F1 World Championship 2012 Thread

By +Frank B.
in The Sporting Arena

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Grand Master

simonlang

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Going just by the looks it's McLaren -> Caterham -> Ferrari -> Force India for me.

Sorry, but the Force India livery looks like someone vomited all over the car. :x

livery wise force india is the worst out of the 4 for me as well. i was talking more about the fact that most teams were forced to go for an ugly nose and the way they tried to make it look "acceptable" tho...

to illustrate what i mean:

diresta3.jpg

the nose looks okayish id say..

but this is a NO go for me

6813102627_eb360f0ffe_z.jpg

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Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

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The Lotus F1 E20 is about to be unveiled at 17:00 CET/16:00 GMT today. First image of part of the car:

E20premiereimage.jpg

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philcruicks

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McLaren deff looks the nicest...I wonder if they'll be the only ones running a sloped nose.

I would think Mercedes might do as well...but I think all other will be the step nose.

RB is harder to call...might be something completely different to both.

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monkey13

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Hmmn another stepped nose. I wonder why so many are going with this but McLaren didn't.

Looking at it again McLaren seem to have a very flat suspension geometry. Where as all the others with stepped noses have it on an angle. Bit of a chicken and egg there then. Is it stepped because they couldn't flatten the suspension or is the suspension angled because they went with the step?

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Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

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Car launches today: Sauber C31, Red Bull RBR8, Toro Rosso STR. First will be the Sauber in under an hour from now.

I'm the most curious about Newey's new design. Is the RBR8 a mere evolution of the RBR7, or is it a radical new car? We'll know at 14:00 CET/13:00 GMT.

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monkey13

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I'm the most curious about Newey's new design. Is the RBR8 a mere evolution of the RBR7, or is it a radical new car? We'll know at 14:00 CET/13:00 GMT.

Looking at the Red Bull Racing site and the teaser photo certainly looks interesting.

ZAP7j.jpg

Looks like a stepped nose as well, but a bit different. Also it looks like something may be going on on the very front of the nose. Looks like little wings. Roll on 1pm.

Edit: Just thought if it is little wings I am calling this The Hammerhead.

Edit2: Wait a minute I have just remembered these kinds of wing things have been illegal since 2009 (damn Monday morning slow brain). Is is just me seeing things then?

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Daedroth

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Looking at the Red Bull Racing site and the teaser photo certainly looks interesting.

Looks like a stepped nose as well, but a bit different. Also it looks like something may be going on on the very front of the nose. Looks like little wings. Roll on 1pm.

Edit: Just thought if it is little wings I am calling this The Hammerhead.

Edit2: Wait a minute I have just remembered these kinds of wing things have been illegal since 2009 (damn Monday morning slow brain). Is is just me seeing things then?

I think this years Force India has those hammer-head wings too.

The boxer nose looks very sleek, somewhat like a mix between what we've seen so far and the McLaren.

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ybrett23

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Looking at the Red Bull Racing site and the teaser photo certainly looks interesting.

ZAP7j.jpg

Looks like a stepped nose as well, but a bit different. Also it looks like something may be going on on the very front of the nose. Looks like little wings. Roll on 1pm.

Edit: Just thought if it is little wings I am calling this The Hammerhead.

Edit2: Wait a minute I have just remembered these kinds of wing things have been illegal since 2009 (damn Monday morning slow brain). Is is just me seeing things then?

the "hammerhead", as i said about the force india :laugh:

Posted 03 February 2012 - 09:30

also known as the"hammerhead shark" :)

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monkey13

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I think this years Force India has those hammer-head wings too.

You are right it does. Missed that in all the other ugliness.

I thought these kinds of aerodynamic parts were illegal. Have they relaxed that this year? I haven't seen anything. Unless it falls within the allowable dimensions for a nose?

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monkey13

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the "hammerhead", as i said about the force india :laugh:

Posted 03 February 2012 - 09:30

also known as the"hammerhead shark" :)

Damn it missed that. Didn't read much of the Force India stuff as it was so ugly.

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Grand Master

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I thought these kinds of aerodynamic parts were illegal. Have they relaxed that this year? I haven't seen anything. Unless it falls within the allowable dimensions for a nose?

They aren't strictly aerodynamic parts - they are the camera mountings. As far as I know, the teams can choose to mount them anywhere they like on the nose, so in their case they've decided to put them right at the front.

As I've seen a few people ask about the odd noses (and I've been looking all this up myself recently as I was curious) - it is to do with getting airflow under the car. As they want air running round the sidepods (hence the steep undercut at the bottom of them) and to the back of the car where the diffuser is, they want most air going underneath the nose. They've been doing this for a few seasons and the noses have been going higher and higher. So much so that the FIA have reduced the maximum height of the nose tip allowed due to concerns that in a T-bone impact the nose could hit the driver. They did not lower the bulkhead though (the bit immediately in front of the driver - that gets lowered next year I believe), so the engineers have simply thinned the nose and kept the bulkhead high for maximum airflow underneath the car. This whole concept of airflow under the nose is a copy of what Red Bull have been doing for the last few years (also the V nose they had a few years back might seem familiar when looking at the new cars).

McLaren on the other hand, have gone their own way entirely instead of copying RBR (just as well because you can't beat someone by copying them). The MP4-26's nose was already low enough that it was almost 2012 legal. The McLaren has a series of splitters and boards underneath the nose that apparently help divert air round the sidepods to the rear (but not as much as a high nose would). However, because they have a lower nose (and various other parts too) the whole car has a much lower center of gravity than its rivals. Which has benefits of its own (from my limited understanding, better mechanical grip).

They were the only real threat to Red Bull last year with this low-car concept so hopefully it will pay off this year.

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