IndyCar - Behind the Pit Wall

[Kevin]

As the 2019 IMSA season came to a close, a friend of mine working for the Dale Coyne Racing IndyCar team informed me that they were looking for a new data engineer and that I should apply. I applied with the intentions of using the experience as a way of learning what was required to work at that level and to expand my network of contacts. The in-person interview was the longest I have ever experienced, lasting from 8:30am until 2pm packed with a mix of technical questions and "aptitude" tests regarding software and making autosport wiring harnesses. When I had arrived home back in Winnipeg the next day, I had a voicemail from Dale Coyne himself offering me the position. It took a day for it to sink in, I accepted the position and moved down to Illinois the first week of December.

Similar to my IMSA thread, I will come up with posts as things cross my mind and I will try to have relevant pictures to share as well. Unfortunately IndyCar has a few more "secrets" than IMSA so I will not be able to share details of everything, but I will do my best.

As always, questions are more than appreciated and I hope to share some new knowledge!!

 

[beppca]

Thanks, looking forward to it.

Are you still in the US and working? What's the situation like where you are?

[Jim Eh.]

Always nice for the "peek behind the door" in the past. Great to read well written posts. Thank you for your insights and stories. Be safe, be healthy and may this venture be interesting, informative and prosperous for you.

[Kevin]

23 hours ago, beppca said:

Thanks, looking forward to it.

Are you still in the US and working? What's the situation like where you are?

I am still currently it the US. Thankfully I am far enough way from Chicago (Oswego, IL to be exact) that things are a bit less chaotic, even compared to Winnipeg. The grocery stores have been dead lately and the population density is much lower so it's easy to get out for some fresh air and not run into anyone.

We are not allowed to be at the shop due to the state-wide stay at home order, but this has not halted all work for us. Each member of the engineering department has their own work laptop and we already had a VPN system setup for regular use prior to these closures happening. Following in suit with the major racing series, IndyCar launched their iRacing series a few weeks ago. I will be running strategy and spotting for my car at the next race which is happening this Saturday. On top of that, all of us engineers are still working away on small projects to improve workflow and decision-making efficiency.

Operating a race team at any level requires copious amounts of money, where that money comes from differs from team to team. While relying on partnerships and sponsorship as most teams do, Dale Coyne also raises income by being the largest Sonny's BBQ (restaurant) franchisee in the US. While the majority of teams in IMSA and other "lower" series rely upon "day rate" employees, IndyCar teams primarily use full-time salaried employees. Thankfully I am still getting paid at the moment, but I am unsure how long that will last if more races continue to be cancelled.

[Gary_T]

Very cool - congrats on the new gig - hopefully the season comes together so you guys can actually get to a track.

I've been rooting for Coyne the last couple years (with Bourdais), the guys this year look promising, hopefully it can keep on the upward trajectory.

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Gary_T

[Kevin]

This afternoon I completed my first race spotting and calling strategy on iRacing for the IndyCar iRacing  Challenge. I never thought I would be doing something like that in this decade, but it is the best way we can stay involved with our drivers at the moment. The car setups are all locked, the only control that we have is how much fuel to put in the car at each stop and if tires are going to be changed. This was my setup for the race with my personal and work laptop:

 

I used a static view that was consistently looking down on my driver that was fairly zoomed out so I could keep him informed of what was going on around him. He was only using a single screen so his visibility was fairly limited and even could not see if there was a car right beside him. On the right laptop, I had our fuel strategy sheet running. It requires the fuel usage for each lap to be inputted in order to accurately predict how many laps you can last on fuel. I received these fuel numbers from a "telemetry" program (the right window on the right laptop) that also acted as a timing and scoring program that could display vehicle vitals along with track maps and timing sheets.

There were multiple practice sessions and rehearsal races over the past 3 days to ensure that the televised race today was not a demolition derby. After participating in those practices, it can be assured that without them, the real race would have been an utter disaster. 

[beppca]

You must be getting busy now that the Texas race has been announced for June 6?

Getting the car ready will be challenging with social distancing.

Good luck.

[Kevin]

I decided to start with a general overview and will create more detailed posts about specific parts of the car.

All IndyCars use an "identical" carbon fibre monocoque that was designed and manufactured by Dallara. I say "identical" because there is a decent amount of manufacturing tolerance differences from chassis to chassis. Also, if a chassis has been involved in a wreck, it can be repaired and put back into use. It goes without saying though, that the repairs would never result in a composite chassis behaving the same as brand new. For our team, each car number entry has 2 chassis, one primarily for road course events and the other for ovals.

The powerplants are 2.2L twin-turbo V6 direct injection engines and each team has the option to sign engine leases with one of two manufacturers, Honda or Chevrolet (we use Honda). Every team car entry has an engine calibration engineer tied to them and they are not allowed or even able to start the engine without the calibration engineer being present. The gearbox housing and internals are supplied by Xtrac and is a true transaxle to which the rear suspension completely bolts to.

The front and rear suspension layouts are both double-wishbone pushrod activated setups with 3rd members both front and rear. Unlike some prototype cars, such as LMP3, LMP2 etc., IndyCar does not allow any dampening on the 3rd member so only bump stops and/or springs are used.

Our shop has a small office space up front that has an engineering office that fits 6 of us, each car entry has a head engineer, assistant engineer and a data/electronics engineer. The main shop has 2 primary work bays, a sub-assembly area,  pit-stop practice area, fabrication corner, paint booth, setup plate, secondary vehicle work area and a storage mezzanine above the fabrication corner.

Each work bay is controlled by the respective crew chief for each car number. There is a primary front-end mechanic, primary rear-end mechanic and each have a secondary mechanic who helps them. The subassembly area is where the gearboxes are cleaned, inspected, serviced and assembled in addition to the axles, brakes and uprights. One mechanic is solely responsible for the gearboxes and another for the axles, brakes and uprights. We do have a magnaflux machine to inspect any wear parts that we are responsible for, that being anything other than the engine.

The pit-stop practice area is a fairly basic setup with wooden boxes made to emulate a pit-box wall. The vehicle used for the practices is an old chassis that has been outfitted with an electric golf cart motor and batteries. The air lines for the air-jack wand and wheel guns have sensors on them and interface with a video system for instant playback and review of practice runs that show exact performance of individuals.

The fabrication corner is fairly basic with a vertical band saw, drill press, cold saw, tig welder and table, 3-axis manual mill, manual lathe, bench grinder, belt sander and a downdraft table. Simple metal fabrication will be done in-house, but a good majority is completed by local companies since we do not have enough manpower to dedicate solely to fabrication. We do have a full-time painter and body assembler who are responsible for ensuring proper fitment of all body parts, the body assembler is also responsible for assembling and repairing all of the wings and floors.

I should also mention that the other data engineer and myself share a workbench where we take care of any electrical and wire harness assembly required.