American Open Wheel Renaissance
2012 may be the end for the Mayans but for the United States it will be the rebirth of open wheel racing. Formula One will be coming back to The US and there is also a credible attempt at an American Formula One team. The Indy Racing League will also be introducing a new chassis and engine configuration.
Late last month Formula One Management announced that the United States Grand Prix would return to the F1 calendar in 2012. The race however would not be held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway were it was last held instead it would take place at a purpose built race circuit in Austin, TX. This location has raised several eyebrows though since it is in the middle of NASCAR country I don’t really think it will matter though because Austin is a beautiful city and in previous years the US Grand Prix has been one of the most attended races only falling behind the British Grand Prix. The track will be designed by Herman Tilke, the resident F1 track designer, this can possibly be a bad thing since most of the tracks he has designed have produced less than exciting races. However he is responsible for designing the Istanbul Circuit which does give us great racing year after year.
The other F1 news coming from the US is that of a new F1 team bidding to get the slot that was left available by USF1′s failed attempt to make it to the grid this year. The bid is being put in by the Cypher Group which is made up of people from USF1 minus Ken Anderson and looks to have solid financial backing. I’m not sure if they will make it over the other teams bidding for the open spot but there does seem to be some pull in their corner with the latest comments from Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo saying that he would love to see another Ferrari team on the grid flying the stars and stripes. I would love to see that also.
2012 will be a big year for the IRL since they are introducing a new chassis and engine for the series. When Champ Car and IRL merged many were thinking that the DP-01 that was being run in Champ Car would be used as the new car for the IRL since it was the newer chassis and also had an oval race package developed even thought it was never used in Champ Car. There are several designs that have been submitted to the IRL for review and the new chassis should be announced in the coming months. I’m looking forward to this because anyone who has seen an IRL race knows that current car is the motorsports equivalent of a Toyota Camry, very boring.
The new engine rules for the IRL look very interesting and should bring in more than one engine supplier. Turbos are coming back wich is something that hasn’t been in US open wheel since the Champ Car series. The engine configuration will be a 2.4l engine of either four or six cylinders. The horsepower will range from 550 to 700, I don’t really get this but it may have something to do with the varying hp levels per cylinder count. Currently there are rumors of VW, Renault and several other companies interested in possibly supplying engines for the series. Honda will be happy since they have been asking for more suppliers in the series.
There are a lot of cool things going on in the open wheel community in the US and I am getting excited for it. 2012 may be the year that open wheel puts NASCAR on notice.
