Industry news

IndyCar Aeroscreen Performs Better Than The Formula 1 Halo

The Aeroscreen device that Red Bull has been working on for IndyCar’s use in 2020 has been measured to be stronger than the Formula 1 Halo device. It was tested for the first time last Wednesday at Indianapolis, and can take a load of 150kN of weight. That’s 25kN more than the theoretical maximum load of the Halo.

It is also able to block dust and other projectiles, which the Halo obviously can’t do due to its frame-only design. The Aeroscreen almost encloses the driver, giving almost full 360 degree protection.

“We’ve adopted it [the halo, in F1], however, the forces which this device [the aeroscreen] or the hoop will take is 150kN,” said Red Bull Advanced Technologies commercial development officer Andy Damerum.

“So I think that at the moment [this will take] more than the F1 halo. 150kN this will take.”

IndyCar Aeroscreen Performs Better Than The Formula 1 Halo

Aeroscreen will undergo testing three more times before its 2020 IndyCar debut, but there are still some doubts from drivers that they need to address, such as the screen fogging up and rain drops. The screens may even include features such as wipers.

“They’ve got a heated screen for the fogging because I think that’s actually worse than the water on the screen,” said IndyCar driver Will Power.

“But [products like] Rain-X or wax, there’s things you can make so it [rain] just beads off.

“That’s something they’ll have to test, but I think if it doesn’t fog, it should be not bad.”

Racer Scott Dixon was keen to add, “I think the hardest situation would have been like maybe Detroit race one this year where it was misty, but then they had re-ground the back straight, the concrete, so there was a lot of white dust, and when that got on the visor it was a bit annoying, but it’ll be interesting.

“We race with visors, you have tear-offs. It’s a similar kind of deal.”

Could you see the Aeroscreen on other open-wheeled race cars like Formula 1? We could, and we’d think it would look and perform far better than the current Halo device. Put your thoughts in the comments!

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

Related Articles

2 Comments

  1. Take a look at the canopy used on NHRA Top Fuel cars. Been using them for a few years now. Nice to see the technology migrate over to Indy and F1. May want to reach out to some of those teams/drivers for input/feedback.

  2. I imagine the constructors could take advantage of the aerodynamic characteristics of the screen…it certainly looks better than the current F1 face-thong, and perhaps engineers can find a way to tweak it to direct air around the cockpit…

Back to top button