One of the greatest things to come to racing this year has been IndyCar’s Visor Cam. There were some rudimentary attempts in the last few years, but it finally works pretty well. The parts have gotten small enough so that placing a camera atop the head of a race driver isn’t a burden. Though, there are still a few bugs to work out.
For example, bugs. There isn’t a good way to keep the lens clean when it gets covered in bug-goo, oil, or bits of sticky tire rubber. When IndyCar has used this camera during races, the view only lasts a few laps before the lens is trashed. But when they use is during practice and qualifying, you get a true first-person view of tearing it up in a race car.
Today we have Graham Rahal taking us for a ride around Mid-Ohio. It’s a great road course. Thanks to the Visor Cam, you now have a front row seat to see what it takes to wrestle a car around the track’s winding corners and rolling hills.
IndyCar is still working on developing the camera and hopes to have it on more, if not all, drivers next year. That will be amazing. In fact, in the new body kits for the 2018 car, there will be several new cameras integrated into the car. Those, plus the Visor Cam will make for some simply amazing race watching next year.
Hopefully, we’ll see the final version of the camera make its way to other racing series, too.
