Chassis and Engines
The engines and chassis available in IndyCar Racing all have slightly different characteristics, which are outlined below. Note that these differences do not always make one engine or chassis better than another. There may be advantages on certain types of circuits, and disadvantages on others. The main parameters that vary from engine to engine are the horsepower and torque curves. The chassis differ mainly in their aerodynamic characteristics: overall drag coefficient, and downforce/drag ratio.
| Chassis | Description |
|---|---|
| Lola T9200 | Good, basic IndyCar chassis. |
| Lola T9300 | Lighter than the T9200, less drag, better downforce/drag ratio. |
| Penske 92 | Similar to the Lola T9200. |
| Penske 93 | Lighter than the Lola T9300, slightly more drag. |
| Galmer | Better aerodynamics than '92 cars, slightly heavier. |
| RH001 | Less drag than '93 cars, downforce/drag not as good, a bit heavier than the others. |
| Engine | Description |
|---|---|
| Chevy A | The original Chevy engine, good power, good reliability. Peak revs: 12,300. |
| Chevy B | An update to the successful A, offers slightly more power. Peak revs: 12,500. |
| Chevy C | re-engineered to be somewhat smaller, lighter; offers even more power than the B, and more mid-range torque. Peak revs: 12,500. |
| Cosworth XB | Slightly more peak power than the Chevy/C, but less mid-range torque (advantage on the speedways,
disadvantage on road and city circuits). Peak revs: 12,500. |
| Buick | More peak power than the other engines (higher allowed boost), less forgiving of abuse. Peak revs: 9,000. |
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Famous quotes containing the word engines:
“America is like one of those old-fashioned six-cylinder truck engines that can be missing two sparkplugs and have a broken flywheel and have a crankshaft that’s 5000 millimeters off fitting properly, and two bad ball-bearings, and still runs. We’re in that kind of situation. We can have substantial parts of the population committing suicide, and still run and look fairly good.”
—Thomas McGuane (b. 1939)