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"  Jump Down: Detailed images of the Dallara DW12-Honda &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Photos: Dallara DW12-Honda &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;    For the first time since 1997, the IndyCar series has an all-new chassis. By rules, all 33 of the carbon-tub cars competing in the Indy 500 on May 27 will be Dallara DW12s, named in honor of the late Dan Wheldon. Dallara Automobili of Italy builds the cars, which have been designed to keep costs down (the price for the chassis is capped at $349,000) while improving the safety of the drivers, thanks largely to rear bodywork designed to prevent rear wheels from touching in the tight racing that takes place in the series, particularly on the ovals.   Video window may take a few moments to load...           The Dallara featured here is a Target Chip Ganassi car\u2014Dario Franchitti&amp;#039;s Honda-powered ride, in Speedway trim. So we felt it only appropriate that Dario himself would walk us around his DW12, commenting on the various parts and pieces that deserve a race fan&amp;#039;s attention. As it sits now, Dario&amp;#039;s car is fitted with Dallara&amp;#039;s 2012 aero package, although Chevrolet and possibly Lotus have packages in the works for 2013.   And now, we turn it over to Dario Franchitti...                  DF: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s good the new chassis designation DW12 pays tribute to . He had so much to do with the initial development, I think it&amp;#039;s a nice tribute and another way of keeping him in people&amp;#039;s thoughts.&amp;quot;                           DF: &amp;quot;The looks come from the safety considerations and I&amp;#039;m hoping that when the body kits come in 2013 we&amp;#039;ll get some better-looking cars.&amp;quot;                           DF: &amp;quot;Not surprisingly, this new car feels different. It has a more rearward weight balance. It does handle differently. We&amp;#039;re still looking for some answers to get it to do what we want it to do...but it&amp;#039;s the same for every team up and down the paddock.&amp;quot;                           DF: &amp;quot;When it comes to setting up the car for Indy, it&amp;#039;s going to be a new world for us. This could prove to be a trickier car because it&amp;#039;s new and there&amp;#039;s a steep learning curve. We knew that old car so well. Last year, my first timed lap at Indy was 224 mph because the guys knew the setup was good from the year before, and I was very confident in them and my feeling for the old car. This is going to be a big trip into the unknown.&amp;quot;                                                    DF: &amp;quot;The new cockpit offers a much different view. You have a newly shaped windscreen, especially on the ovals. We had that very profiled windscreen before and now it&amp;#039;s very much like a Formula 1 car where there&amp;#039;s maybe an inch of plastic pointing straight up (not on car). So it feels different. The seat position is changed and your feet are a bit higher.&amp;quot;           \u2013                           DF: &amp;quot;Those small vertical wings on the car are new. There used to be a small ledge there and in wheel-to-sidepod contact a wheel could climb that ledge. Those vertical wings will now prevent a wheel from doing that.&amp;quot;           \u2013                           DF: &amp;quot;I think they changed a lot of the front geometry of the car. Now when you hit a curb, you got a lot more kickback in the steering wheel. That takes a bit of getting used to; it&amp;#039;s not a good trait for the car to have as hitting a curb wrong could result in a broken wrist, and it&amp;#039;s another new thing we&amp;#039;re getting comfortable with.&amp;quot;           \u2013                           DF: &amp;quot;One big difference is that the new car has a hand clutch instead of a normal clutch. You can set it up as you want, but imagine having the clutch paddle on one side and the shift paddle on the other. It&amp;#039;s a tricky system, difficult to modulate. Of course, we use it only when we leave the pits, but imagine you are in the pit lane in your box and you have full lock to one side or the other. First, you have to wait for the fuel probe to be pulled out before you can select a gear. Then you&amp;#039;d pull in the clutch lever and with your right hand select 1st gear on the paddle. Next you have to modulate the clutch while you&amp;#039;re also steering out of the pit box.&amp;quot;           \u2013                           DF: &amp;quot;Inside the cockpit, instead of the seat being the only deformable structure, now we have the seat sitting in about two inches of special impact foam in all directions. I&amp;#039;m hoping this will translate into a safer car.&amp;quot;           \u2013                                               DF: &amp;quot;Initially they had two big pedals in the cockpit, but they didn&amp;#039;t take into account that some use our right foot to brake, so we had to go through a long convoluted process to get them to approve a kit that would allow for me and other right-foot brakers. I did a lot of the testing braking with my left foot, which I didn&amp;#039;t want to do. Now the pedal arrangement has a dead pedal, throttle and brake, but with the throttle and brake moved more to the right.&amp;quot;           \u2013                           DF: &amp;quot;The engine is much different...a massive difference. It&amp;#039;s a turbo V-6 with direct injection as opposed to a normally aspirated V-8. We definitely have more power. I&amp;#039;ve only driven the Honda with its single turbo as compared to the twin-turbo engine of the Chevy and the Lotus. Each will have advantages and disadvantages, though the power feels pretty linear and there seems to be both good horsepower and torque.&amp;quot;           \u2013                           DF: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s just been a lot of fun to get involved with the Honda guys again and make the engine as good as it can possibly be. It feels like the new gearbox shifts quicker than the old car&amp;#039;s and it allows you to downshift a bit earlier, which is nice.&amp;quot;           \u2013                           DF: &amp;quot;There is that new view of the back of the Indy car, and when you&amp;#039;re following another it can be quite different, depending on the paint job. With some cars it accentuates the width of the rear end and those little outriggers behind the wheels. And with others you don&amp;#039;t notice it as much.&amp;quot;           \u2013                           DF: As much as we&amp;#039;ve had some complaints about the car, on road and street courses it&amp;#039;s just plain faster...lighter and with more downforce.           \u2013     "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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