The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio is the first race that optional road course aluminum steering arms provided by Dallara are available for use by IZOD IndyCar Series teams.

The steering arms apply pressure from the steering rack to the uprights and allow the front tires to turn left and right. Steel steering arms are standard on the 2012 Dallara chassis.

Aluminum steering arms, designed to fail just above the track rod buckling load, could aid in reducing the transfer of energy to the steering rack and into the car upon impact. The steel steering arms have a tolerance 2.5 times the track rod buckling load.

“The aluminum steering arms can help reduce the likelihood of driver hand and wrist injuries in certain circumstances,” said Will Phillips, vice president, technology, INDYCAR. “Dallara continues to try to improve all safety aspects of the car with input from INDYCAR and IZOD IndyCar Series drivers. Currently, the components remain optional for the teams as we continue to collate any incident data.”

Six teams placed an order by the June 17 deadline for the aluminum steering arms.