The all-star engineering vision that IndyCar rejected
When IndyCar's ICONIC committee selected Dallara as its chassis constructor from 2012, it overlooked a project that promised to make a radical overhaul in safety and racecar manufacturing. This is BAT Engineering's 'what if' story
Engineering
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Imagine for a moment that former British prime ministers John Major and Tony Blair had put their past differences behind them and joined forces to contest December's UK general election with their own political party.
It's a fanciful analogy, but rewind to 2010 and it's not entirely dissimilar to the backstory of BAT Engineering, one of five companies that pitched for the five-year exclusive contract to build IndyCar chassis from 2012.
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James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.
In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.
After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.
A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.
He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.
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