IndyCar turns to Belli to enhance the look of its next chassis
03/26/2025 04:06 PM
The IndyCar Series has turned inward to improve the looks of the car that will replace its aging Dallara DW12 model in the coming years.
Stemming from an offseason meeting held by Penske Entertainment where the parent company of the series showed team owners a rendering of the future car that left many feeling underwhelmed and disappointed, RACER has learned veteran open-wheel race car designer and engineer Tino Belli has been tasked with updating the appearance of the new Dallara chassis that's meant to arrive in 2027 or ’28. The change comes after IndyCar relied solely on Dallara to conceive and craft the visuals of its upcoming car.
Based on comments from some team owners who described Dallara's rendering as a warmed-over DW12, Belli's involvement has had an immediate impact. According to those who've seen Belli's influence on the upcoming design, the most recent version of the next-generation car is said to look nothing like the original rendering, with comments offered that suggest Belli has taken its appearance to a much more appealing place.
For the Welshman, who joined IndyCar in 2014 and serves as its head of aerodynamic development, it's a return to shaping IndyCars in a more pleasing fashion.
Centrally involved in the creation of the current Universal Aero Kit 18 that's been in use since 2018, Belli spent the 1980s through the mid-1990s working for sports car, IndyCar, and Formula 1 chassis constructors where his expertise in design, plus research and development — including vast experience in aerodynamics — delivered some of the better-looking machines of the period. The March 90P, in particular, made for Porsche in what became the final season for its factory IndyCar program, was widely praised as being sublime from every angle.
"Yes, he's involved, and I love talking about Tino because he’s such a great asset," Mark Sibla, IndyCar's Sr. VP of competition and operations, told RACER. "Probably outside of those who are in the know, I don’t think people realize how valuable he is. He'd been involved in the new chassis process from the get-go. It started with Tino going through, in collaboration with (IndyCar's managing director of engines) Darren Sansum and (IndyCar VP of competition and race engineering) Bill Pappas, saying, 'Here’s what we want to see with a car capable of everything from safety to raceability,' with all these items on the front and back of a sheet.
"So he was involved with it from that standpoint, and then the renderings that were shown to the owners were initial renderings. What really kicked off shortly after that was Tino became the one leading it from our side, literally weekly meetings, just regarding style. And so it was between ourselves and Dallara."
With IndyCar's technical team included on the new car's visuals alongside the Italian chassis creators, Sibla says the project continues to head in a positive direction.
"It's myself and Tino and Bill, and some of Dallara's folks, and it's literally just saying, 'We feel this part of the car is too long,' or 'What if we did this instead of that?'" he said. "In my mind, we've made a lot of nice improvements and it continues to evolve.
“Tino went from being involved with the overall parameters for the car to once those renderings were provided to us, and really shortly thereafter for the team owners, to kicking that side into gear, marking up pictures and all kinds of things. He’s been great on it and brought some cool characteristics to it. I hope people feel the same way when they see it."
Learn more about Belli's career and achievements from the following 2018 podcast visit:
