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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Series Rules In Favor Of Honda Turbo Change
The battle for dominance between Chevy and Honda has now moved into the realm of record keeping and traceable documentation.
After navigating a political minefield, INDYCAR has honored the verbal commitment it made to its manufacturers. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
The battle for dominance between Chevy and Honda has now moved into the realm of record keeping and traceable documentation.
As SPEED.com revealed last week, Honda was permitted to affix an up-rated version of the single-turbo BorgWarner units used on its 2.2-liter V6 engines for Long Beach by INDYCAR, only to have the sanctioning body rescind that approval once the Honda teams arrived at the circuit.
The contretemps, as multiple sources have now confirmed, centered on lost minutes from an IndyCar engine Committee (IEC) meeting held back when former 2012 car Project Manager Tony Cotman was in charge.
In that meeting, the series gave verbal affirmation that if any inequities were found between the single- and twin-turbo layouts, the layout with the deficiency would be given concessions to bring it up to match the other system.
Although copious notes were reportedly kept by the series (and the manufacturers present at the meeting), the series’ notes, for whatever reason, were never entered into INDYCAR’s records.
Acting on that verbal promise, and with its own notes from the IEC meeting to support a change, Honda moved to bridge the performance gap it noted with its single-turbo layout, but in a sly bit of gamesmanship, Chevrolet, noting that nothing official had been added to the engine regulations regarding turbo parity, pointed out to the series that the rules did not technically support Honda’s turbo change.
The series conceded at Long Beach, instructing Honda and its 10 teams to revert to its original, less powerful turbo specification.
Will Phillips, INDYCAR’s VP of Technology, inherited the political mess, and after taking some extra time so sort through all of the notes submitted by Honda, has ruled in the manufacturer's favor starting at Brazil.
That Chevy sat in the same IEC meeting where the series said it would support turbo parity (which it would need to rely upon if its twin-turbo layout had proven to be down on power), yet called out the series and Honda for not having gone through the appropriate steps to ratify the rule, seems to establish just how quickly the gloves have come off between the two manufacturers.
Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports cars. He also contributes to Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett on Twitter.
As SPEED.com revealed last week, Honda was permitted to affix an up-rated version of the single-turbo BorgWarner units used on its 2.2-liter V6 engines for Long Beach by INDYCAR, only to have the sanctioning body rescind that approval once the Honda teams arrived at the circuit.
The contretemps, as multiple sources have now confirmed, centered on lost minutes from an IndyCar engine Committee (IEC) meeting held back when former 2012 car Project Manager Tony Cotman was in charge.
In that meeting, the series gave verbal affirmation that if any inequities were found between the single- and twin-turbo layouts, the layout with the deficiency would be given concessions to bring it up to match the other system.
Although copious notes were reportedly kept by the series (and the manufacturers present at the meeting), the series’ notes, for whatever reason, were never entered into INDYCAR’s records.
Acting on that verbal promise, and with its own notes from the IEC meeting to support a change, Honda moved to bridge the performance gap it noted with its single-turbo layout, but in a sly bit of gamesmanship, Chevrolet, noting that nothing official had been added to the engine regulations regarding turbo parity, pointed out to the series that the rules did not technically support Honda’s turbo change.
The series conceded at Long Beach, instructing Honda and its 10 teams to revert to its original, less powerful turbo specification.
Will Phillips, INDYCAR’s VP of Technology, inherited the political mess, and after taking some extra time so sort through all of the notes submitted by Honda, has ruled in the manufacturer's favor starting at Brazil.
That Chevy sat in the same IEC meeting where the series said it would support turbo parity (which it would need to rely upon if its twin-turbo layout had proven to be down on power), yet called out the series and Honda for not having gone through the appropriate steps to ratify the rule, seems to establish just how quickly the gloves have come off between the two manufacturers.
Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports cars. He also contributes to Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett on Twitter.
2013 INDY 500 Practice
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