[anachronix]

To all Tifosi's here, I have couple of good quality videos from the Ferrari Finali Mondiali 2008.

PM me for links

[f1fan]

I believe Mallya is planning on making his team come up the ranks with the complete package that he is buying from McLaren and sell the team one day for a higher price when it is at a good position and walk out.

[ram.west]

Hey guys !! Check out the new Williams 2009 F1 car. Radical changes to front and rear wings.

[rranjith_kum]

Originally Posted by anachronix

To all Tifosi's here, I have couple of good quality videos from the Ferrari Finali Mondiali 2008.

PM me for links

Is it exclusively for tifosi s, hope you wont mind if I PM you asking for the links after all I am interested !!

Originally Posted by ram.west

Hey guys !! Check out the new Williams 2009 F1 car. Radical changes to front and rear wings.

The rear wing yuck ! but looks dont matter in sports

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by anachronix

To all Tifosi's here, I have couple of good quality videos from the Ferrari Finali Mondiali 2008.

PM me for links

Why dont you just post the links here.

[anachronix]

There you go
Video of the Ferrari Finali Mondiali
Ferrari Finali Mondiali Team Parade 09-11-08.wmv
Ferrari Challenge 09-11-08 I.wmv

Also Hi-Res pics of the Finali
RapidShare: Easy Filehosting

More pictures of the FW31 spec on test in Jerez.

Source: Atlas F1

[im_srini]

Yuck - that rear wing looks anemic ! Well, at least the slicks should help somewhat...

Aren't barge boards, winglets, & other aero thingamajigs banned from the bodywork next year ? Could this be a 2008 car with 2009 aero bits on it ?

The front wing's supposed to have a movable element - would be nice to catch it in action on the front-wing-cams next year

[madan80]

about the rear and front wings- dont tese designs change from course to course? or has that regulation been taken off?

[IronWolf]

Originally Posted by ram.west

Hey guys !! Check out the new Williams 2009 F1 car. Radical changes to front and rear wings.

That rear wing looks horrible. I doubt if that smaller wing is going to help with more rear down force?

If anyone has video links for this Williams sliding off the track during the testing, please do share.

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by IronWolf

That rear wing looks horrible. I doubt if that smaller wing is going to help with more rear down force?

Precisely, the regulations themselves make a special mention of the fact that they have been tailored to reduce the aerodynamic influence a car has over one that's behind it - promoting easier overtaking.

The rear wing dimensions are limited by Article 3.5.2 in the 2009 Regs - any rear bodywork behind the rear-wheel center-line & more than 20 cms above the reference plane, like the rear wing, is limited to 75 cms (was 100 cms previously). This, along with more restrictions on the rear diffuser should reduce the aerodynamic effect on a following car.

To help the following car further, the front wing width has also been increased. The regulations also provide for a movable front wing element (driver adjustable bodywork - Article 3.18) which can be moved a maximum of 6 degrees - twice a lap ! Who knows, some of the smaller teams could spring a surprise by coming up with really innovative stuff next year...

[IronWolf]

Anna, Thanks for sharing this, makes sense to make F1 more friendly for the following car rather than the leading car.

What we need is more overtaking, however movable / Adjustable bodywork by driver just seems to add on to the cost for the teams rather than FIA's vision to 'cut costs'.

[nitrous]

I'm not liking this. F1 vehicle development is going backwards.
If I wanna watch driver skill, I'd follow A1GP or GP2.

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by IronWolf

What we need is more overtaking, however movable / Adjustable bodywork by driver just seems to add on to the cost for the teams rather than FIA's vision to 'cut costs'.

Yes, I agree...

Engine development has been frozen to cut costs, but now the teams have KERS to contend with. In essence, just one article governs its use, article 5.2.3 - the energy you can use off of the KERS, each lap, is limited to 400 KJ & the input & output rates are limited to 60 KW (~80 HP).

An F1 car, weighing 680 Kgs (minimum weight to be maintained at all times is 605 Kgs) braking from 240 Kmph to 100 Kmph (usually in around 1.5 seconds), i.e. any medium-speed corner, needs to rub off ~500 KJ ! While the KERS can be fully charged in just a single corner, the input rate is limited, so charging at the maximum rate allowed, you'd need ~6.7 secs of braking to charge to the maximum allowed per lap.

So deciding where, when, & how much to charge, would be vital - I imagine a lot of CPU cycles spent in simulations. At stake is an additional 80 HP for a period of 6 seconds every lap - almost like a NOS shot ! The KERS could also result in smaller brakes. And other questions need to be answered, like once the system's charged to the maximum allowed per lap, do you still charge up, or do you use regular brakes then onwards ?

If you have a mechanism that's mechanical, like a flywheel, sticking to & maintaining the 60 KW limit while decelerating & accelerating could be a difficulty - so most systems could be electrical, at least to begin with (I'm guessing here).

It's a good thing KERS is phased, the probability of all this unproven technology breaking down under race conditions is pretty high. That said, in the coming years, this technology will be whittled down in weight, made more efficient, & more reliable. And one day, we might see watered-down versions of these systems in our daily drivers

I forgot, the movable bodywork & KERS have to be driver initiated ! So the drivers will have a lot more to contend with now, in addition to their regular duties ! While F1 could turn into something like a video game with all these 'cheats' or 'combos' - the potential for mistakes & hence turnarounds will also be more

P.S. - Suddenly, it doesn't sound as good...

[IronWolf]

Originally Posted by nitrous

I'm not liking this. F1 vehicle development is going backwards.
If I wanna watch driver skill, I'd follow A1GP or GP2.

Come on Anna, dont tell me you want to see the competition purely based on the Car and not even partly on driver skill.

[F50]

Teams are considering new layout for qualifying. And it looks somewhat like this:

All 20 cars would enter the circuit with low levels of fuel for a 14-lap sprint, with the slowest car eliminated after each lap.
During a short break, the surviving six cars will then return to the pits for new tyres and fuel and then compete for pole position and a world championship point.

Source: F1 Live

Bring back the old qualifying format!!

Nitrousda, Force India will be a Mclaren B Team, we would love to see Lewis drive a full season for Force India? He loves India, he loves the tikkas then why not the team? In this way you shall retain your interest in F1, what say?