In Driver’s Eye with James Hinchcliffe, the six-time INDYCAR winner will bring you inside the mind of a racer while breaking down the nuts and bolts of the sport for fans.
After a late arrival on the schedule, a myriad of complex logistical hurdles and an unprecedented (but totally justified) amount of promotion and hype, we are finally here: INDYCAR’s Freedom 250.
For many people, being able to attend an Indianapolis 500 â or indeed any INDYCAR race â could be a once-in-a-lifetime proposition. We in the industry often forget how lucky we are to get to go to the race track for a living. But even those of us who live and breathe motorsports will be in for a once-in-a-lifetime event this weekend.
This is shaping up to truly be one of the most exceptional events in the long and storied history of INDYCAR for a number of reasons.Â
Lets start with the setting. Having a race track built in D.C., around the National Mall no less, is certainly not something many people thought they would see in their lifetime.Â
To build a track, you have to meet certain prerequisites, and â by a bit of luck and a lot of hard work from a lot of people, both on the D.C. side and the INDYCAR/Penske Entertainment side â all boxes were checked.
The backdrop will be unmatched and the visuals will be stunning, as Indy cars flash by some of the nations most recognizable monuments and buildings in a 180-mile-an-hour blur. The challenge for the drivers will be equally monumental.
Weve already had two brand-new street circuits this season, so the idea of it all seems old hat by now.Â
But with D.C., things are a little different. Unlike the streets of Arlington, Texas, and Markham, Ontario, D.C. has not been laser scanned to make an accurate track model for the sim. There is a track model, but its based off a 2-D CAD drawing and is nowhere near as accurate.
Furthermore, teams dont have exact info on surface conditions or grip levels, so its all a bit of a guess. When speaking with Andretti Globals Kyle Kirkwood on my podcast, “Off Track with Hinch and Rossi,” this week ahead of the race, he said that the pre-race simulations are predicting a lap time of somewhere between 53 and 60 seconds. A seven-second spread! That would be like the difference between a lap in an Indy car and one in an Indy NXT car!
So needless to say, drivers are coming in with even more unknowns than they had for either Arlington or Markham.
That said, having had the recent experience of Markham under their belts, the engineers especially will be looking back at what worked and what didnt on another newly designed, freshly paved circuit.Â
But they cant simply cut and paste setups because the layout of the D.C. course is comprised of several more 90-degree, slower-minimum-speed-type corners than Markham. This means there will be a huge emphasis on longitudinal grip â straight line braking and traction â
