The Dallara DW12 (formally named the Dallara IR-12) is an open-wheel

formula In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science refers to the general construct of a relationship betwe ...

racing car Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including ...

developed and produced by Italian manufacturer

Dallara Dallara Group S.r.l. is the largest multi-national Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Giampaolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' M ...

for use by the cars in the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

. The DW12 was first used in the

2012 IndyCar Series season The 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series was the 17th season of the IndyCar Series, and the 101st season of American open wheel racing. Its premier event was the 96th Indianapolis 500, held on Sunday, May 27. The series was sanctioned by IndyCar, and too ...

, replacing the nine-year-old Dallara IR-05 chassis. It is to be replaced by the planned Dallara IR-27, whose arrival has been pushed from 2027 to 2028 by engine-production delays, supply chain delays and money problems. Under a deal negotiated by the IndyCar organization, each chassis costs $349,000. Since 2015, Honda and Chevrolet have offered alternatives to the Dallara aerodynamic kit. No IndyCar chassis has been used for a longer period of time. The DW12 added safety features such as a partial enclosure around the rear wheels and a redesigned front section intended to prevent single-seater crashes such as the one that killed

Dan Wheldon Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Autosport, Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 Indianapol ...

, the chassis' test driver and namesake. Wheldon was killed at

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on October 16, 2011, the final race of the previous IR-05. The nomenclature recalls that of the old Formula One team

Ligier Ligier () is a French automobile and minibus maker created by former racing driver and rugby player Guy Ligier (1930–2015), specialized in the manufacturing of microcars. Ligier is best known for its involvement in the Formula 1 World Cham ...

, whose cars were labeled JSxx after French F1 driver

Jo Schlesser Joseph Théodule Marie Schlesser (18 May 1928 – 7 July 1968) was a French Formula One and sports car racing driver. He participated in three World Championship Grands Prix, including the 1968 French Grand Prix in which he was killed. He score ...

, who died in the

1968 French Grand Prix The 1968 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Rouen-Les-Essarts Circuit on 7 July 1968. It was race 6 of 12 in both the 1968 World Championship of Drivers and the 1968 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 6 ...

The ICONIC Project

In 2010, the Indy Racing League began to forge its ICONIC Plan (Innovative, Competitive, Open-wheel, New, Industry-relevant, Cost-effective). The ICONIC committee was composed of experts and executives from racing and technical fields: Randy Bernard (IndyCar CEO), William R. Looney III (military),

Brian Barnhart Brian Barnhart (born June 30, 1961) is an American motorsports executive. He is the general manager of Arrow McLaren, and is known for his past roles within the IndyCar Series paddock, holding various positions for race teams and as a race director ...

(IndyCar),

Gil de Ferran Gil de Ferran (11 November 1967 – 29 December 2023) was a Brazilian professional racing driver and team owner. De Ferran was the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car champion driving for Team Penske and the winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500. He also ...

(retired Indy 500 champion), Tony Purnell (motorsport), Eddie Gossage (Texas Motor Speedway), Neil Ressler, Tony Cotman (NZR Track Consulting), and Rick Long (motorsport). That year, IndyCar accepted proposals for a new chassis from BAT Engineering,

DeltaWing The DeltaWing is a racing car designed by British race car designer and engineer Ben Bowlby and debuted at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. The entry was run under the Project 56 name, composed of Ben Bowlby (design), Dan Gurney's All American ...

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lol ...

, and

Swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIF ...

. On July 14, 2010, organizers announced that they had accepted the Dallara proposal. The ICONIC plan was implemented in the 2012 season. The cars used through 2011—a 2003/2007-model

IR-05s with

naturally aspirated A naturally aspirated engine, also known as a normally aspirated engine, and abbreviated to N/A or NA, is an internal combustion engine in which air intake depends solely on atmospheric pressure and does not have forced induction through a turboc ...

V8 engines (required since 1997)—were retired.

