those topics and be on top of
all those issues for the entire race distance.
“People outside of racing don’t really get
that. They see a steering wheel and pedals.”
Marco Andretti had attended Indy car
racing events in which his father, Michael,
competed for many years, before joining
the Indy Pro Series and graduating to the
IndyCar Series in 2006. Even though he
was familiar with the systems and received
tutoring, Andretti was discovering a
complex world at 220mph.
“In the different formulas, all you had
was the steering wheel,” Andretti says.
“Now, all of a sudden, you have different
components to work with, but only stuff
THE WHEEL 1] RPM LIGHTS 2] GEAR INDICATOR 3] RADIO PULL-TO-TALK LEVER 4]
ELECTRONIC SAFE SETTINGS 5] Pi DASH. Can display lap count, times, temperatures and mileage 6] FUEL
TRIM OPTIONS 7] OVERTAKE LEVER. Makes fuel mixture full rich 8] PIT SPEED LIMITER 9] WEIGHT
JACKER 10] Pi DASH PAGE SCROLL 11] REV LIMITER 12] RESET. Resets fuel reading 13] DRINK BUTTON
58 IndyCarSeries 2007 Review
8
3
4
9 9
10
to help you. There are adjustments to
make in the car. If the car isn’t balanced,
you can help dial it in. You can help the
tires last longer with a roll bar or weightjacker
adjustment.
“It is a lot of work figuring out the buttons
on the steering wheel. In Formula 1 there
was a 28-page manual on how to use the
steering wheel,” adds Marco, who tested a
Honda F1 car over last winter. “After a season
and going to all the circuits, it gets easier.
You can handle it better.”
For 2008, the sanctioning Indy Racing
League is expected to replace the sequential
gear shifter to the driver’s right thigh with
paddle shifters on the steering wheel –
another thing to learn.
“But it’s like anything else; as you train
for it you get used to it,” Hunter-Reay
says. “It’s like a fighter pilot with all his
instruments: The first time you sit in it, it
would be overwhelming looking at
everything you have to do. Experience isn’t
everything in these cars just to be fast
over a lap, but to be fast over a race
distance, massive experience is needed.
I’m still learning.”
1 2
11
5
12
6
13
7
(Right) Marco
Andretti and Kyle
Moyer discuss
strategy – more
info to carry in a
driver’s brain...
(Below) Vitor
Meira’s steering
wheel isn’t short
of buttons and
knobs, but all
have a very
specific purpose
MORE TECH INFO
www.indycar.com @
DRIVER VS.
COMPUTER
Telemetry can tell an engineer many
things, except what a driver feels
Marco Andretti literally trusts Kyle Moyer
with his life in the high-speed and highstakes
IndyCar Series. So it’s beneficial
that the driver and the race strategist for
Andretti Green Racing get along famously.
They’ve quickly built a balance of input
that is focused on improving the No. 26
before and during a race.
“When it comes to car balance, he’ll
suggest something on the radio. But
maybe he’ll only see the understeer on the
steering tracer,” Andretti says, referencing
telemetry data on the monitor in front of
Moyer. “He’ll say, ‘Do something to help
the understeer,’ but the reason I didn’t was
because of it being loose on the exit. I
know what I’m feeling and what I want.
“He’ll tell me on the radio the miles
per gallon we need to get, or he just says
we need to do a bit better. I know what I
did in each corner that lap and I know
what I have to do to be better. He won
me my only race at Sonoma because of
fuel. I have so much trust in him, I can
just do my thing and drive.”
Computer data can’t replace the human
element in an IndyCar Series car. Early in
the inaugural race at Iowa Speedway in
June, polesitter Scott Dixon’s car developed
a steering problem that the driver couldn’t
rectify and that wasn’t picked up by any
of the multitude of sensors.
“The [race engineer and strategist]
obviously don’t know what I’m feeling and
they say, ‘OK, we’re getting ready for a
restart [after a lap 1 incident],’’’ Dixon
says. “And I’m saying, ‘There’s no way we
can restart. We’re going to go straight into
the wall.’ So there is a point where you
just have to ignore them and bring it in.
“A lot of information comes from
you. You have to tell them what you
feel because they’re going to try to
make it better.”
Paul Webb/LAT
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