Oilpressure

Please Note: Before we get into the preview for Mid-Ohio; I wanted everyone to know that there will not be a “Random Thoughts” post here on Monday. I have a first cousin whose daughter chose to get married this coming Sunday. It’s bad enough that she chose the Independence Day weekend for her wedding, but the worst is she chose to do it on an IndyCar race weekend. Why they didn’t consult me on this remains a mystery. I tried desperately to get out of it, but Susan admonished me with the logic that family members are traveling hundreds of miles to attend. Living in the same city, we have no excuse. We have to go. Yes, I will set the DVR to watch later, but there is a reception and dinner afterward that may or may not involve alcohol. It’s probably best for me and my readers to not even attempt to slap something up here on Monday. Instead, I’ll return on Wednesday July 10, with a few general comments about the race. Thanks in advance for your understanding. – GP

The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio arrives with more intrigue than usual this weekend. Not only is there a fairly tight points race to watch, but everyone will be paying close attention to the much-anticipated and delayed debut of the hybrid engines.

I’m a little surprised how much confusion is still out there on the hybrid engines. I think people are thinking too much about the hybrids we see on the road every day. Never in my life did I think I would ever own a hybrid until I bought one almost three years ago – a 2022 Honda Insight. I actually really like it, but I would never equate it to a racing engine. My car has a very small gasoline-powered engine. Its primary purpose is to charge the battery that powers the two electric motors that sit next to the internal combustion engine (ICE). When the load is too much for the electric motors, the ICE kicks in.

The acceleration is very impressive, but the drone of the small engine coupled with continuously variable transmission (CVT) that never shifts makes for a very non-satisfying driving experience. No one will ever confuse my car with a race car. Instead, I get my satisfaction at the gas pump.

The primary goal of the hybrid engine on most passenger cars is fuel-economy. On my car, there are times when the ICE does not run at all – relying strictly on electrical power. Theoretically that can happen with the IndyCar hybrid, but unless a driver was out of fuel – I’m not sure why you would do that.

The way I understand it, there are two primary goals behind IndyCar going hybrid. In no particular order, one is marketing. Other racing series have some type of hybrid component in their cars. IndyCar likes to think of themselves as cutting edge, and they do not want to appear to languish in the dark ages; so this was to appease some of the fan base, as well as the engine manufacturers. Honda and GM both are heavily invested in hybrids, and this is a good way to promote what they sell. Honda and Chevy both actually helped develop different areas of the technology used in the IndyCar hybrid.

The other goal for IndyCar going hybrid is more power. The hybrid component will add anywhere from 60 to 125 hp, depending on who you talk to. The limit will be how well the driver can manage to harvest or regenerate (re-gen) energy to store for later use.

This can be done by braking or using a re-gen paddle that will produce drag. Either one will harvest energy to be stored for when needed.

The car this weekend will be about one-hundred pounds heavier than it was two weeks ago at Laguna Seca. The tires that have been run all year were designed with that extra weight in mind, so we will now see more tire wear than we have been seeing this season.

Who can adapt the quickest to the added weight and the strategy involved on when to use the re-gen paddle? We will start to find out the answer to that question this weekend.

One question I keep hearing is “how different does the car sound?” I attended the Firestone tire test at Nashville Superspeedway on June 14, when they were running the hybrid component. It makes sense, since they will be running the hybrids for the season finale at that track in September. Four drivers took part in the session – Pato O’Ward, Ed Carpenter, Colton Herta and Graham Rahal – two larger teams, and two smaller teams; as well as two Chevys and two Hondas. I stood out in the pits for a good portion of the test, just to make sure for myself that the cars sounded the same. They did. Here is a video I took of each car going by at speed. The sound hasn’t changed at all.

Like last year, Alex Palou is coming off of a win and leads the points standings heading into Mid-Ohio. Unlike last year, Palou was coming off of two consecutive wins and led by seventy-four points before the weekend started. This year, he is coming off of only one win and he leads Will Power by only twenty-three points, and Power leads Scott Dixon by only nine points. Palou is still in control, but he does not have a stranglehold on the rest of the field – not yet, anyway.

The 2.258-mile, thirteen turn natural terrain road course outside of Lexington, Ohio is one we keep threatening to go to. Obviously, our family wedding would have prevented us from going this year, but we weren’t planning to go this year anyway – but we need to. I have been told by many that if we love Road America, we would at least like Mid-Ohio. One of these years…

At one time, this was the domain of Scott Dixon. The Kiwi has won six times at Mid-Ohio, but the last time he won there was 2019. However, he did finish second to Palou last year, as Palou continued his win streak as he was putting a beat-down on the field all summer.

One interesting note about Mid-Ohio – no driver has won back-to-back races there since Scott Dixon did it in 2011-12. Chip Ganassi Racing went through a stretch from 2007 through 2014, when the team won six out seven races at Mid-Ohio. Last year was Ganassi’s first win at Mid-Ohio since 2019, when Dixon won.

The other dominant team Mid-Ohio is Team Penske. Since the reunification of 2008, Team Penske has won five races there, while Ganassi has won eight. Andretti cars have won two races in that time frame, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan has won one.

Things get underway with Practice One starting at 3:20 pm EDT on Peacock. Practice Two begins at 10:50 am EDT, while Qualifying starts at 3:00 pm EDT on Peacock. Sunday’s Morning Warm-up will be shown live on Peacock beginning at 10:25 am EDT. Race coverage begins at 1:30 pm EDT on Big NBC, with the green flag around 1:45 pm EDT.

It’s now time for my race prediction for the win. I was thinking since I went out of my way to point out my deficiencies as a prognosticator prior to Laguna Seca, that it might change my luck. It didn’t. I still cling to about a .002 percentage of picking winning drivers over the years. At least picking Colton Herta didn’t immediately send him into the wall.

Many are referring to the debut of the hybrids as The Great Unknown. Yes, the car is much heavier than before, and there will be some strategy involved when dealing with the hybrid for the first time, but the good teams will still be the good teams. I will be surprised if a Penske or Ganassi car does not come away with the win on Sunday. Scott McLaughlin won this race two years ago, and I think he will repeat the feat this Sunday. We’ll see.

George Phillips

Remember – There will be no post on Monday. – GP

This entry was posted on July 5, 2024 at 4:02 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.