New chassis

Under the ICONIC regulations, all teams compete with a core rolling chassis, called the "IndyCar Safety Cell". Teams outfit the chassis with body work, referred to as "Aero Kits": front and rear wings, sidepods, and engine cowlings. Any manufacturer may market an Aero Kit, but must offer it to all teams under a price ceiling. Purnell invited car manufacturers and other companies such as

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

and GE to develop kits. The IndyCar Safety Cell was capped at a price of $349,000 and are assembled at a new

facility in

Speedway, Indiana Speedway is a town in Wayne Township, Marion County, Indiana, United States. The population was 13,952 at the 2020 census, up from 11,812 in 2010. Speedway, which is an enclave of Indianapolis, is the home of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. H ...

. Aero Kits are capped at $70,000. Teams may buy a complete Dallara safety cell/aero kit for a discount. On May 12, 2011,

unveiled the first concept cars: one apiece in oval and road course Aero Kit configuration. On April 30, 2011, IndyCar owners voted 15–0 to reject the introduction of multiple Aero Kits for the 2012 season, citing costs. Owners expressed their desire to introduce the new chassis/engines for 2012, but have all participants use the Dallara aerodynamic package in 2012, and delay the introduction of multiple aero kits until 2013. On August 14, 2011, IndyCar confirmed that the introduction of multiple Aero Kits would be delayed until 2013 for "economic reasons", and furthermore, it was put off for 2013 as well.

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

and Lotus had already announced their intention to build aero kits.

2011 Indianapolis 500 The 95th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 29, 2011. The race was part of the 2011 IndyCar Series season, 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series season. The track opened for practice on May 14 and ...

winner

carried out the first official test of the Dallara chassis at

Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington, Ohio, Lexington. It hosts a number of racing series such as IndyCar Series, Indy ...

in August 2011.O'Leary, Jamie
2012 Dallara makes test debut
, ''Autosport'', August 8, 2011, Retrieved 2011-12-07 Following Wheldon's death at the season-ending race in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, Dallara announced that the 2012 chassis would be named the DW12 in his honor.

Dallara aero kit (2012–2014)

The first official test of the

IR-12 chassis was carried out by

on August 8, 2011. Phase I of testing involved Wheldon, and was planned to involve three road courses and three ovals, over a total of about twelve days. The second test was held August 18 at

Barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a barbershop or the barber's. Barbershops have been noted places of social interaction and public discourse ...

, and the third was held on the USGP road course at

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

on September 1. Oval tests took place in September at

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

and

. Honda (

Scott Dixon Scott Ronald Dixon (born 22 July 1980) is a New Zealand racing driver who races the 9 Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) Dallara DW12-Honda car in the IndyCar Series. He is a six-time drivers' champion of the IndyCar Series, having claimed the title in ...

) and Chevrolet (

Will Power William Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 12 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He won the 2018 Indianapolis 500 and has won the IndyCar Championship twice, in ...

) began Phase II of on-track testing at

in early October. A scheduled test at

was cancelled after Wheldon lost his life in the 2011 race held at the track, resulting in Dallara renaming the chassis, a practice adopted from Ligier, which named its race cars "JS" for

. Testing resumed in late October and continued through February at several venues including Sebring,

Fontana Fontana may refer to: Places Italy *Fontana Liri, comune in the Province of Frosinone *Fontanafredda, comune in the Province of Pordenone * Fontanarosa, comune in the Province of Avellino *Francavilla Fontana, comune in the Province of Brindisi ...

Homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...

, Phoenix, and Sonoma. Lotus first took to the track on January 12 at Palm Beach, and testing by individual teams began on January 16. A full-field official open test took place on March 5–6 and 8–9, 2012 at

Sebring International Raceway Sebring International Raceway is a road course auto racing facility in the Southeastern United States, southeastern United States, located near Sebring, Florida. Sebring Raceway is one of the oldest continuously operating race tracks in the U.S ...

. The Dallara DW12's race debut was at the 2012 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 25, 2012.

Team Penske Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Day ...

's Will Power won the inaugural pole and

Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He competes part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 06 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. He is one of four drivers to have w ...

won the first race with the DW12. Full-field oval open tests also took place on April 4, 2012, at

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

and May 7, 2012, at

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway (formerly known as Texas International Raceway from September to December 1996) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. It has hosted various major races since its inaugura ...

