Boles: IMS continues to drive innovation in motorsports
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowSince its founding in 1911, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has served as an incubator of automotive innovation. Numerous breakthroughs at the track have translated into the daily driving experience, such as rearview mirror, seatbelts, tire technology, and front wheel drive having connections to IMS.
“Carl Fisher and his partners built this place to test the new technology of the day back in 1909, and that was the automobile,” said IMS President Doug Boles. “So the fact that we continue to test it, whether it’s through mobile devices or some of our cellular partners that are really helping us or through the Indy Autonomous Challenge, this place is still be being used to test new technology.”
Boles told Inside INdiana Business that fans will see some of those innovations in the racecars themselves during this year’s Indianapolis 500.
“The car is going to be lighter that runs the Indianapolis 500,” Boles said. Because of the hybrid unit that’s going to be in the IndyCar starting later this summer, there are some components that were lightened. So we’ll be about 30 pounds lighter in May, which means the speed should be up.”
Fans will also get to see the latest in self-driving racecars later this year with the return to IMS of the Indy Autonomous Challenge in September.
The original competition took place in October 2021. It features university teams from throughout the world that receive a Dallara race car outfitted with the hardware and controls needed to run autonomously. The teams then write their own software to control their cars.
The teams include Purdue University’s Black & Gold Autonomous Racing and Indiana University’s Luddy Autonomous Racing. IU’s team is entering the competition for the first time.
“We’re really trying to showcase what we do here in Indiana,” Boles said. “Technology is so important to our economy, and we are a leader not just in the U.S., but globally. Using the Indy Autonomous Challenge racecars powered by normal racing engines but the brains of it are computers that university students and high school students…it really brings the best and brightest engineers here to Indiana.”
Since the inaugural event, the Indy Autonomous Challenge has traveled to race tracks in Las Vegas, Italy and England, setting multiple speed records, including the autonomous land speed record of 192.2 mph and the fastest on-track head-to-head overtake, at 177 mph.
Boles said having events like the Indy Autonomous Challenge also helps serve the greater Indiana economy.
The IBJ’s Susan Orr contributed to this report.