The 2011 cars

[F1Yorkshire]

So basically a Pull Rod system means you can get a lower centre of gravity. As F1 cars run with high noses now they couldn't install pull rod systems until the latest innovation.

So if I understand it correctly. the cars with a rear pull rod will be able to package more of the parts lower into the car and therefore have better cornering abilty?

 

[snowy]

More downforce from the rear wing doesn't always equate to better cornering ability but you can always hope. Basically they're thinking about traction in that region and that has to be balanced out on the front, particularly the wing. I'm guessing narrow tyres on the front don't help much there.

 

[sportsman]

These are not F1 but clearly show the difference between both systems

 

[siffert_fan]

On a purely aesthetic note, I am afraid that all of the new cars, as well as all those of the recent past look a bit cartoonish to me. Their vast expanses of front wing look like something more appropriate to scraping snow off the roadway than helping to keep a race car on the track. I think the rules should reduce front wing width by 50%, which would reduce front downforce and force a corresponding reduction of downforce in the rear. This would, IMHO serve to bring driver skill more to the fore as well as improving the looks of the modern F1 car.

 

[sportsman]

I most certainly agree with the snowplough comment.And I also agree that aerodynamic downforce should be drastically reduced.This not only would improve the racing.And cut costs by a huge amount.

 

[snowy]

I believe the front wings were supposed to make the cars less sensitive to the dreaded wake and help aid overtaking. When they found that the front had too much grip and made balancing the car difficult they should have reduced its size. Instead, they decided to make the front tyres narrower.

The rule makers appear to be far more interested in aesthetically challenging designers than technically challenging them!

However having been initially totally appalled by the aesthetics of the piddly rear winged cars, I have now grown accustomed to them and find a number of them quite pleasing to the eye.

The Red Bull would be a magnificent machine were it not for the Red Bull paint scheme. The McLaren and the Mercedes look like the designers have bent over backwards to accommodate form with their function.

 

[Galahad]

So basically a Pull Rod system means you can get a lower centre of gravity. As F1 cars run with high noses now they couldn't install pull rod systems until the latest innovation.

So if I understand it correctly. the cars with a rear pull rod will be able to package more of the parts lower into the car and therefore have better cornering abilty?

F1 cars still can't install pull rod systems on the front; all front suspensions use push rods. The difference between teams is all to do with the rear.

As snowy and sportsman have brilliantly illustrated, with a push rod system your rockers are sitting on top of the gearbox, this implies a higher section at the back of the car that interferes, a bit, with the rear wing airflow.

With the alternative pull rod system the rockers are sited lower down and the rear structure can be much lower. Mechanically and aerodynamically this is a good solution, but not a very practical one, since with the way it is packaged, for the mechanics to make any adjustments they pretty much have to take the floor off the thing.

The complicating factor for the pull rods in 2009 was the double diffuser - the location of the rockers and spring made it difficult for Red Bull to fully maximise the benefits offered by the double diffuser, initially at least, since their suspension components were 'in the way'. Hence other teams didn't pursue the concept in 2010, when feeding the diffuser with as much air as possible was the primary design objective.

With the double-diffuser now gone, it was expected that all the teams would go for pull rods now, and it's interesting that Ferrari and (perhaps less surprisingly) Sauber haven't done so. They may prefer the greater flexibility for adjustment, or they may have been able to come up with a gearbox design that doesn't compromise their rear wing airflow as much, or at all. Certainly the Red Bull system was no secret, so Ferrari will have looked at it and must have good reasons for not going down that route.

 

[Jru]

Here are some pics comparing the 2010 and 2011 McLarens, not the best but only ones I have seen so far.
http://www.formula1onlive.com/2011/02/2011-mclaren-mp4-26-and-2010-mclaren.html
I haven't seen this link on here yet, apologies if it is a duplicate.

 

[Brogan]

Virgin's new car has been unveiled.

http://www.virginracing.com/car/265/inside-the-mvr-02

 

[Josephiah]

Those top views of the McLarens give the impression of a huge increase in bodywork volume at the rear. But I guess the cut-out of the "U" reduces the actual volume, and the kers will account for some of that.

Pics of the new Virgin here - I think the livery still looks good, and the front wing looks more complicated than anything I remember from last year. Other than that I'm not detecting much obvious change without digging out some pics of the old one.

J

EDIT: bah, you beat me!

 

[Speshal]

First impression of the Virgin is that it looks perfect for last year, is it me or is that nose a bit low but has the "duck bill" © kink in it?

 

[Grizzly]

...was my first observation too, low nose? I thought everyone had decided the high nose was best. It does have a much wider nose however and the whole car, as with Lotus, looks a whole lot more like an f1 car than what looked like junior formula car

 

[Josephiah]

First impression of the Virgin is that it looks perfect for last year...

Heh, yes, that's about right. Do you think they're waiting to confirm a deal with a big sponsor to fill those big black sidepods? A bit strange having such a large gap there when they have so many little ones on the nose/wing.

 

[johnnoble1990]

Heh, yes, that's about right. Do you think they're waiting to confirm a deal with a big sponsor to fill those big black sidepods? A bit strange having such a large gap there when they have so many little ones on the nose/wing.

I'm surprised that is not where Marussia are, considering it is a hotspot on most cars for their main sponsor this year. The vodafone on the mclaren is very eye-catching.

 

[Galahad]

From the second picture it looks as if they have stuck with the pushrod suspension.

Agree with the comments above - it's an improvement but still a little chunky about the waist, and the nose is the opposite of the general trend (though last year's Renault was similar).

 

[Pyrope]

I just had a close look at some pics from last year and... that's last year's car all right. The sidepods are perhaps a little more sculpted, but everything of significance is identical.

Doesn't bode well for Virgin that their supposedly cost-effective design methods couldn't stretch to a new car...

 

[snowy]

I thought I was imagining things, thinking that it lacked imagination and looked strangely familiar.

I guess that is what you get if you design a complete car using CFD.

 

[snowy]

While the MVR-02 continues to buck the established design trends used by Marussia Virgin's rivals and emerge from the CFD resources used extensively by Nick Wirth, its livery remains largely similar to that of last season, with the red, white and black of Virgin dominating. The design itself is obviously different to 2010, following a raft of rule changes, and a new logo and handful of new sponsors complete the transformation.

 

[Pyrope]

Is that a company press release?

 

[Grizzly]

Have i understood this correcty?