Tony Cotman was among the seven-member ICONIC Advisory Committee that recommended Dallara as the manufacturer of the next-generation car to INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard. The car concept was unveiled on July 14, 2010, and soon afterward Bernard chose Cotman as the project manager.
Cotman, a long-time Indy car official who also heads his own racetrack design firm, reflects on the experience and comments on the maiden season of the new car-engine package.
“When the ICONIC Committee was formed I was pretty skeptical.” Cotman said. “Anytime you get a group of people who have different thoughts or interests it’s hard to come to a conclusion. It was tough. Nobody from the outside knows what went on. You throw into the mix a bit of a divide at that time among team owners whether or not there should be a new car and it was a frustrating situation for all.
“Initially, we were inconclusive quite a lot of the time. Out of that came a lot of stimulating conversation, wonderful ideas, a lot of thoughts and ultimately a direction.”
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Attributes of safety, raceability, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, relevant technology, American-made, green and modern look were the criteria to be rolled into the chassis strategy.
“That (manufacturer) came to be Dallara through a pretty hefty vetting process,” Cotman said. “They are committed to INDYCAR. (As project manager) we talked through every component of the car many times and looking back it was probably very difficult on Dallara because everything was questioned. It wasn’t that no one believed in them. It was questioned for weight, for durability and for cost.
“These were time-consuming things, and when we started the car there was only one engine manufacturer. A few months later there was a second manufacturer and then the displacement was reduced from 2.4 to 2.2 liters, which changed a lot of parameters for Dallara. Then a third manufacturer came along. Over time, we changed a lot of things through the course of the design and even after the introduction of the prototype vehicle due to circumstances that were out of Dallara’s control. You have two options: Back up and do it now or do a retrofit later. It’s a no-brainer. When you’re under a time crunch to design, build and test, there comes a point where you have to move on.
“We pushed hard on a lot of dates. I learned a lot from what goes on from their side of things; how time-consuming everything is, how in-depth they do everything. Dallara has invested a lot in a new facility in Speedway (Ind.), too. It was a huge undertaking and nobody understands the true expense.”
Watching most of the IZOD IndyCar Series races in person, Cotman has been impressed by the high level of competition and entertainment on the diverse set of racetracks.
“I feel the racing has been incredible to date,” he said. “I feel that Dallara has been put through the ringer pretty heftily and I feel a lot of it was that it was different, a departure from where we were. Teams couldn’t use their same set-ups, they had to re-think, they had to re-tool because everything was new. But when you’re stuck with one formula, one spec on ovals for so long (pack racing), it’s sometimes a difficult road to depart from that. From my perspective, I always expect that when something is new, something that is a bit of a departure from what you’ve had for a long time people have to learn new things with new tools to use coupled with competition rules changes.
“What concerns me is becoming stale quickly. When good teams get their set-ups stabilized and can work on smaller things on race weekends, that’s when the technical department will have to evolve the rules. All credit to (INDYCAR vice president of technology) Will (Phillips) and his team. They pushed and pushed and worked with the drivers to get to the point where they needed to make the car more stable and raceable.
“Indianapolis was the first time we got to see the cars on the oval together, and (the Indy 500) was one of the best races I’ve ever seen there. Texas was a totally different race. When you see the likes of Dario (Franchitti) and (Scott) Dixon struggled with the car because it’s not handling right, that’s great from a fan’s perspective. I still think the car is still too easy to drive.
“In general, I like to see drivers complaining that their cars are hard to drive. It shouldn’t be easy. It should be the 25 most elite race car drivers around, and it should not be that a racer from any formula can jump in an IndyCar and go. This year, it’s gotten to the point of proving that.
“The racing has changed on how you have to race strategically. The racing has changed in how the driver needs to think about tire management and what tools they have available when the car changes over a full-tank run.
“Have there been issues along the way? Of course, but I don’t care that engines blow up. In fact, I love it. It shows that you’re pushing to the limit and that’s what racing is about.
“From a show perspective, I think (the car-engine package) has performed really well. We’ve moved forward in a positive direction.”