INDYCAR’s open aerodynamic bodywork regulations encourage innovation and experimentation, which were displayed with considerable buzz on the Honda and Chevrolet cars testing last week at Barber Motorsports Park.

There’s more on the way, too, with optional components allowing Verizon IndyCar Series teams and their drivers the ability to tailor cars to track-specific preferences.

"It's more open than Formula One," Honda Performance Development COO and vice president Steve Eriksen said. "That's the crazy part about it. It will make for a lot of interest for fans. You'll be able to see what you get when you let aerodynamicists run wild."

The road/street course and short oval Honda and Chevrolet platforms will make their competitive debut in the March 27-29 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

“This has been an exciting yet challenging project for everyone involved,” Eriksen added. “The amount of change permitted by INDYCAR is much broader than many fans may realize, and involved a lot of hours in search of performance prior to the first test pieces being created. The testing process has also been extensive, with our team working extremely hard to produce representative prototypes and gather as much information as possible over the six days of testing permitted by the series.”

Under the regulations, both manufacturers were allowed to design, manufacture and supply components in five “legality boxes” -- volume around a particular part of car -- on the Dallara IR-12 rolling chassis in an effort to attain on-track performance gains. Honda and Chevrolet took similar development paths, but fans will quickly notice their distinctive products.

Within the legality boxes, HPD has nearly 200 optional elements. The only design restriction was that all components had to be able to be installed at the same time.

"It's all about options,” Eriksen said. “We've given teams options to tune the car to the conditions, to the driver's needs and to the track to get the most out of it. It's really going to be a fun and interesting year to learn about the creative ways the teams can run this car."

Regulations also allowed manufacturers to alter piping to the 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 engines, which Eriksen said was instrumental early in the design stage.

“Engine components that are external to the engine, such as the pipes that connect the turbochargers to the engine and the exhaust system, we were allowed to change and we managed to get some good performance out of it,” Eriksen said. “With the ability to do a clean-sheet look at the bodywork, it gave us an option to tailor the car to our engine’s characteristics.

“The way the air flows through the sidepods to cool the radiators is affected by the shape of the aerodynamics. We tailored it to match of the characteristics of our engine, and the characteristics of our engine lend themselves better to aerodynamics.”

Eriksen said “a cadre” of Honda Performance Development and American Honda engineers will be at the variety of racetracks to support their six teams and discern data.

“We’ll give them what we believe is the best starting position and allow them to be creative,” Eriksen said. “The series has such an amazing array of tracks and you’d really like to fine tune for each of those tracks, and this gives teams the tools to do that.

“The aero kits allow development and will create excitement. It’s getting back to the roots of Indy car.”