Official 2013 car unveiling and conjecture thread

At the very least, they're somehow going to camouflage, or get rid of that stepped nose on the cars, is what I've heard.

 

Seems like I'm picking on you recently! Nothing personal, but I'm not sure on this either - The regs are apparently going to allow a "vanity panel", but only as long as it doesn't affect aero. I very much doubt these guys are gonna install anything just to make 'em look pretty!

What "late season tests"? They ran a few sets on Friday in, IIRC, Japan (Brazil?) but that's been it so far - Development tires on a nice green track isn't definitive IMO.

I still can't get to Autosport, but there's a recent headline "Pirelli; Teams ready for aggressive tires." I believe Hembery is saying the teams want more degradation (again!) and he believes the new construction may shake things up some.

I did read somewhere that they're gonna flex more and also be significantly heavier. Some are saying this will have a big effect on aero, but I remain unconvinced on that one - "Sticky out" wheels is the biggest aero disaster they have to deal with and I'm just not (yet) buying that a little flex is gonna mess everything up.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Awesome, thanks for that. I get access back next year, but till then I'm screwed!

Interesting reading anyway - I like it that they have immense struggles on occasion. Sometimes "a" got it right, others, "b". It's always been a little that way though - Some cars like it hot, others cooler for example.

However, looking back over the season they'd pretty much all got on top of 'em by the mid point and we were back at single stoppers - Which is not what "they" wanted. Note that the tires didn't change, the teams just figured 'em out.

Also interesting that he put so much emphasis on wheel spin - Certainly not a good thing from the tires perspective (unless you can't get heat into 'em) but obviously only applicable to the rears - There were many occasions last year when the fronts died first however - Over driven? Over heated?

Cheers,
Ian

 

Maybe wheel spin would be less of an issue if there were more grip.

 

I really hope to *never* see the day when they've got more grip than power! An F1 car that can't spin it's wheels at will is the day I lose interest......... Got close to that before they banned TC - Horrible, horrible, horrible IMO!

As the late great Mark Donahue noted; "If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the entry to the next, you've got enough HP"........ You may not have any tires left at the end of the lap, but that wasn't his point.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Agreed. But the balance need not be so extreme.

I'm wondering why wheel spin is suddenly so destructive. It's not the spin (ie power) that's changed but the tires.
If spin as opposed to slip is particularly harmful might it not relate to design and not compound?

 

Ask anytime. I will happily post.
Yes we saw graining and wear on the fronts quite often.

 

Balance between what? Temperature & degradation? Wheelspin & longevity?

Damn good question! TBH, reading his comments again I realize the guy's not a native English speaker and suspect he may have "overstated" the case a little. Is it "more destructive" than ever before? I certainly don't know the answer.

Sure - At least a little of both. They could do tires that will last forever and which could be spun up a like a top. Not what they want. As for slip - I dunno, but we rarely see F1 cars sliding around these days - A little tank slapper is as close as we get and I doubt that's ever hurt 'em too much.

Right up until you too run out of views! I've said before, we need to share the load there. Between us we should be OK. And as long as we include the link I think we should be good.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Between grip and power.

 

Ahh, OK.

Helluva tough balance to find, I think. As we know, they generate huge amounts of grip and power output has, and will remain, about the same.

You want to give them yet more grip? Or less grip? Either case, they'll tend to eat the tires even faster. For sure, there's no easy answers - Exactly as it should be of course.

His comments about them measuring tire temperatures all round the lap using IR thermometers in P1 & P2 did get me thinking and studying the rules again (uh-oh!) I don't see anything that precludes 'em building these sensors into the car permanently if it's so critical. In fact, I'd do 3 on each tire (inner, center, outer) and stream that data back in real time. Seems they already know the tire temps ["Kimi, keep the tires warm", "Yes, yes, yes!" ] but I believe that's coming from sensors inside the wheels and not externally.

Cheers,
Ian

 

They seem to have found a working balance prior to last season.

Why put sensors on permanently? They add weight (minimal as it may be), need to be integrated in a tight package, require power and may fail, taking other system(s) with them or give incorrect misleading data. In any case is there anything that the teams can do with the data during a race?

Happy New Year all.

 

If Playstation has their way, they may look someting like this...
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Oh my, real news.
Thanks.

 

Agree !! There is an element of looking past this year already in the press with teams saying how they are in fact focusing very much on the 'new' rules and cars/motors.

 

But they´ve raised the weight limit.