hey I'm Mike Spinelli from the drive and if you're into open-wheel racing or
IndyCar specifically you know the 2018 is a really pivotal year there's a brand
new car in IndyCar and here to tell us about that car is Simon Pagenaud, Simon
good to see you man good to see in 2016 IndyCar Series champ second place in
2017 and looking to comeback for Team Penske in 2018 yes I lost the number one
okay but I just left it as a rental so I'm planning on getting it back but
we're the nominal season with consistency but it wasn't enough to win
so my teammate Newgarden Warren so it was good that we kept it in the family
at Team Penske right but I'm gonna get it back yeah it'll be in this car and
this is a really interesting year because as a spec series you guys use
the same chassis yes and now the same arrow and visual package because they
went and redesigned the car to be better-looking as well as different
aerodynamically so let's go through some of the things that yes yeah I mean it's
a beauty I mean obviously the biggest thing that changed is the the rear
bumper is gone so we don't have any more of that what
we call the Kardashians yeah well which i think is a funny word
yeah I mean it was it's fairly Kardashian ass there was a safety
element to that to is to prevent cars from from yes so there were several
things that were good about it and then there were some detriments as well the
good things were added a ton of downforce on the rear so from former
driving standpoint it was awesome because you had such a good rear such
good traction you can brake late and the car was very very fast so but then for
safety hitting a wall backward was really good too because it absorbs the
energy it basically you didn't take the energy of the impact which was good now
the issue was that debris were flying when cars were hitting each other and I
turn in miles an hour on a speed away when you get debris flying that's very
dangerous and and the indica series thought that we
should get rid of it for look and also for less downforce and they thought that
maybe it wasn't as safe as they thought I'm sure they have data you know to look
at the safety thing as far as visually it does look alone in it I mean it
really like from the sexy sexy Indy car yes it is
you know they've moved the radiator forward so now you've got that round
shape in the front which is good for Aero as well but also for impact on the
side there's better protection of the cockpit and and it makes it look more
even we have a weight distribution that has moved in consequence forward which
is good because we had a lot of weight to the back before and then we have a
smaller front wing than before with less elements
so let's debris but it's still very efficient and still a lot of downforce
on the car one of the new things related to the new front Aero though is aren't
you guys leaving less of a week yeah it should be cleaner the whole car is
cleaner because mostly of the rear bumpers used to have such a big hole
behind the car and drafting was really strong I don't know honestly I haven't
been in traffic much yet with it in testing but it seems like it won't have
as much of an effect so you'll be able to follow cars closer and I've closed
the racing now we're gonna have a lot more downforce
under the car rather than being on top of the car so it's two very different
cars even though the cup it's actually the same surprisingly enough the biggest
thing now is you're gonna feel that suction to the ground because you get
the downforce mostly from the floor it's a bigger floor wider there's no hole in
the front so now we're gonna have more downforce from there than we used to and
when you brake basically you feel that suction to the ground suck you to the
ground so you feel a lot of confidence and it's not affected by the car ahead
of you which is really good for racing in the past we used to have the big
wings and you know all these extra stuff and it used to get affected by wind wake
of another car and if you are now alone on the racetrack it was a completely
different race car to drive right right so that's gonna be different and I do
think it's gonna change driving style and racing technique on your craft this
is set up for Rome courses and intermediates there's a different
obviously different setup for the super speedways what are the changes between
the two styles well it's pretty simple and that's where Indy car is awesome
because they keep it very versatile we're just changing the wings and
obviously the mechanic was set up so the wave front wing is gonna be a lot
smaller and the rear wing is tiny yeah when you look at it it's like a mustache
yeah like a French mustache when you look at it you're like I don't know if I
want to get in the car really but it's gonna be mostly the grip is gonna come
from underneath and apparently those who have tried on Speedway they said that
the Racing's going to be really good at Indy even they think maybe even better
and another thing about the looks is they know I remember the last car had
that really high intake ya know it's all down here is that gonna help your know
that you're feeling it that's know that shouldn't change to anything for me but
that's funny but the biggest thing is is it's the looks to look expected was to
go back a little bit in time with the law the lower rear engine cover you know
like the 90s used to be or the 2000s version of Indy cars but make it look
futuristic a little bit with the round shapes and and the big wings so the
intakes now are on the side basically on the side pods and it allowed us to move
a lot of the primary inside the car to the front and when you bring weight
distribution like this to the front it gives you more stability makes the front
tires work better and you can find different ways to make the car work so
it's it opened up the box a little bit for for the engineers and the drivers to
find other ways to make it work better it's good that the Racing's will be
better it looks better let's talk about safety need center part
of the chassis is still the DW toy yes it is
and everything around it has been built around that spine yes so since 2012
we've had the same cockpit area so where I'm sitting
obviously they've done a lot of work on reinforcing the chassis for the impact
that we've seen on the tracks and indicas they're pioneers in terms of
safety you know they're actually working also on the on the windshield now that's
that's really good-looking compared to the a Formula One halo but I hope it
comes out quick because it's great for safety it's the next evolution the next
big evolution in racing in my opinion but they've done a tremendous job on the
side pod with we've got a structure here for impact so when if you hit the wall
really hard on an or wall on a road course you've got this structure here
it's like like a mat basically of carbon and it just crushes and take all the
only absorption away from the driver the basic part of the chassis is the same
also Dallara still engine still 2.2 litre yes turbo v6 gearbox is the same
same the steering wheel the steering wheel changed a lot it's really good we
we have a full-screen led from Cosworth and you can basically get everything you
want on the steering wheel I have an electronic guy at the the racetrack work
with me on giving me the exact information I want on the steering it's
it's becoming complicated but it's great because you get all the information you
need and on the engine you know we would say it's the same engine but we gain
about roughly 50 horsepower every year so now we are a level of horsepower
that's incredible and with less drag now because we have obviously less
aerodynamic components the cars are a lot faster on the straightaway it's a
blast to drive so far so that's cool so I mean are you cracking 800 horsepower
that's almost there almost there not there yeah not quite there yet but we're
almost there and the goal with indicates to to get even more than that in the
future so very exciting here for us that's amazing so top speed on a Super
Speedway is still around 240 it should be
it was 240 a little bit more than 240 242 lastly and qualifying
I'm expecting the same cool intermediate maybe to 2230 still around yeah it would
be we should be in the same the same average speed to 30s which is a blink of
an eye you know that what I really love about this is you know how bold it is
and you know it's not complicated it's racing and it's pure racing I love the
direction we're taking with let's go take same cars everybody different
engines different manufacturer let's go racing by five hundreds of a second
tenths of a second difference between first and third for example I think
that's that's incredible Simon great to see you man thank you
thank you i thing like you come back next time in and destroy us and go
karting yeah I'm expecting some improvement by a hundred yeah
it's an improvement thank you have a great season thank you very much
you