IndyCar Driver's Eye system to debut on FOX

Today at 08:21 AM

The same inside-the-helmet camera technology used in recent Formula 1 and NASCAR broadcasts will be making its debut this season with the NTT IndyCar Series on FOX.

RACER has learned The Driver's Eye system, which places a tiny camera — 8mm in diameter — within the padding between the side of the driver's head and the helmet's shell, and connects to the car's communications cables, will be installed in the helmets of select IndyCar drivers starting at the season opener in St. Petersburg. Through The Driver's Eye, which is facilitated by Italy's Racing Force Group, F1 fans have ridden inside F1 cockpits on ESPN since 2022, and in NASCAR on FOX.

As part of the new relationship with IndyCar, FOX viewers will get the first look inside the Dallara DW12 chassis with the aeroscreen driver safety device that debuted in 2020.

With the aeroscreen in place, broadcast angles have been limited to fixed positions atop the roll hoops, which had been used for most in-car feeds, and in the nose, which was a popular choice when new but was used sparingly towards the end of NBC's tenure as IndyCar's broadcast partner.

Although use of inside-the-helmet cameras will be new for the IndyCar Series owned by Penske Entertainment, it won't be a new perspective for older fans who were treated to the same in-helmet view early in the 2000s with the former CART IndyCar Series where drivers like Paul Tracy gave viewers first-person rides behind the Canadian's visor.

The Driver's Eye launched exclusively through Bell Helmets, which paid for FIA crash testing and certification for the technology and therefore limited the system's use to Bell drivers. RACER understands IndyCar could approve the technology to be used in helmets made by multiple vendors, which would expand FOX's range of drivers to choose from during the 17-race calendar.