Formula 1...

[Capricorn]

That's a 2012 pic

yep, the 2014 lotus has a walrus tusk-like nose setup, and one tusk is actually shorter than the other just so that the longer tusk qualifies as the actual nose of the car.

[Capricorn]

comme ce:

 

http://images.thecarconnection.com/lrg/lotus-e22-2014-formula-one-car_100454231_l.jpg

[Capricorn]

http://images.thecarconnection.com/lrg/lotus-e22-2014-formula-one-car_100454229_l.jpg

[Iwan Kemp]

Means absolutely zero at this stage, but here are yesterday's times

 

1 Raikkonen (Ferrari), 1m27.104s (31 laps)

2 Hamilton (Mercedes), 1m27.820s (18 laps)

3 Bottas (Williams), 1m30.082s (7 laps)

4 Perez (Force India), 1m33.161s (11 laps)

5 Vergne (Toro Rosso), 1m36.530s (15 laps)

6 Gutierrez (Sauber), 1m42.257s (7 laps)

7 Vettel (Red Bull), no time (3 laps)

8 Ericsson (Caterham), no time (1 lap)

 

For reference, last year's fastest test time at Jerez was a 1:18. Apart from Murassia and Lotus who wasn't there (Marussia will be there from today onwards), McLaren was the only team who didn't even leave the garage. Not looking good for them

[Iwan Kemp]

I now understand why FI has only been circulating pics from the side...

 

http://images.cdn.autocar.co.uk/sites/autocar.co.uk/files/imagecache/article_image_480/Force-India-nose_0.jpg

[SeaBee]

...on a dark background. Same as RB ito masking their noses with clever paintwork.

 

Bloody complicated front wings, crazy elements and vanes. Look at the Cateham pic I posted as well. That all because of this rule change in conjunction with no-blow exhausts. Crazy...

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

Bloody complicated front wings, crazy elements and vanes.

 

Looks like those first corner incidents where you continue to race after just losing an endplate are over. I reckon a nudge and the whole nose will fall off, flimsy looking things.

From the side view they hang off the front with very little actuallt securing it.

 

Also imagine that pointy thing digging in while Kobayashi is flying through a gravel trap, what a mess!!!

Edited January 29, 2014 by sk27

[jaco369]

whats the new rules regarding the noses? can someone give em a brief?

[SeaBee]

sk - in my mind not much has changed ito support pillars. What has changed is that the complexity of the wings have increased even more, therefore a loss of a section of the front wing, maybe just a vane, might affect the airflow so much that it might cause replacement.

 

Jaco, in short... and this is my understanding thereof, it may not be 110% accurate. The FIA decided it's a safe idea to lower nose height for safety reasons in accidents, stipulating a specific minimum height. I suspect they had early-90's cars in mind when they made the rule, but even initial drafts shortly afterwards suggested these... appendages will be a way to go. The reason: you have cars dependent on airflow below the car for downforce, which is why they started the high nose trend to begin with in the mid-90's. So, staying within the rules... minimise the "nose" surface, reducing drag and maximising airflow under the car.

 

Along with this, they came up with the bright idea (buggered if I know why) that blown exhausts should be outlawed. So, you have cars designed around rear downforce (and traction) no longer existing due to the blown exhaust ban. That causes these hyper-complex front wings, to direct air more precisely.

 

Good thing is, the new engines apparently sounds very nice! Much better than last year's whine. Maybe we should close our eyes and enjoy the sounds this season... (is there a way to mute commentary as well?! )

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

sk - in my mind not much has changed ito support pillars. What has changed is that the complexity of the wings have increased even more, therefore a loss of a section of the front wing, maybe just a vane, might affect the airflow so much that it might cause replacement.

 

Jaco, in short... and this is my understanding thereof, it may not be 110% accurate. The FIA decided it's a safe idea to lower nose height for safety reasons in accidents, stipulating a specific minimum height. I suspect they had early-90's cars in mind when they made the rule, but even initial drafts shortly afterwards suggested these... appendages will be a way to go. The reason: you have cars dependent on airflow below the car for downforce, which is why they started the high nose trend to begin with in the mid-90's. So, staying within the rules... minimise the "nose" surface, reducing drag and maximising airflow under the car.

 

Along with this, they came up with the bright idea (buggered if I know why) that blown exhausts should be outlawed. So, you have cars designed around rear downforce (and traction) no longer existing due to the blown exhaust ban. That causes these hyper-complex front wings, to direct air more precisely.

 

Good thing is, the new engines apparently sounds very nice! Much better than last year's whine. Maybe we should close our eyes and enjoy the sounds this season... (is there a way to mute commentary as well?! )

 

Agree fully,

Also read the new wings are to help following cars from losing front downforce which may lead to the front lifting up and flipping the car. Read that somewhere, not sure where. Not so sure about the sound, bit whiny.

Blown exhausts were banned because RBR did it too well and were running away too quickly from the opposition, if I recall.

[Wez-O]

The new nose jobs are an epic fail to say the very least. Ferrari & Mercedes are probably the best of a bad bunch I guess.

[Waynehans]

WHAT HAS F1 DONE?

 

 

What has F1 done???

Initially I said that we must accept these strange designs and just get on with it, but after the first day of testing in Jerez yesterday, I have to beg the question…. What has F1 done?

