There are countless storylines heading into the 2020 season for the NTT IndyCar Series, but the aeroscreen is undoubtedly at the top of the list.



The project has been a massive undertaking that has been through rigorous trials and developments over the past few years. However, the concept for cockpit driver safety really hit another level last April with Red Bull Advanced Technologies getting involved.



In the days since, exactly 1,495 laps that span 2,082 miles have been logged across four different style tracks—Indianapolis Motor Speedway (superspeedway), Barber Motorsports Park (road course), Richmond Raceway (short oval) and Sebring International Raceway (street circuit simulation)—in testing out the device.



Jay Frye, president of IndyCar, said there was a focus on how the additional weight of the aeroscreen would affect an Indy car. However, once the data came back and proved it was relatively innocuous, the attention moved toward the tolerances of what it could handle.





Scott Dixon helps with some of the testing of IndyCar’s new cockpit equipped with the added aeroscreen package. Joe Skibinski for IndyCar

IndyCar’s newest safety device is part of the 2020 car package. Joe Skibinski for IndyCar

Romain Grosjean races with F1’s halo device that became mandatory in the series in 2018. Motorsport Images-LAT

“We did a load test on the titanium top frame,” Frye said. “We got to a certain number and that was 34,000 pounds, which is basically six Chevrolet Silverados stacked on top of each other, and it passed that test. At that point, we just really stopped. It's possible that it could do more than that, but it was well within the criteria of what we were looking for."The ballistics test we did, it was a similar type of thing where it was a 3-pound piece at 140, 180, 200, 220 mph. It was many different iterations, and it basically exceeded all of our expectations and all the testing, too.”The next IndyCar open test is set for Feb. 11-12 at Circuit of the Americas, which will feature 25 teams, and all cars will be equipped with the new safety device. Oddly enough, the test serves as a one-year anniversary of sorts.“I think the most amazing thing about this from an engineering perspective, and this is last year, Feb. 13, at the COTA open test, we got with the drivers and came up with a plan,” Frye said. “We've worked on our screen for a couple of years. We couldn't seem to get it over the finish line of where we wanted to be, and we went to them with a new plan. And the new plan was the AFP (Advanced Frontal Protection) device to go on a car by the IndyCar Grand Prix (at the IMS road course) and that simultaneously we would call Red Bull Advanced Technologies and get with them to see if they would be interested in helping us with a similar solution that they put on their car a few years earlier.“So we called Red Bull. They were seriously interested in helping us, signed on immediately and then took a couple of weeks to get the statement of work put together. The design process started like in the first week in April of 2019. So then the AFP device was on the cars at the Grand Prix, we announced the Red Bull project at the Indianapolis 500 in May. We ran the test Oct. 2 at IMS with the No. 9 (Scott Dixon) and the No. 12 (Will Power), and it appears everything's on schedule right now.“To me, that's the most amazing thing is that this project has happened in a year. Part of it was because obviously Red Bull had already been down the road with their application for the Formula 1 car, but it didn't necessarily fit our car. So that had to be reengineered, redesigned based off of the principles that they had already learned.”While the Halo has worked for Formula 1, and the AFP device served its purpose on the Indy car last year, Frye believes the aeroscreen is a game-changer for the entire motorsports industry.“We think, in our opinion, this is an industry-changing total driver cockpit safety solution,” Frye said. “The Halo is great. It's worked. We've seen it work. It does one thing. The AFP device does one thing. We think this is more of a total solution. It does both. It has the load-bearing capabilities on the top. It has the frontal impact piece for things coming at you.“Talking about design and engineering, I mean one of the versions of the screen is heated, so it comes with an anti-fogging piece inside of it. There's really been no stone unturned. This great group has worked really hard to get it where it is.“Now, we'll get it to the teams. Once we hand something off to our teams— these are great race teams—they'll even figure out how to make it better. So over the course of this season, I'm sure there are things that we'll do and learn that can be applied for the future.”

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