Generic IndyCar Discussion Thread

[Crazed_Insanity]

Think of the development cost of such toilet paper holder.

Renault building just one for themselves vs also building more for other teams to sell or lease... Which do you think will actually cost more for Renault?

Mass producing anything can only bring down per unit cost. This is applicable to shuttles, stealth bombers or gold plated toilet paper holders.

The problem is that once you cease production, it’d be expensive proposition to try to buy more shuttles or B-2 bombers.

Just look at this from Honda’s point of view...

Would it be cheaper for them to develop a brand new power unit for indycar, or if they could just build more of their year old F1 engine?

I could be wrong, but I tend to think the later would be cheaper. Only issue would be legal... would F1 allow this? Probably not.

Anyway, just my wishful crazy thinking... I just think those 2 series need to work closer together one way or another. Sharing power units should make it cheaper for teams...

[Kchrpm]

The problem is that since F1 engines are constantly being developed and are near the leading edge of tech in the category, they are far more likely to be made by hand and/or custom, very expensive machinery. You would have to lock down the development of F1 engines more than you would need to worry about scale.

And IndyCar is trying to attract more teams, with the biggest preventing them being the approximately $6 million dollar annual budget to run a car. Making that even more expensive for new teams, and the teams that are propping up the sport by running 3+ cars at every race, is probably not a good idea.

[Crazed_Insanity]

F1 is at a cost bind as well. Mercedes reportedly spent $1.4 billion developing their engine. Ferrari probably spent more. Little wonder Renault and Honda are thinking of pulling out.

No way racing point and Williams and hosts of other Indy teams will be able to help Mercedes recover the entire $1.4billion, but every little bit surely will help offset the cost.

Anyway, my point is the the 2 series need to collaborate more. We didn’t need both CART and IRL back then... it’s good to see them finally join forces again. Personally I think F1 is losing steam too... let alone Indycar series...

Mercedes is probably bored by now... both Honda and Renault are not really that committed is cost keeps on rising... F1 could soon become Ferrari 1! Personally I think it’s a good time for the 2 open wheel series to somehow collaborate and cut cost one way or another.

[FaultyMario]

That's different from saying "IndyCar could use Honda-F1 hybrids!".

[Blerpa]

Honda has just officially declared they are going to supply engines to RB and TR (actually AT now) till 2021.
Also, Mercedes did end last F1 season in positive.

Why should they collaborate? It's like saying WEC and Go Kart racing should collaborate.
Your last post is completely devoid of a single proven fact, if not underlying the opposite of actual information - To Billy.
6 million dollars for a whole season in Indycar? An average F1 car costs about 12.2 million dollars to be built, at least (10.5 million dollars just a single engine unit). A single F1 car.

Truly: it's like comparing the cost of a Lego F40 and a real F40.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Truly: it's like comparing the cost of a Lego F40 and a real F40.

You got factual data to back this up?

If you could prove my wishful thinking wrong with factual data, that’d be awesome!

[Blerpa]

Enjoy.

https://www.essentiallysports.com/fo...-car-cost/amp/

[Crazed_Insanity]

Very interesting factual data. But...

https://www.ebay.com/i/123886715942?...yABEgLqzvD_BwE

Lego f40 = $190

https://www.dupontregistry.com/autos...ts/ferrari/f40

Real f40 = $1.9 millions

So it’s a factor of roughly 10,000.

I really don’t think average Indycar teams annual budget is 10000 times less than an average F1 team, right?

[Kchrpm]

It's about 50-100 times the budget rather than 10,000, but the point is still made. Want to start an IndyCar team? You need millions of dollars. Want to start an F1 team? You need hundreds of millions of dollars.

Yes, in theory the FIA and IndyCar could get together and come up with a joint spec for the powertrains between the two leagues, but the budgets, needs, and expectations for improvement are very different currently, and IndyCar teams would not accept any significant raising of the costs or loss in reliability, so F1 would likely end up being pegged back quite a bit from where they are now.

[FaultyMario]

i mean, i don't dislike fernando

but oh my god

Clickable image.