The designs were always going to be controversial from when we first heard about the regulation changes; but my god, some of the designs are downright just stupid and very ugly. Then we have the fact that only 93 laps were completed on the first day compared to 683 in 2013? Surely, you should be as concerned as I am.

Obviously, this is a year of major change, especially in the power-train department. Basically that’s the engine. It is more electrical than ever before and extremely complicated. Just ask McLaren, they couldn’t even tart their car. This is McLaren people, not freaking Marrusia. What is going on? I’m very concerned.

We drop from 18000 rpm this year to 15500 and we only have 100 litres of fuel for a whole race. Why? Is F1 turning into an endurance formula? Are they so concerned about the green mentalists ? For goodness sake, F1 uses about as much fuel over an entire season that one Jumbo jet uses on one flight. Honestly, what is the big deal?

Now, we have a car that at this early stage sounds not really what we are used to, at this stage, it is about 8 seconds a lap slower than last year’s car and from the front, they all look like they have come from the most outrageous Zoo ever conceptualised. Some look like ant eaters, other look like walruses, some look like armadillo’s and a lot look like penises. WTF!!!

So why do the noses look so stupid? Well, apparently because of safety. In a simplistic form, the higher nose allows the car to fly up if in an accident, whereas the lower nose SHOULD negate this. Well, Adrian Newey, (you might have heard of him) doesn’t fully agree. And I would believe Newey over any FIA official. The interpretations of the front nose design are bizarre to say the least. I do hope and pray that these designs will change during the course of the season.

Now, we haven’t even had the first race and maybe this has been a joke and the real cars will be revealed then.

We also have the most complicated engine ever built. Reading about these engines is a mindful of technical gobbledy gook which seems insane. And it’s about saving fuel. Why? If a person goes to buy a Ferrari or McLaren road car, they do not ask about the fuel consumption, yet we now have a regulation which is completely against everything F1 is. Conservation? Plant some trees if you are so concerned.

We have had turbo powered cars in F1 before in the 1980’s and 30 years ago these monsters pushed out 1200bhp, now we are down to 750bhp. We have less RPM, less fuel and from what it seems, dramatic levels of unreliability. What happened to days when Schumacher drove for something like 5 years without a mechanical failure? Now we could be back to cars leading and then breaking down. We might see a Marussia scoring point in the first few races or a Caterham winning a race ? With the greatest respect is that what we really want? I do wish the small teams do score pints to assist them financially but come on; I don’t buy into this F1 at the moment.

A sport that is trying to cut costs because honestly it is too expensive decides on regulations that are going to cost the teams millions more because they will have to replace turbo’s and engines because of unreliability. No logic in my eyes.

F1 is about the fastest drivers and the fastest cars. The pinnacle of technology, the most exciting racing, the most glamorous events…. And now it is about rolling out your car on the first day of testing and for some not even being able to start theirs….F1. Go back to the drawing board.

 

Ballz shared a link via Sasha Martinengo.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Waynehans

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

I've never been a fan of Martinengo. Speaks a load of rehashed drivel IMO.

 

I think that F1 is headed in the right direction, every sport has to evolve and not everyone can be pleased.

He is the same guy that moans continuously about 1 team dominating and now rules are implemented to make a level playing field and what do you know, more moaning. Like it or not every sport, MotoGP included is headed towards a greener approach. The fuel restrictions is not to make it endurance oreintated but rather to make the engineers extract as much from their chosen engine as possible with limited resources(fuel). If reliability is an issue, it's not the rules fault but an engineering flaw, besides we could do with a few engine failure DNF's to spice up the championship.

Anyway, I think the teething problems will be sorted out by the second test, comparing laptimes is insane. The laptimes will obviously drop initially.

MotoGP dropped from 1000cc to 800cc to try and slow it down for safety reasons and 2 years later the 800's were faster than the 1000s.

[SeaBee]

Agree with the above, sk.

 

Your previous post - it's been like that for a while now. Not designed to make them fly up or anything. Just to not give them smooth and predictable airflow when following your car - they basically give them "dirty air" (in short, they f up the slip-stream for the following car), which lessens downforce because it does not travel over the following car as it would with no car in front - causing them to drop back a bit. The loss of (esp front) downforce can also degrade the following car's front tyres quicker.

[Iwan Kemp]

Sounds like the Renault cars may be in trouble. Seb has packed up and flew home.

 

http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/692

14:49 Rosberg's Mercedes has done 60 laps, which is more than all the Renault-engined cars have managed across two days combined (38 laps).

 

14:48 So we'll take this opportunity for a reminder of who has done what so far today:

 

1 Bottas (Williams) 1m26.322s, 26 laps

2 Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1m26.421s, 26 laps

3 Rosberg (Mercedes) 1m27.073s, 60 laps

4 Button (McLaren) 1m27.566, 36 laps

5 Perez (Force India) 1m28.376s, 37 laps

6 Gutierrez (Sauber) 1m33.363s, 44 laps

7 Ericsson (Caterham) 1m37.975s, 11 laps

8 Vettel (Red Bull) 1m38.320s, 8 laps

 

14:41 Out the back the Caterham has ground to a halt. Another Renault engine problem?

 

It's a shame for Rosberg too, as he looked like he was putting in something akin to a normal testing run. And we've not seen many of those so far at Jerez this year...

[SeaBee]

Interesting about the Renault engine troubles. But.... still a while to go before the season starts. Just leaves them with other issues rather than concentrating on more development.

 

Sad, of course, but a nice touch on Jenson's helmet.