SONOMA, Calif. — Because an IndyCar doesn’t have power-steering, otherwise known as technically assisted steering, it’s quite a challenge muscling the open-wheel machines around a street and road course.
Because it has much wider tires on the front and back of the car, the steering becomes heavy when a driver cranks it out of a slow-speed corner. This isn’t a problem on ovals because the cars are traveling at such a high-rate of speed, but in Sunday’s Motorola 300 at Infineon Raceway, it’s survival of the fittest.
The cars in the IndyCar series have remained virtually unchanged for much of this decade, and several of the top drivers in the series were asked if they’d like to see assisted steering or paddle-shifting allowed on the cars.
These devices are common in other open-wheel series such as Formula One.
“In my opinion it’s appropriate for the series to move along with the times,” said 2005 Indianapolis 500 winner and 2005 series champion Dan Wheldon. “Certainly, NASCAR is very popular for its lack of technology, but the IndyCar series is the pinnacle of open-wheel racing in the United States of America. You should certainly have paddle-shifting, power-steering and all of the gadgets and gizmos.
“Even some of the feeder series in the United Kingdom have things like that, so I think it’s inappropriate that we don’t have that. We should look at that over the next few months.”
Defending IndyCar champion Sam Hornish, Jr. likes the physical nature and skills required to drive an IndyCar on a road course.
“The physicality you have on road courses now is a good thing,” Hornish said. “There is something to be gained for somebody that might not have the overall speed for one lap but can put together laps over a 30-lap run that don’t fall off so much because they get tired.
“There are a lot of different things they could do and each thing adds more expense to the series. It’s what these rules are and what they (the series) want to do with it. There are plusses and negatives to it.”
Scott Dixon favors the paddle-shifting because he believes it would help teams with costs because it would keep the car from over-revving the engine.
“That’s pretty expensive when you get the bill from Honda,” Dixon said. “I agree with Sam on the physical side of things. There is enough adjustment in the cars to make changes on the steering weight. But I agree with technology and that we should move ahead.”
Dario Franchitti believes paddle-shifting would be good because it would remove the gear-lever from the cockpit, which would be a safety advance to keep a driver from hitting it with their leg during a crash.
“If they can put power-steering in the cars at a reasonable cost and have an efficient system, you have to have it so it works all the time,” Franchitti said. “The Acura ALMS car has it and it’s fun to drive that thing.”
Andretti Green Racing recently tested a new steering rack and some rival teams claimed they were using a “Variable Rate Steering” rack in Sunday’s Motorola Indy 300 where the more a driver turns, the less effort it takes.
Kevin Blanch, the IndyCar Series Technical Director, said teams are allowed to make innovations in the car’s steering with a few exceptions.
“As long as it doesn’t have hydraulics or electronics, it’s legal,” Blanch said. “It’s a free area for development.”