IndyCar has taken the wraps off or the all-new car it plans to debut for the 2028 season. The IR-28 features a fully redesigned chassis, body and powertrain that promises to make it the fastest IndyCar in history.
The outgoing DW-12 that made its debut in the 2012 season has been updated several times over the years with new bodywork, the addition of the protective aeroscreen windshield and hybridization of its 2.2-liter turbocharged V6-based power unit.
The new car was designed from the start by Dallara with an integrated aeroscreen and will feature speedway and road/street course aerodynamic setups with dramatically different wings and other elements. Both were designed to optimize the car’s wake and outwash to allow for closer racing and weigh roughly 100 pounds less than the current car.
A suspension known as the Custom AXIS Inertance Control Suspension System that allows for spring, damper and inerter tuning will be common to all the cars to help reduce costs. Teams build their own damping systems for the DW-12. The IR-28 will also have electronically adjustable anti-roll bars instead of the lever-controlled device used today.
A digital number display is incorporated into the engine cover to show the car’s position and the top of the cover is transparent to show of the new engines.
The engine will be a 2.4-liter turbocharged V6s rated at 760 hp and coupled to an electric motor inside the bellhousing that can provide a 100 hp boost using energy recovered and stored in a battery. Honda and Chevrolet will be the initial suppliers, but IndyCar is open to additional manufacturers joining the series. IndyCar promises that the car will be fast enough to set records at all of its circuits, Including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the existing fastest qualifying and race speeds were set in 1996.
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“With initial testing to begin this week, there is still plenty of work to do before 2028, but we are well on our way to showcasing a new era of IndyCar, which will include enhanced wheel-to-wheel competition, track records, standards in raceability and new benchmarks in safety,” IndyCar President J. Douglas Boles said in a news release. “We are confident the IR-28 is the ideal package to move IndyCar forward for our teams, drivers, partners and fans.”
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