Swift #66

I haven't put much talk into the chassis debate coming up as everyone and their mother has beaten the topic to death. However, with the release of Swift's new #66 concept, I felt the need to share with everyone.

This car is freakin' fantastic!

It may be evolutionary as opposed to revolutionary, but boy could I see a bunch of those cars tearing it up at TMS or IMS or Long Beach with the Lola concept and the Dallara concept.

I have absolutely not problem seeing this exact car on track. No modifications whatsoever makes me a happy man with this concept.

If the ICONIC board were to come back to Randy Bernard and say something along the lines of, "Let's allow Swift, Dallara, Lola, and BAT to build their concepts and sell them on the open market", I would be quite alright with that.

I don't think that we should allow multiple chassis' and allow the Delta Wing project to join in with those multiple chassis. I think it would stick out like a sore thumb, and it would just seem wrong having the four evolutions racing against the one revolution.

If this car is able to compete with Lola and Dallara and even BAT (although I hate their design) I'd be quite happy.

What a sexy lookin' car.

Check out more pictures of the car here.

The BAT Project

No, this isn't about the wonderful game BAT Racer which has recently been dumbed down to avoid copyright infringements.

This is about Bruce Ashmore, Alan Mertens and Tim Wardrop and their plans to submit their own chassis design to the Indy Racing League for inclusion in the 2012 plans.

Have to give credit to Shane Rogers who must had stumbled across this article on racecar-engineering.com in between feeding the Kangaroo's down under.

According to the article, the BAT Project is emphasizing safety features of their new chassis, as they have already met with Indianapolis surgeon Dr Terry Trammell who is well known in the safety of the Indycar Series, and IndyCar's Safety and Technical Directors, Jeff Horton and Les Mactaggart.

They also include that they will build everything within 30 miles of IMS. Now, to me that seems optimistic. They are going to need a hell of a factory to build 30 or 40 chassis' and to expect all pieces of the puzzle to be built around Indy, specifically 30 miles around Indy seems pretty tough.

Of course, the same ideas when it comes to aero including helping overtaking by providing the trailing car with stable air to make passing easier.

This BAT Project is a bit of a surprise. I had thought that chassis ideas were all submitted and done with, waiting for the IRL to approve and accept 1 chassis. Now this proposal will probably aid in screwing with their heads even more as they now have a fifth proposal to decide on.

Randy Bernard is going to have a busy first month as CEO.