. The car's Indianapolis debut came in the

2012 Indianapolis 500 The 96th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, on Sunday May 27, 2012. It was the premier event of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season. For the first time since 1996 all entries featured turbocharged ...

. In its first three 500s the car saw 136 lead changes, including a track-record 68 in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Manufacturer aero kits (2015–2017)

For the 2015 season, the universal aero kit provided by Dallara was retired, and replaced with individual manufacturer's aero kits. Honda and Chevrolet introduced their own in-house designed aero kits, in partnership with

Wirth Research Wirth Research was founded by Nicholas Wirth in 2003, specialising in research, development, design and manufacture for the motor racing industry and other high technology sectors. The company uses virtual engineering technologies to enab ...

(Honda) and

Pratt & Miller Pratt Miller Engineering, formerly known as Pratt & Miller, is an American company involved in the automotive and arms industries. It was founded by Gary Pratt and Jim Miller in 1989. A defense division was added in 2013 and the company was ...

(

), respectively. The first official test of Chevrolet's aero kit was conducted at

COTA Cota or COTA may refer to: People Surname * Ava Michelle Cota (born 2002), American actress * Chad Cota (born 1971), American football player * Chase Cota (born 1999), American football player *Ed Cota (born 1976), American basketball player * H ...

on October 17, 2014, followed by preseason testing at

NOLA Nola is a town and a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy. It lies on the plain between Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines. It is traditionally credited as the diocese that introduced bells to Christian worship. ...

on March 14, 2015. The manufacturer's aero kits race debut was at the 2015 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 29, 2015.

's Will Power won the inaugural pole and

Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born 20 September 1975) is a Colombian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to , IndyCar between 1999 and 2022, and the NASCAR Cup Series between 2006 and 2024. Montoya won seven Formula One Grand ...

won the first race with the DW12 Chevrolet aero kit. In the first season of use, the Chevrolet aero kits had an edge over Honda, with Chevrolet teams winning all but six races during the season. However, at

, three Chevy entries experienced frightening flip-over crashes, prompting a delay in pole qualifying, tweaks to the qualifying rules, and a safety examination during the offseason. Midway through the season, both manufacturers introduced updates to their aero kits, with Honda losing its front wing endplates on safety grounds, and Chevrolet introducing an additional winglet. In 2016, in response to the flipping incidents of Chevrolet-powered cars at the

2015 Indianapolis 500 The 2015 Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 24, 2015. It was the premier event of the 2015 IndyCar Series season, 2015 season of the IndyCar Series, Verizon IndyCar Series. Juan Pabl ...

, domed skids were introduced. Zylon bodywork tethers were also added to the cars, to prevent loose bodywork from leaving a car, and striking another competitor, following the death of Justin Wilson, who was struck by loose bodywork. In addition, bodywork updates were issued by both manufacturers to their aerokits. Compared to the Chevrolet aero kit, the Honda kit saw numerous changes, with the front wing being altered from a stacked triple element, to a simpler dual element section, with a new endplate section introduced. In addition, new sidepods were introduced on the road course kit, while a new tyre ramp was introduced with it, and vents were added to the rear wing endplates. The Chevrolet Aero Kit was less dominant, compared to the previous season. For the 2017 season, a developmental freeze was implemented, ahead of a planned introduction of a new universal aero kit for 2018.

IR–18 Universal Aero Kit (UAK-18) (2018–2026)

In March 2017, the

announced that the DW12 would receive a redesign and facelift of its aerodynamic system, with all cars running a universal aero kit starting in 2018. Named the UAK-18 (Universal Aero Kit 2018), the base Dallara Safety Cell chassis would remain as-was: however, several components, including the airbox and rear-wheel guards, would be removed. The latter were jettisoned as research and on-track results indicated that they were largely ineffective in reducing large crashes and would often break easily, as would other extraneous winglets. The new kits were designed to ensure that more downforce comes from ground effects than the wings, and the visuals were inspired by classic Indy car designs from the 1980s and 1990s. In addition, teams would save money as they no longer have to buy different base undertray chassis strictly for superspeedways such as Indianapolis. The same chassis can accommodate aero kits for both road/street/short oval courses and the longer ovals. For the cockpit section, all IndyCar Series entrants began to utilize the all-new

Cosworth Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for auto racing, automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream Automotiv ...

