Pre-Season 2012 New Car Images & Discussion

[Kewee]

I know Chad. See ya. Past my bedtime on this side of the world.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

And Sauber have fixed a surf board to the front of their car!

 

[Brogan]

Toro Rosso.

 

[snowy]

It seems a bit weird all these different teams of designers coming up with such a similar and peculiarly counter intuitive aero solution. If airflow over the nose is of little consequence why choose such an ugly and abrupt transition?

Also is it possible that the new rules have created an even more lethal weapon? Given the choice of 2011 or 2012 nose, I know which I would choose to be crashing into my sidepod!

 

[Josephiah]

Also is it possible that the new rules have created an even more lethal weapon? Given the choice of 2011 or 2012 nose, I know which I would choose to be crashing into my sidepod!

I thought the reg change was more to do with fears that a higher nose was more likely ride up over another car, like in Webber's somersaulting incident? (rather than fear of being skewered!)

 

[Galahad]

It seems a bit weird all these different teams of designers coming up with such a similar and peculiarly counter intuitive aero solution. If airflow over the nose is of little consequence why choose such an ugly and abrupt transition?

I don't know, but the name of the game for many years has been maximising the volume of air under the front of the chassis - that was where all the fuss about twin-keel and zero-keel suspension mounts came from. Now that the maximum height of the nosecone has been reduced, but not that of the monocoque (stupid!), those teams who are still maximising have got a very small amount of space within which to make the transition in height.

Aerodynamically it looks dreadful, but it doesn't add anything to frontal area - the air that 'hits' the nose ramp was only going to hit the driver's helmet anyway, and I've always understood that frontal area is the biggest component of drag. The tiny front wheels of the Tyrrell P34 made negligible difference to the car's aero efficiency.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

It seems that the FIA have made a half-arsed attempt to solve the problem and ended up creating another. Having said that, I don't think the teams are entirely blameless, as I believe they objected to a mandatory reduction in the bulkhead height when the new rule was being formulated.

Now here's a low nose, and in a car that the driver can see out of properly too:

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

I thought the reg change was more to do with fears that a higher nose was more likely ride up over another car, like in Webber's somersaulting incident? (rather than fear of being skewered!)

I expect it's a bit of both, but my belief is that the rule is primarily to ensure that the nose tip is always lower than the rest of the bodywork, in an attempt to be safer in the event of 'T-Bone' or 'spearing' accidents.

 

[Greenlantern101]

First picture of the redbull leaked early

 

[Zed Ali]

Just seen the new Sauber...again another stepped nose. Very pronounced...starting to get a bit concerned about the mclaren now. Redbull unviel in 25 mins and torro rosso at 4pm. If they both have stepped noses then have Mac gone down the wrong route on interpretation?

 

[Brogan]

Hideous!

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/wp-content/gallery/sauber-c31/zupc31f.jpg

 

[The Artist.....]

I can't help thinking that this slew of ugly F1 noses is the direct result of the Tyrrell 019.... This was the car that began the inexorable raising of F1 cars noses, until we reached the doyen that we've got to today! If the FIA were to introduce a simple rule saying that the underside of the nose could be no more than, say, 70mm above the reference plane and no less than 40mm above the reference plane, we'd immediately have a return to low noses, attractive cars, and there would be no arguments about pitch of cars vs flexing wings!

 

[racecub]

This is what Mark Huges says about it .. "(the noses have been lowered purely for safety reasons) but the bulkhead has not been lowered accordingly-meaning that on most cars there will be an ugly step in the nose...This has created a volume of free space that will probably be used in increasing the speeed of airflow, using the lower air pressure to pull the flow back over the front wing faster and to feed the underfloor, in both cases increasing total downforce. It's not expected (currently) to make a major gain, but there will be some. The harder the front wing is worked, the more oversensitive it becomes to the quality of the airflow, therefore potentially making cars less raceable than last year. maybe not a big deal, but potentially a step in the wrong direction in terms of on track action."
Sooooo does that mean that the Mclaren wont get quite such a good downforce from its nose but it will be more driveable?

ps. thanks for that explanation Keewee.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Good point there The Artist; I'd always thought it was Benetton who pioneered the high nose but you are quite right, it's Harvey Postlethwaite we all have to blame.

 

[Brogan]

Comments on Twitter seem to suggest the RB8 has a stepped nose, but it's "different".

 

[downforce]

yeah it has a stepped nose, the livery makes it hard to see, not to mention the lighting, and the camera angle and that annoying beating heart

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Seems to incorporate some sort of scoop, or air intake. It still looks so ugly though, that they are ashamed to switch the lights on..

 

[sushifiesta]

http://www.redbullracing.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Video/The-RB8-Revealed…-021243158945543

Yep, it has a stepped nose but it doesn't seem as pronounced.

 

[racecub]

Ive just seen a little video of it and it had the stepped nose

 

[Brogan]

McLaren seem to be following a lonely path.

Will that prove to be the making of them, or see them struggling for another season?