Prep school

A wise engineer once told me that 90 per cent of the work you do in the office is simply to make your life at the track easier

This is my first year working as a performance engineer for Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR), and I’ve already come to appreciate that, while races will always be the showcase events, the work that goes on behind the scenes is equally impressive. A team’s preparation for an IndyCar race weekend is an amazing feat of engineering in and of itself.

Not only that, but it is massively influential on how competitive a team is on a given race weekend. A closer look at the extensive resources committed by each team to prepare for an IndyCar race reveals just how competitive the series has become, both on and off the track.

The first opportunity teams are given to run the car is during pre-season testing. In-season testing is so limited in all forms of motorsport these days that every chance to get on track is vital. And so while the winter snow piles up in Indianapolis, we’ll usually head out to Florida, Texas, or California in search of suitable testing conditions. Winter testing is the first chance teams get to shake down a new car, work out the kinks on a new development project, or begin honing in on the race set-up.

Learning curves

Another benefit of pre-season testing can be the chance to gain familiarity with a new track. From the very moment testing begins, teams are always trying to learn just as much about the race track as they are the cars. For new tracks, this information is doubly valuable as there is no prior circuit data to work from.

While track time is far and away the best method to mimic race conditions, due to its restrictions other avenues are often sought to continue to develop the car away from the track. For instance, aerodynamic testing can be carried out in full-scale and model wind tunnels. Similarly, seven-post shaker rigs can be used for damper development, as well as gearbox