Parker’s Paddock – 2015 Aero Package First Take, Pt. 1

Well… I’m back after a busy fall/winter of non-racing work, getting married, and spending a lot of time with family of friends. Hopefully I’ll be here to provide a lot more original content this upcoming season for the site and to fans of the sport. This week I’m going to begin my two part preview of the new aero kits that Chevy and Honda teams will be using this upcoming season.

I have found it a little surprising that it has been awhile since Chevy has finally broken the seal and released official renderings with their new aero kit for the 2015 season, yet we still haven’t seen any real information on the Honda offerings. I was hoping for this entry to be a comparison article between the two kits, but unfortunately that doesn’t appear to be the case since HPD has announced that they won’t be showing off their offering until next Monday (3/9/2015).

Lucky for you readers out there I have seen CAD drawings and mockups for the Honda aero packages for oval and road courses; unluckily, since my day job has me working under non-disclosure agreements I can’t exactly post pictures or drawings. I can say that after seeing both the Chevy and Honda mockups I am actually leaning towards liking the Honda package more so than the Chevy. I think that the design is very sleek/smooth, and contains just the right amount of extra features, whereas the Chevy design seems to be a little awkward with its angles and wing placements.

One of my initial concerns, besides competitiveness, when the aero kits were first announced was whether the rules will allow the cars to look different from each other, much like in F1. I can confidently say that the two mockups look substantially different from each other and fans will certainly be able to tell the difference in the stands and on TV, so that is a relief…

I wish I could say more at this time regarding the Honda aero kit, and as soon as Honda officially announces what their entry for the 2015 season is I will be back to compare the two different entries. Until then, I will close by saying that I am extremely happy with what I’ve seen from both Chevy and Honda and think that it is great for the sport to gain greater support from these guys. I just hope that with all these aesthetic gains, IndyCar doesn’t lose what has made it great over the past few seasons, great racing!