Chris Owens/IndyCar

Chris Owens/IndyCar





Chris Owens/IndyCar

Chris Owens/IndyCar

Chris Owens/IndyCar

Chris Owens/IndyCar

Chris Owens/IndyCar

Chris Owens/IndyCar

America's fastest racing series is going with an all-new look from next year. Earlier this week, IndyCar revealed the new 2018-spec cars to the world at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, then let series veterans Juan Pablo Montoya and Oriol Servia loose for the 2018 machine's first test session. The pair—powered by Chevrolet and Honda engines respectively—were immediately up to speed in the box-fresh race cars, which will use the same aero kit for next season regardless of the engine supplier. It's the fourth new look for IndyCar's Dallara-built DW12 since it was introduced in 2012 and the first aesthetic to ditch the un-Indylike airbox behind the driver's head for a much more appropriate roll-hoop.

The DW12 is a much better car than the one it replaced, and it has given IndyCar some fantastic racing over the past few years. But I'm among the few who considered it good-looking; most IndyCar fans hate the sight of it. The series attempted to add some visual diversity in 2015 by allowing Honda and Chevrolet to develop aero kits—unique front and rear wings for the teams using each OEM's engines. But the experiment was not a fantastic success.

Chevrolet worked with Pratt and Miller, better known for their role running the company's Corvette GT racing program. Honda mainly relied on the skills of Wirth Research, having had much success with the Nick Wirth-designed Acura ARS-02a in the 2009 American Le Mans Series (eight pole positions and seven wins from just nine races). But Wirth has been known to over-rely on CFD simulations that don't always work the same in the real world. It turned out Chevrolet had done a better job, but in doing so we lost some of the tight racing that IndyCar had been delivering.

What's more, the two aero kits still looked almost identical to all but the most practiced eye, offering no real visual link to any road-going Chevrolet or Honda. So for next year they're gone, replaced with a new aero kit designed in collaboration between the series, Dallara, and a British designer and 3D animator called Chris Beatty. There will be two specifications: one for super speedway ovals (seen here) and a second, high downforce version for use on short ovals like Iowa, as well as the road courses and street circuits that make up much of the IndyCar season. (We should see the high downforce kit at next week's test at Mid-Ohio.)

The aim was for something that looked sleeker and more like the cars that raced at Indianapolis in the early 1990s. So the engine cover ditches the big airbox, which made little sense for a turbocharged car anyway. Gone, too, are the bulbous rear wheel pods; these were meant to make the racing safer but didn't really work as intended. The wing package is smaller than anything we've seen from the DW12 so far, particularly at the rear. With much more of the car's downforce coming from the shape of its underbody and not its wings, the 2018-spec DW12 should also make for better racing, as there won't be much penalty for running behind another car.

The new kits also improve side-impact protection, in part by adding crushable structures to the sidepods ahead of the radiators. To prevent suspension elements from puncturing the cockpit—and the driver, as happened in James Hinchcliffe's 2015 accident—dyneema fibers are used alongside the more usual carbon fiber to improve protection. IndyCar's simulations say the car shouldn't get airborne following a spin, something that can be a big problem when speeds exceed 230mph (370km/h).

Both Servia and Montoya gave the 2018 cars a thumbs up. "I was flat on it out of the pits, which just says how good the car felt right away. I think it's going to be a fast, good racer," Servia said. "It's exciting because, for the first time in the car, it drives really, really well," said Montoya. "I think they addressed a lot of the things and the car looks great. I think having one aero kit for everybody is great for the sport. The car looks good and it drives really good."

Listing image by Chris Owens/IndyCar