SPEED: But only 300 HP, sounds so puny for an Indy car, which had 1,000 in the early 1970s.
BOWLBY: “It’s a function of drag and mass. This car will out accelerate a current Indy car and run 230 or 235 mph on 300 HP - if it had 500 HP it would run 270 mph around Indy! Today’s Indy car is an aerodynamic brick with a huge engine that spends its life burning fuel and components - it just shows how inefficient they are! That’s not surprising because for decades the regulations have mandated inefficiency as a way of controlling speed. Every significant efficiency improvement has been outlawed, whether it’s sliding skirts, active suspension or ground effects."

With the use of inexpensive wickers at the rear, the Delta Wing's aerodynamic attributes can be drastically altered. (Delta Wing)

SPEED: How do you propose to regulate the power?
BOWLBY: “Fuel used to be plentiful but now it’s getting scarcer and burning it of great environmental concern. We need to change the basis on which we control horsepower and speed. We propose to control the rate of fuel flow to the engine as the way to contain speed whilst maintaining efficiency – fuel flow will be our popoff valve or restrictor plate. It’s about who can get the most power to the crankshaft from the available fuel delivery rate, and I believe we can create a control device in a way that’s unlikely to be cheated.”

SPEED: What if Honda wants to stay with a V6 and compete against a V-4?
BOWLBY: “With fuel flow control you don’t need to limit configuration or capacity or cylinders or turbos - you just have to get the most HP from the available fuel. This is not a unique idea, it was proposed by Colin Chapman, Peter Wright and Keith Duckworth over the years but the technology is now available to make it a practical solution.”

SPEED: Have any manufacturers shown interest in your project?
BOWLBY: “Yes, when we’ve probed a little, we’ve received a positive response. Our objective is to demonstrate that with high-efficiency a car can do record-breaking speeds at Indianapolis with only 300 HP. A lot of road cars have this sort of power."

SPEED: We’ve heard projected numbers of 12 MPG and 5,000 miles between rebuilds.
BOWLBY: “The more efficient we make the car, the better mileage we’ll get. With only 40 percent of the drag we will get at least two and a half times the fuel mileage. More efficient engines will improve this number and obviously the type of fuel also influences the MPG number.”

SPEED: What have been the reactions?
BOWLBY: “It’s fair to say that nobody ever looks away! It’s something you’ve never seen before: it’s surprising and it makes you start thinking about why it’s that shape - it definitely captures people’s imagination.”

SPEED: What about Indiana’s involvement? We heard the state was investing in the prototype.
BOWLBY: “There’s no loan money yet from the state of Indiana but they see it as an exciting project based in Indiana that could create jobs and position the State as an automotive technology center.”

SPEED: The recent IndyCar press release about the car of 2012 read like Brian Barnhart copied off your paper in study hall, did that bother you?
BOWLBY: “This is a good sign that we’re on to something and that a lot of people care passionately about the future of Indy-car racing, the ball is moving down the field at last.”

SPEED: What about people who fear Delta will simply replace Dallara as the spec car?
BOWLBY: “Personally, I don’t want to watch 33 spec cars at the Indy 500 and there are lots of people I’ve spoken to who agree, who want technical diversity and technical stories. Our intention is to provide a platform for sustainable development of the cars and exclude NO ONE who designs or makes quality racing car parts; Lola, Swift, Dallara, local suppliers, the auto industry and so on. This is America’s premier status single seater formula we are talking about, it needs to be remarkable!”

Key Specifications of the 2012 Delta Wing (estimated):

•Weight with driver: 1,030 lbs.
•Horsepower: 300 BHP
•Wheel base: 125 inches
•Front track: 24 inches
•Rear track: 70 inches
•Aerodynamic drag: Cd 0.24
Key Technical features
•Engine and transmission are “non-stressed members” of the chassis structural design which allows teams to install a wide variety of lightweight powertrains
•The prototype will feature a 4 cylinder turbo charged engine that will produce approximately 300 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and weigh only 160lbs fully dressed
•Engine capacity, RPM and configuration freedoms are anticipated given only that the rate of fuel delivery to the engine will be controlled by a specially developed fuel flow rate control unit
•Vehicle weight distribution is necessarily more rearward than traditionally seen with 72.5% of the mass on the larger rear tires
•80% of the aerodynamic downforce acts on the rear of the car
•Inline traction under acceleration through the rear tires is greatly enhanced by rearward weight and aerodynamic distributions
•Unique amongst today’s racing cars 60% of braking force is generated behind the center of gravity giving a dynamically stable response
•Locking propensity of the inside front wheel on corner entry is greatly reduced
•Transmission features 6 speed oval and 5 speed plus reverse road track configurations with sequential paddle shift actuation
•Differential features full torque vectoring active technology with driver control of gain for balance adjustment. “Active stagger” removes the expensive necessity for staggered rear tire diameters for ovals
•Advanced computer modeling of structures, impact energy management, aerodynamics, vehicle dynamics and tires has been used to develop the virtual DeltaWing car
•The car’s performance has been simulated on each configuration of race track encountered during the IZOD IndyCar Series Championship
•Modern advanced materials and CNC construction techniques applied to achieve gains in light weight structures and occupant safety
•Driver position, restraint layout and energy absorbency facility designed with the latest data on survival criteria