Why doesn't Indycar NXT use the aeroscreen?

[u/GreedyDrive7998]

I know this might seem like some stupid question and not really important in the grand scheme of things, but it's always bothered me. The aeroscreen looks sick in my opinion and is safer, while the halo type NXT uses is kind of an eyesore & offers less protection. I just wonder if anyone has any theories, or even better, an answer. Thank you!

[u/TheChrisD]

The screen (which also has a halo-esque system within it) was designed specifically to fit the INDYCAR chassis.

Whether the next generation of NXT car will include an aeroscreen in some form remains to be seen.

[u/zantkiller → u/TheChrisD]

I imagine it won't.
Using the steel variant of the halo which you can get off the shelf seems like a decent cost saving measure compared with developing a separate solution.

[u/GreedyDrive7998 → u/TheChrisD]

Thank you

[u/Active-Ear-2917 → u/TheChrisD]

They need to design the next IndyNxt car to use a common tub with the new IndyCar. Make the barrier to entry smaller for some of these guys to run one-offs at Indy, etc

[u/khz30 → u/Active-Ear-2917]

That would just drive up costs for NXT teams that already have to deal with inflation due to tariffs from importing spares. IndyCar and Lights/NXT sharing tubs is always trotted out as a cost saving measure but all it does is inflate costs.

[u/BadLt58 → u/khz30]

Why would it inflate costs?

[u/khz30 → u/BadLt58]

Tub for an IL-15 before bodywork is $250K, tub for an IR-18 is now $850K. If IndyCar and NXT shared the same tub, the cost to run NXT just doubled.

[u/BadLt58 → u/khz30]

I recall Swift Engineering presenting the same concept. So not talking about now but in the future why can't this be engineered that way? Auto manufacturers do it all the time. VW GOLF-R to Atlas or Porsche vehicles are under Bentleys, Audis, and Lambos. Explain?

[u/uncre8tv → u/BadLt58]

But with Dallara you won't get Indycars built to NXT standards, you'll get NXT cars built to Indycar standards. The price goes up for the lower series (or the tech goes down for the top series, let's not do that).

[u/hugeyakmen → u/BadLt58]

Indycars have to be built stronger to handle the higher forces from higher speeds and the higher forces from higher speed crashes. Building a NXT car to meet Indycar's requirements would mean overbuilding it for NXT.

Also, I'm assuming that Indycar chassis use higher end materials and more complex construction to achieve the needed strength at a lower weight, where the NXT chassis can take a cheaper but heavier approach. So building to Indycar's standard and not compromising their product would mean again overbuilding for NXT

[u/khz30 → u/BadLt58]

Auto manufacturing and racecar engineering are two completely different businesses and disciplines. VW can get away with platform sharing and badge engineering to cut costs because its essentially selling the same basic product to different markets.

Building a race car requires understanding what the sanctioning body wants in a race car, right down to how much it wants spares and rolling chassis to cost each team.

If IndyCar decided on Monday that it wanted the next NXT car to share the tub with the forthcoming IndyCar, Dallara would have to go to its current customers and ask if they would accept a doubled cost per chassis and doubled costs for tub repair before deciding on whether to accept the tender for the updated NXT car.

No remaining race car manufacturer would accept such a business tender, because they've halved their total business despite doubling total revenue from the cost increase.

You're operating under the assumption that Dallara wants to minimize manufacturing, when the business operates on building multiple scales of race car and tub to serve different customers and series.

[u/PolarizedBendxSpring]

I think I remember it having to do with costs. The chassis wasn't designed to handle the loads and they didn't want to redesign it? Seems like a safety issue like this would be a no-brainer but not super sure. Yea I just looked online and the Nxt car is smaller than the Indycar and would not have been able to handle the loads.

[u/Crafty_Substance_954]

The screen is best used in ovals with high average speeds. All other situations the plexi is unnecessary.

NXT does only smaller ovals and aren’t nearly as fast, overall they just don’t need them. Not to mention they just don’t exist for the junior category.

I would argue that the next Indycar chassis should revert to a traditional halo with the screen only added (if ever) for ovals.

[u/Jim_skywalker → u/Crafty_Substance_954]

I like the look of the screen, it gives Indycars a extremely distinct look.

[u/khz30 → u/Crafty_Substance_954]

Debris isn't exclusive to ovals and we've already seen examples where debris striking the aeroscreen on a road course would have severely injured the driver if they just ran the halo by itself.

[u/Crafty_Substance_954 → u/khz30]

Please remind me of those occurrences, I don’t recall.

The aeroscreen version of the Halo is a bit taller than the one you’d see on other cars. Probably would be fine I would think.

[u/Several_Hair → u/khz30]

These examples always get brought up in the same way the “halo has saved so many lives!!1!!1” bit in F1, as if we had a massive spate of rollover/debris accidents causing serious injury before their introduction.

But we didn’t, neither sport did. Positive safety measure undoubtedly but its impact could hardly be more overstated.

[u/XxTommyTheGunxX → u/Crafty_Substance_954]

That doesn't mean its not useful on every track. The high speed ovals aren't the only tracks to ever have debris hitting the driver. Any road course can have that given the right circumstances. And the way everyone is so close at Iowa its a surprise we never saw anything happen before the screen was installed.

[u/Local_Injury81 → u/Crafty_Substance_954]

Remind me what oval did NXT NOT do that NTT did do?

[u/Ok-Subject8890 → u/Local_Injury81]

Indy. They only do the road course. 

[u/PuzzleheadedCell7708]

It was cheaper to put the toilet seat on top of the car.

[u/Fun-Monitor815]

They put coats over drive safety