Remember when Indy Cars were Good Looking

[afx]

I really enjoyed US open wheel racing back in the CART days.  I just can't get interested in these new cars.

[XJ6]

That Million Dollar car looks fine to me

[afx]

The Penske above is from the CART days here is the current Indycar.

[iBorg]

Actually I think you need to go back to the early 70's for good looking Indy cars.

[tedd60]

Actually, there are 2.  Any front engined roadster and Jim Clark's Lotus.

Edited March 31, 2017 by tedd60

[935k3]

I have to agree with you JC. I liked the "open" wheel look. I am not looking forward to F1 cars having "halos" around the cockpit next year ether.

[Art Anderson]

I really enjoyed US open wheel racing back in the CART days.  I just can't get interested in these new cars.

"Good Looking" is pretty much "In the eye of the beholder", or it seems to me that it is.  Time was when top-level race cars (open wheel here) were designed as much for looks as performance--there being no real aerodynamic data to alter that.  Years ago in May 1972, I sat in on a garage session here in Lafayette IN, in the garage of racing photographer and midget car owner Ed Hitze Sr.  Others enjoying a few beers that Friday afternoon included 1930's driver Ira Vail, legendary creator of the concept of an Indy Roadster, Frank Kurtis, and of course my friend Ed Hitze.  Ira Vail commented that the then-current 1972 Indy cars (prominently the McLaren M-24B, and the then-new Gurney Eagle Model 6) "looked like something Hitler would have sent over England"--considering the relative lack of any bodywork behind the driver's cockpit and "seat tank"; Vail, who drove in the era of exposed rail frames and tall skinny wire wheels, Kurtis, whose pioneering roadster(s) had a streamlined "cigar" shape with artistically drawn lines and curves, but still with all 4 wheels fully exposed (although Kurtis had been asked to design a new rear engine car by USAC, which drawings he showed us.  Hitze pretty much pined about how beautiful the late 1940's/early 1950's dual purpose dirt track championship cars looked, tall and upright, beautifully streamlined (but of course with fully exposed wheels). 

I only dared mention my liking of rear engine cars, particularly those with wings and early aerodynamic features--but then I was the 27 year old, and a fanatic about scale modeling Indy cars of all eras.

Isn't the art and science of designing Indy cars, indeed F1 cars very much a matter of "form follows function"?  Yes it is--and once aerodynamics entered as a prime consideration in race car design--then aesthetics for the sake of aesthetics simply had to take a back seat  (in a parallel way, a P-51 Mustang is a gorgeous airplane from any angle--while a modern supersonic jet fighter interceptor often lacks, in the eyes of a lot of us older folks, any pretense of beauty--but that stark (and to some UGLY)  jet interceptor does it's job far better than the old P-51 would, given that the potential enemy is possessed of similarly "ugly" but hot-performing jet fighters.

I can appreciate just about any race car that is a successful design, even though my 73 year old eyes are much more drawn to any 1950's-early 60's roadster, with 40's and 50's upright dirt track cars coming in a very close second--and certainly any 1920's or 30's Indianapolis car grabs my attention.

Food for thought?

Art

[1930fordpickup]

You sure did not say anything but the truth Art. Eye of the beholder. 

I am with the rest of you on the new cars, not a fan of the look. I do understand the function though. 

[Xingu]

Almost any car can grow on me. I don't care if they are ugly as long as we get good racing. Safety is starting to play a larger role in car designs. If a driver walks out of his ugly car after a horrible crash, then I am for  the ugly car. Race cars didn't have safety belts for the longest time.

[afx]

I appreciate all eras of Indy cars from the beginning up to and including CART.  Its the current formula that I just don't care for.

It appears however that change is coming.  Here is the proposed 2018 car design.

 

Edited March 31, 2017 by afx

[gtx6970]

Sure do. But its been some time.

I dont follow any kind of open wheel  races. And have never done a model of one.

But I would surely think about one of these in my case

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2017 by gtx6970

[Dave Van]

Actually I think you need to go back to the early 70's for good looking Indy cars.

Or maybe late 50's early 60's????

[Vince Nemanic]

The current cars are ugly, but they are very fast, adaptable to various conditions, and (most of all) much safer. The "pretty" roadsters and uprights were in the days of "go to the funeral, fix the car, and put another driver in it for the next race" - it was common for 3 to 5 drivers to die each season. If the rear wheel spats had been on a season earlier, chances are Dan Wheldon would still be alive and the car wouldn't be called the DW12.

Also, the 1972 McLaren was the M16B. The M24B wasn't run until '77 or'78.

[Brett Barrow]

The current cars are ugly, but they are very fast, adaptable to various conditions, and (most of all) much safer. The "pretty" roadsters and uprights were in the days of "go to the funeral, fix the car, and put another driver in it for the next race" - it was common for 3 to 5 drivers to die each season. If the rear wheel spats had been on a season earlier, chances are Dan Wheldon would still be alive and the car wouldn't be called the DW12.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IndyCar_fatalities  

[Daddyfink]

There was just something very "Race Car " about these years. 

[Xingu]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IndyCar_fatalities  

You can see the point where driver safety started to be a concern.

[afx]

IndyCar’s latest concept images for 2018

 

Samuel Reiman  @samuelreiman 
Mar 31, 2017 at 1:58p ET

2018 IndyCar Series car

INDYCAR released two computer-generated images of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series car design on Friday. The design is for a universal aero kit that will attach to the Dallara IR-12 chassis and will be used by each team in 2018.

Verizon IndyCar Series

Work in progress

INDYCAR notes that the final look of the kit may vary from the current look given in the concept images. INDYCAR adds that its goals are “to create a bolder, more traditional-looking Indy car that produces most of its downforce from underneath to promote more passing opportunities, while at the same time adding numerous safety enhancements.”

Edited March 31, 2017 by afx