Testing within testing was going on at the Promoter Test at Barber Motorsports Park this past week, as INDYCAR installed a new LED light display on Coletti's car for the testing of something very new and very big, coming soon to the Verizon IndyCar Series: displays on the sides of the cars displaying the current position of the car, and more. This technology was made famous and is used heavily by current sports car racing, including the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. The testing was conducted during the Promoter Test at Barber on Monday and Tuesday, March 16-17, but it has been an ongoing project for INDYCAR. 

“This project started over a year ago in concept and it really is about how we can get fans more engaged, allow them to see more of what’s going on,” said INDYCAR president of competition and operations Derrick Walker. “If you’re no in line of sight of a video screen or a scoring pylon, it’s hard to know who’s doing what.”

The LED panels to be fitted to the cars are 8-inch-wide by 7-inch-tall LED panels, each only 3 millimeters thick. They will be fitted to either side of the airbox, below the cockpit camera mount on each car. The running order of the car will be shown in real time courtesy of various INDYCAR Timing & Scoring timelines around the tracks; when the cars pass these timelines, their display will be updated. Besides showing the position, in real time, of each car, the LED displays on the cars will also show when a driver triggers the push-to-pass feature – among other neat inclusions. Since it was formerly unknown to fans both at home and at the track when the drivers utilized push-to-pass, it will become something to look for on the cars for the fans. 

“You’ll see how many positions each car gained or lost live on any given lap,” said INDYCAR director of Timing & Scoring Jon Koskey. “Red is the primary color and green will be used for the push-to-pass, which will be displayed as a pattern. Brightness of the LEDs will be modulated according to the setting.”

INDYCAR will continue to develop the technology, getting it ready to bring to competition. Things like the brightness of the display during different situations, including racing at night, will continue to be developed. It is possible that the technology will debut in a race during this upcoming season, in 2015. In fact, it is possible that the LED displays will be fitted to the cars for this year’sIndianapolis 500 in May.

Be sure to follow the official Twitter account of the Racing section of VAVEL USA for the latest.