Man, that is one ugly nose............that being said, if it is quick out of the box, and qualifies and races well in Australia.........that nose will be everywhere.....but jeez, that thing looks odd.
on the nose it looks as if they are trying to use the "Tusk's" as a guide to channel air onto the nose of the car to produce extra downforce. I bet the aero experts at most of the teams are having the pattern makers fab up a nose like this so they can test it in the wind tunnel by the end of the week.
I imagine this is only worth doing if you have the twin keel (sp?) tub that Williams has (first used by Sauber and then by Mclaren). Best Mark
Imagine the Williams engineers were just kidding around: They made that nose so everybody would waste their time and resources copying it and trying to figure it out. Their real race nose will be very different. The car looks great from the side with those dramatic side pods.
Now, the ball is in Ferrari's court. Can't wait to see their 04' car. Looks like all the major players are taking a bit more risk this year as far as designs goes. Hopefully they have an answer to McLarens, Williams and Renaults.
Andreas; I hate to say this even though i am not an Aero Pro But it looks as if they hav stumbled on to some thing different in the tunnel to gives that extra little bit of down force on the front of the car. The design looks a lot like some "Top Loading " Scoop grates that have been used on the intake of the Jet pump of racing watercraft to force more water into the pump area. A key thing to remember is that aerodynamics and hydrodynamics are both studies of fluid flow. i think i am going to scetch up the profiles and see if i can get a CFD flow chart in the next few days since each simulation takes about 12 hours to run on my slow 3.0 Ghz PC and i have to hand code the section drawing in.
If the new Wiiliams works out to be a winner then the engineers will be considered geniuses, but if it doesn't then they really didn't lose any face because (same as the years prior) they have not unseated the top dog (Ferrari). Regardless of how it looks, bravo to Williams for taking this radical leap. I can only hope that Ferrari comes out with their new car and basically sends all the other teams back to the drawing board! Papa G
Actually Frank Williams said, that it has to be the WC this year or bust. No more excuses, they're going for the gold. And BMW is rumoured to have put together yet again the strongest engine. Given the Bridgestone tires, I don't think Ferrari is going to send anybody back to the drawing board.
Wow that thing is ugly.Well we have two interesting new designs from mclaren and williams I wonder if the F2004 will be a revolutionary design or just a evolution of the previous cars.
I think that williams and Mclaren are going for the same result. From looking at the pictures i am sensing that they are trying to vent the high pressure that is building up at the wing element and then causing upwards pressure under the nose. The Mclaren solution is to put the nose back down to the wing and then narrow it down as much as possible. Williams is moving the nose back creating a vent of sorts similar to the cut aways on most of the side plates of the front wings. The cut aways allow the high pressure to spill over and reduce the drag that is happening.
As the old saying goes - it's much harder to stay at the top than to get to the top - or something like that. I too am not convinced that Bridgestone are going to have a dry tire package anywhere near Michelin's , but you never know. We'll have to wait and see as the testing resumes and then have the real answer when the season begins.
I must admit, the car is very ugly. It actually reminds me of a whale trying to eat up some fish with its mouth open. But racing is not about looking good, it is about winning. If this design actually works, everyone will be adopting it. It will be very interesting to see how JPM is treated at Williams this year after already announcing his contract with McLaren. He though he was discriminated against in the past, can't wait to hear what he says this year.
I doubt it since with the new car he would not be privy to early in its development. One interesting thing to remember here is that the Aero Expert at Williams use to be at Ferrari up untill the start on last season. could it be that she saw something at Ferrari and Ross and Rory shot her down. Now Patrick Head and Galvin Fischer gave her the chance to run with her concept??? Remember she started to late at williams last year to have any major input to the overall aero package. Now this year Ferrari picked up the Aero guy from renault and the technical director went to Toyota so Ferrari might get some input to what was working at Renault also.
Er, more likely: She had an idea and Ferrari did not want to play the game ... and Williams is more interested in free thought. I atleast will give her the benefit of being able to think . We must remember that Ferrari is NOT just M. Schumacher, Ross and Rory but a big team of clever people. Ferrari have so far shown no interest in the twin keel front and may find themselves left behind as McLaren and Williams make it work. Last year Ferrari found (apparently) more downforce elsewhere but surely they should be thinking about the most ... or though everything is a compromise and in racing the best compromise wins, not the cleverest design necessarily but the one where everything works together. BS stops at Melbourne Pete
I suppose that Williams Aero expert left Ferrari because Williams paid a fortune, not for "ideological" reasons.
Yikes!!! Here is the testing times from the first day of testing. Unofficial Wednesday times from Jerez: 1. Juan Pablo Montoya, Williams (Michelin), 1:16.630 2. Ricardo Zonta, Toyota (Michelin), 1:17.994 3. Marc Gene, Williams (Michelin), 1:18.045 4. Jarno Trulli, Renault (Michelin), 1:18.098 5. Franck Montagny, Renault (Michelin), 1:18.427 6. Felipe Massa, Ferrari (Bridgestone), 1:18.996 7. Luca Badoer, Ferrari (Bridgestone), 1:19.182 8. Olivier Panis, Toyota (Michelin), 1:19.368
Yes, Rob, and as mentioned in: http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4719 JPM was running with full tanks!!! Granted the Ferrari was last year's car, but still. My expectations for this year a REALLY low. Maybe a few podiums for the Shue if the Williams crash into the Mc Larens.