CCW Mk2 steering wheel and also-new Configurable Display Unit 4.3 display dashes. Due to cost reasons, several smaller

teams (including part-timer and

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

-only) still carried over the Pi Research Sigma Wheel digital display for one more season. The driver seats are slightly reprofiled to improve driver comfort as well as modifications such as a slight increase of cockpit length and width to better accommodate driver body height and weight. IndyCar Series was also in talks on the use of cockpit protection for the 2019 season such as the aeroscreen to avoid fatal crashes such as that of Justin Wilson in 2015. The aeroscreen was tested by

ISM Raceway Phoenix Raceway (formerly known as ISM Raceway from 2018–2020, Phoenix International Raceway from 1964–1973 and 1976–2017, and FasTrack International Speedway from 1973–1976) is a dogleg oval track in Avondale, Arizona. The track has ...

on February 9, 2018 and then by

Josef Newgarden Josef Nicolai Newgarden (born December 22, 1990) is an American racing driver who races the No. 2 Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet in the IndyCar Series. He was the 2011 Indy Lights champion, and 2017 and 2019 IndyCar Series Champion. He won the 2 ...

on April 30, 2018. The initial new cockpit protection called "Advanced Frontal Protection" made its debut at the 2019 Indianapolis 500, while the new radical Aeroscreen cockpit protection was introduced for 2020 season developed by Red Bull Advanced Technologies. The UAK-18 (with the 2020-adopted aeroscreen) with V-6 twin-turbocharged engine powerplant, was originally expected to be retired at the end of the 2023 season. It was to be replaced by a hybrid powerplant for 2024. However, series officials have delayed the rollout of the hybrid formula until an unspecified date after the 2024 Indianapolis 500. Therefore the same cars from 2023 will be utilized for the first several races of the 2024 season.

Hybrid engine formula (2024)

The IndyCar Series is currently testing updated 2.4 liter V6 powertrains with 100bhp hybrid ERS units provided by German manufacturer Mahle, who has provided such power units to various motorsport categories, such as DTM and in automotive applications. The powertrains are currently in active development after being delayed from the originally scheduled 2023 debut due to the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic affecting availability of manufacturing capacity for the hybrid power units to allow for manufacturer testing, as well as the desire from IndyCar manufacturer participants Chevrolet and Honda to delay the introduction of the hybrid powertrain to 2024 to allow for more testing, development and security in having the necessary parts to supply participating teams with the new powertrains. As of November 2022, there are currently no plans to introduce a new chassis in the near future, with previous plans to debut a new chassis for the 2024–25 seasons delayed to 2027 due to the impact of the pandemic delaying initial design and development from the January 2021 timeframe, with no immediate word on a replacement for the current DW12 UAK18. On December 16, 2024 it was announced that the series and

would confirm its successor from 2027 onwards and thus the current chassis is scheduled to retire after the 2026 season. In December 2022, IndyCar announced that the new engine formula scheduled to debut in 2024 had been delayed to 2027. Instead, a hybrid system for the existing 2.2 liter V6 engines was introduced during the 2024 Honda Indy 200 at

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington. It hosts a number of racing series such as IndyCar, IMSA WeatherTech Sportsc ...

. It has a , electric motor coupled to a , 60-volt capacitor.

Fatal accidents

The DW12 was the second Dallara IndyCar Series chassis to suffer a fatality in

to date. At the 2015 ABC Supply 500 at

Pocono Raceway Pocono Raceway (formerly known as the Pocono International Raceway in early years) is a tri-oval track in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania. The track has held a variety of events since its opening in 1969, including NASCAR, IndyCar Series, and IMSA GT ...

, Justin Wilson died after being hit on his helmet by the nose cone of Sage Karam's crashed car, as of the end of the 2024 season this was the last fatality to occur in the IndyCar series.

References

External links

Dallara DW12 Car SpecificationsDallara's Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dallara DW12 IndyCar Series Open wheel racing cars DW12 American Championship racing cars