IRL faces engine shortage

[rustyfan]

I'm a bit surprised no one has mentioned this before, but in any case, this article was posted over at the Indianapolis Star a couple of days ago. I found it very interesting.

IRL faces engine shortage - Indy league may not be able to handle early demand, or fill 500-mile race field.
By Curt Cavin
January 31, 2004


HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The Indy Racing League avoided a major power shortage this week when it lost in U.S. Bankruptcy court.

Officials from Toyota, Honda and Chevrolet confirmed there wouldn't have been enough engines to supply the Championship Auto Racing Teams series cars that would have switched to the IRL had Judge Frank J. Otte's ruling shut down champ-car racing.

As it is, there might not be enough IRL engines to meet demand in the first four races of the season, and that includes filling the traditional 33-car field at the Indianapolis 500, the fourth of those races.

Nineteen teams currently have engine contracts -- seven each for Toyota and Honda and five for Chevrolet. Honda has a two-race contract for Roger Yasukawa in Motegi, Japan, and Indianapolis.

Although there aren't more teams ready to sign up, officials from Honda and Chevrolet say they can accommodate only one additional car apiece in the three races before Indianapolis, and probably only five more combined at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Toyota can take on five more cars, but only if they are the right five, according to Lee White, group vice president of Toyota Racing Development. He said TRD is committing to supplying second cars for IRL teams owned by Tom Kelley, Morris Nunn and A.J. Foyt, if sponsorship can be found, and it must supply the CART team of Carl Haas at Indy if Haas decides to participate.

That brings engine capacity for the league's first two races to 24 cars, 25 for the Japan race and 32 for Indy.

The shortage stems from the IRL's switch to a new power-reducing 3.0-liter engine in midseason. The manufacturers have a limited number of the current 3.5-liter engines, and they aren't building more because they are focused on the 3.0, which becomes legal at the 500.

"We've tried to be very open with people that there could be a shortage here," said Robert Clarke, general manager of Honda Performance Development. "Companies like ours just don't go off and build extra engines so we can have them.

"There are some spares in the system, but giving them away now can hurt current (customers)."

Teams worked with the league last year to ensure the 500 had 33 starters. This year it likely will take the engine manufacturers working together to fill the field.

"It's a situation that everyone is aware of and we're monitoring very closely," IRL senior vice president Brian Barnhart said.

Chevrolet program manager Joe Negri might have done the league a favor Wednesday. He had until then to order his engines for the 500, so realizing a possible shortage he added a couple of extras even though he doesn't have commitments at this time.

"Based on the numbers, I only counted 28 cars for Indy, so how do you ensure a full field?" Negri asked. "I ordered a bit more to accommodate, just in case."

The problem will be eliminated after the 500 when there is a large inventory of 3.0-liter engines.

Honda is in a difficult situation with its final few engines. Team Rahal and Fernandez Racing already have single-car programs and Beck Motorsports was a client last year. Walker Racing would like to be a Honda customer, too.

Now, it's first come first served.

"We're at theoretic capacity now," White said of Toyota's situation. "People have to understand that it's going to be tight this year."

Some really interesting tidbits in that article, like the snippet about Walker (highlighted above) just to name one.

[Down F0rce]

I read that on another site. Apparantly, they are going to have 32 engies for Indy. Honda, Toyota, and GM are massive companies, and I find it a bit difficult to belive that at least one of them cannot build one more engine.

[BootsOntheSide]

This situation appears to kill the chance of having a large field at Indy 500, which means no Bump Day worthy of the name again, which is a shame. This kind of organisational disaster on the rulebooks, frustrating and inconveniencing the engine suppliers, almost seems like a snapshot of CART's recent history.

24 and 25 will cove rthe amount of cars entered for the other races, no doubt about that. However, a lot of teams will be looking to enter the 500 (additional cars from Kelley, Nunn, Foyt, SAFR and maybe Penske. Beck, Schmidt, Walker, Haas, and who knows who else?) and it's not good publicity if some will be frustrated.

[GP Racer]

Originally posted by Down F0rce
I read that on another site. Apparantly, they are going to have 32 engies for Indy. Honda, Toyota, and GM are massive companies, and I find it a bit difficult to belive that at least one of them cannot build one more engine.

I'm with you Down Force.

I was also surprised when I read this, and I'm also surprised that these 3 huge companies say there maxed out and won't be able to produce enough engines! They've got to be kidding?

I don't see this as an insurmountable problem, there's plenty of time to get it sorted out.

[climb]

Yes, and I think that TG will do anything to avoid the risk of having less thatn 3 cars on the grid at Indy.

[rustyfan]

I'm confident we will see 33 cars on the grid for the Indianapolis 500. Some might not be very competitive packages, but we'll see 33 cars nontheless - I'm sure of it.

[OVERSTEER]

Why the hell introduce new regs if there isn't a guarantee of enough engines? pure stupidity if you ask me, yes the accidents that happened towards the end of last year were unfortunate but although safety is important, I would have thought that safely knowing that there are sufficient bits to meet the new regs are available is important too.

[BootsOntheSide]

It's not that they can't produce enough engines, just that it isn't economically viable to, because the engines would be invalid after only one race. This is the problem with having regulation changes midseason.

The last resort might be to make some teams run 3-litre engines at the 500, but these will be much slower, relegating those cars to being permenant backmarkers, which would be unfair and make them disinterested in competing. Setting up a rule break (such as allowing guys running 3 litre engines against 3.5s to run with less wing) might conflict the safety improvement (which I think they've gone about the wrong way - giving the cars more downforce seems to make more sense)

[gttouring]

ha ha- it seems that a merger may be forced on by the manufacturers not wanting to make tiny f1 like engines without turbos...
how hard would it be to build a new crank for 35 enigne (2 spare)- out source it. it could be a private team endeavor- sponsored by IMS.

[Tim Northcutt]

There are many builders who have experience with various versions of IRL engines....they could do this via the outsourcing, etc...

The 3.0 L capacity is a minor change in the engines...they're just shortening the stroke and putting different cams in them...that should be a fairly simple task to convert them...

[climb]

Is it a self candidation as an additional engine constructor , Tim?

[GP Racer]

Chevy is claiming there will be no engine shortages at all for the Indy 500. The new 3.0 engines are on schedule, and being produced as we speak.

They can supply 6 teams now, and 1 more after the 500. For the 500, they can supply 10 teams.

One question though, are they still Cosworth engines, or are they truly Chevies?

[Hazza]

I think they will be untill Indy - as the "Chevy Gen IV" where the Ford engines developed before Ford got into venture with CART - but then again, if you only need to fuddle with the Cams etc thats a good question..Chevy Cosworth...