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| Photo Credit: Chris Owens |
Ryan Hunter-Reay’s camouflaged Honda machine was doing the component testing on track. The most noticeable change on the car came in the design of the side pod. It looks almost identical to the one Chevy ran this past season.
Speaking to RACER, HPD vice president Steve Eriksen said “we’re allowed, just like Chevrolet, to test concepts and ideas before we homologate those aero kit pieces, and we have a series of tests planned to find directions on what we want to use.”
“We’ll continue testing prototype pieces during the offseason.”
The following, courtesy of RACER, gives an outline of what Honda and Chevy are allowed to change on their aero kits, per the current rules.
Per IndyCar’s aero kit rulebook, manufacturers are allowed to replace select pieces on the car for 2016. The majority involve oval aerodynamics, including new Speedway front wing main planes and end plates, new speedway rear wing end plates, and new Indy 500 rear wing main planes and end plates. For road and street courses, minor updates to the front and rear wing components are permitted, and a new engine air intake is open for development.
Honda will be looking to close the gap to their Chevy counterparts during the offseason. With a limited testing schedule, a good majority of this testing will have to be done in wind tunnels and on the computer – not on track.
Chevy hasn’t started testing new aero kit designs publicly.
The Single Seater 