ytdlite

thanks. that guy is good. great technical insight coupled with detailed explanations and drawings of current team developments

Whitefire818

That Renault car is so sexy. I want to paint my car black and gold now

PeaceLove&S2K

I didn't realize Bridgestone was out this year.

samerthehammer

HRT F111



Virgin MVR-02

VR-01

Force India VMJ-04

2010

FI has the lower air intake like the lotus t128. May have something to do with how engineers from FI went to lotus and possibly the other way around. I also wonder if the wing that debuted on the virgin is their 2011 front wing.

GateCrasher

I like all of the 2011 cars more than the 2010 except for the Mclaren MP24-6, the MP24-4 is a lot better looking.

Renualt is the best looking one for me, it might be the Black and gold combo, and so far Ferrari have the worst looking rims.

As for performance we have an entire season I'm itching to watch.

Will be interesting to see how the Renault/Lotus team vs Team Lotus dynamics play out.

samerthehammer

I really want to know what's up with STR6 because I hear it has a double floor concept that was used in the ferrari 92a back in the 90s. The bottom of the sidepods look the most sculpted of all the unveiled cars. Wonder if this could change as the season goes on.

Also curious about Williams performance. The rear end of the FW33 is very tight and part of the suspension is connected to the center wing support


I agree that the mclaren looks ugly, but they are going for function over looks. I just don't understand how many mclaren fans think its beautiful. Looks are subjective, but I wonder what their criteria is. Functionality over aesthetics? The idea behind the U shaped sidepods, if you connect the sidepods they form a U, is to have cleaner air for the beam wing which most teams will try to exploit to regain lost downforce.

It's going to be hard to see most of the details on the R31 with the black and gold livery, but it looks clean. Those sidepod openings look really big. I have heard people say they need the extra cooling for the FEE. I wonder when teams will figure out the benefits of the FEE and then how soon they will be incorporated. As of now most teams seem to be blowing their exhaust partially through the starter hole i.e


The mercedes W02 is interesting since the wing hasn't changed much since the last half of 09 season and at the beginning of the 2010 season they barely tweaked it. It currently doesn't have turning vanes on the sidepod and I have read on f1technical that they have the best possibility to produce the same sidepod shape as mclaren due to their side crash structure.

Ferrari looks like an evolution of the F10 with a higher nose and lost of resemblance of the Mclaren MP4-25 in the area of sidepod openings, air intake, and apparently front suspension. This probably has something to do with Pat Fry who came from Mclaren and shared alternate year chassis developements. They have a revised pushrod suspension in the rear while most of the other teams have gone to pullrod, following RBR's lead.

Lotus T128 looks much improved from the T127. It helps that they are running a renualt engine, better fuel economy means smaller sidepods, and red bull transmission which meant pullrod. They have the same rollblade that Mercedes introduced last year, but this year the blade is wider to meet safety regulations. Only Lotus and FI have it.

Red Bull has made the RB7 longer, but still looks impressive with their packaging. The pullrod suspension was revised with, i think, the rocker arm more forward. There is a lot of floor exposed before the diffuser. They also introduced exhaust channels to blow over the diffuser and into the diffuser on the outer 5dges. Otherwise there isn't too much of a change in design, so we know that the general design produces a lot of downforce as seen by the RB5 and RB6.

Don't know how the HRT will be this season, but it probably won't be much. The virgin also doesn't look much different, so we are going to have to see if both HRT and Virgin can develop over the season to close the gap of the mid field.

Force India so far looks unchanged, but they have not tested yet. I wonder if we will see them bring any new innovations to the first test. There sidepod opening is smaller than last seasons car and they seemed to be more sculpted.

Why can't the season start now!?!?! Hopefully I will be able to some interesting pics during the next few tests. I will try to read more of scarbs blog for more incite.

ytdlite

Ford sues Ferrari over use of F150 name for racing

Associated Press - February 9, 2011 5:34 PM ET

DETROIT (AP) - Ford Motor Co. has sued Ferrari in Detroit federal court, saying the sports car maker has violated its trademark over the pickup truck name F-150.

The suit is based on Ferrari's naming of its new Formula 1 racing car the "F150," and its creation of the website http://www.ferrarif150.com.

Dearborn-based Ford says in Wednesday's filing that its trademark is being harmed, and the suit asks a judge to block Ferrari from using the trademark in the U.S.

Ford also seeks unspecified damages from Ferrari.

A message seeking comment was left for Ferrari officials at the company's Modena, Italy headquarters through U.S. spokesman Matteo Sardi.

Ferrari's website says the "F150" marks the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy

"its trademark is being harmed" thats good, has anyone mistaken the F150 for a F150 TRUCK? well lets wait till after testing.
this is an old sore being picked at.

Whitefire818

Where were you during the silly season?

composite guru

That is actually the rear crash structure that the rear top wishbone is sat on. It is normally located on that area on most cars but lower to it, Williams seem they want to raise the location of the bone for some reason.
That podium that it's sitting on looks like it may be heavy as it's not the best area to be bending or twisting (apart from on the flextures of the bone)

samerthehammer

Thanks for let me know. What do you think of sidepods of the MP4-26 and the front exit exhaust of the R31? Any little hints about RB7 development or what we could see in the next few test?