(Photo: James Black / Penske Entertainment)

By Aaron Bearden

What’s Happening?

NTT IndyCar Series officials have rolled out a slew of technical changes ahead of the 2023 season.

Here’s a look through each of them.

Tire options on an oval

For the first time in series history, IndyCar is going to bring an option tire to an oval race. Alternate compounds will be utilized for the Aug. 27 race at World Wide Technology Raceway.

The tires rules for the event will be similar to the ruleset used at road and street circuits. Teams will have to make use of an alternate tire compound, typically referred to as “reds” for the red coloring on the tire’s sidewall, during the event.

These alternate tires are typically made of a softer compound, which provides additional speed but wears quicker than the primary compound. On the road and street circuits they often inspire varying strategies that can mix up a race’s running order.

 

Racing (and seeing) in the rain

After struggling with visibility issues in the rain after the launch of the aeroscreen, IndyCar is rolling out changes meant to improve the drivers’ ability to see each other and the track in wet conditions.

Teams will be forced to implement ‘rain vanes’ on the nose of the cars in 2023. The devices will be located just in front of the base of the aeroscreen and should assist with moisture wicking in wet conditions.

Cars will also feature more visibly LED rain lights on the rear of the attenuator in an effort to make the machines more visible for nearby competitors.

 

Quality qualifying improvements

In an effort to give competitors a better likelihood of setting a competitive qualifying time, IndyCar is going to pause rounds one and two of qualifying on road and street courses for the first red flag in any session. Firestone Fast Six qualifiers will be given six minutes of guaranteed time.

In addition, the clock for each round of qualifying will only begin when the first car crosses the alternate start-finish line – usually located in the last sector of the track. That will buy teams the extra time spent on a warm up lap.

 

Back in the (second) groove

IndyCar will again hold “second groove” practice sessions at Texas Motor Speedway and WWT Raceway, in an effort to rubber in a second lane and provide more opportunity for passing.

 

Other adjustments

Additional changes are being made to the cars, including:

• A new rear attenuator.
• Stronger rear-wheel tethers.
• A new, higher headrest to better pad and protect drivers in the cockpit.
• Mandatory steering arms meant to be more durable and forgiving in a crash.
• New mandatory stability wickers for cars at the Indianapolis 500.
• Optional usage of short oval barge boards on road and street course events, optional underwing inner bargeboards at ovals, underwing sidewall and infill wicker at Texas Motor Speedway, an underwing flap wicker at the Indianapolis 500 and underwing strakes for road and street courses.

 

Sustainable tire materials

IndyCar’s tire provider, Firestone, will also be bringing back the guayule tires it utilized in the Nashville street circuit event last year. They’ll be utilized for all street circuits during the 2023 season.

The tires, made after harvesting guayule shrubs, are constructed with more sustainable materials than Firestone’s traditional rubber.

 

EM software

The series will continue to utilize the EM Marshalling System tested in 2022 and will add EM Motorsports Telemetry. These services provide teams quick, reliable updates from IndyCar officials and can help them see and relay information of events like cautions quicker.

 

Analysis

Much like NASCAR did a few weeks back, IndyCar officials have provided a host of solid quality of life improvements for the racing product heading into the series’ new season.

Key among them, as always, are evolutions in safety.

Drivers voiced clear concern over the lack of visibility in the wet with the aeroscreen after last May’s wet race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Adding rain vanes and improving LED visibility isn’t going to completely remedy this issue, but these are steps in the right direction.

Many of the vehicular adjustments should also help drivers, particularly in crashes. The new rear attenuator, rear-wheel tethers, strengthened steering arms and improved headrest were all made with safety in mind. These changes reinforce the car and serve to protect the drivers in shunts.

These are all smaller alterations, but could prove key in the moments that matter most.

As for the changes with the greatest effects on race weekends, the qualifying shifts for road and street courses are significant.

If you’ve ever taken the time to watch the chaotic scrambles in qualifying at places like Detroit or Long Beach, you know all-too-well how much a crash can impact an entire qualifying group. Many times the clock has ran out on drivers and prevented them from setting times truly symbolic of their vehicle’s strengths.

This has often caused competitive cars to get trapped deep in the field for races on tracks where track position is paramount to success. An unfortunately-timed qualifying crash can leave one more more competitive desperately trying alternative pit strategies just to salvage a result on race day.

Adding a potential clock stoppage in early rounds and six minutes of guaranteed time doesn’t completely alleviate these concerns. But it does greatly improve the chance for any driver and team to control their own destiny and set representative times in qualifying. That’s a major positive that’ll likely be met happily by the paddock.

While only being tested once, at Gateway, the implementation of an option tire at Gateway is also significant. The usage of differing tire compounds has already proven a good way to spice up races at road and street circuits since they it was implemented in 2009.

Throwing that variable into the intense action of ovals adds another layer that could make those races must-see events for fans. The key will be finding a balance of improved pace with fall-off that’s slow enough to encourage the usage of soft tires, but significant enough to ensure they aren’t overly-advantageous.

NASCAR even tried something similar to this once, using two tire compounds for the 2017 All-Star Race. The attempt ended up being a flop – soft tires didn’t provide enough of an advantage to be worth the effort — but there was intrigue surrounding the move in the time leading up to the race.

The alternate tires at Gateway will be the most visible change for casual, race-only viewers. Most of these moves are smaller in scale and will largely be unperceivable beyond the diehard fans. But they’re collectively a good step forward for IndyCar as it ventures into a promising 2023 campaign.