The 656 finished its homologation this afternoon and looks set to debut in Bahrain.
At one time, and possibly still, the "6XX" number was actually the model number of the engine. Is that still the case? The only time I can recall where they applied the number to the car as well--in public, at least--was with the 639-643 series of the late '80s/early '90s. The number of different numbering schemes Ferrari has used for its GP cars over the years is rather startling.....
656 is the project no. of the car - follows on dirrectly from the 643 etc. I wonder if it means that Ferrari have built 56 different F1 cars (or single seaters)? Sounds a bit too high. The engine of the new car is the 057.
Doesn't to me ... 1 per year since they started. Yep some were used for more than a single season, but there has also been years where they have built new designs half way through the season. What though does the (first) 6 stand for? I do know that way back in the 2.5 ltr days that there was a 625 ... I think but that may have meant 6 cylinder of 2.5 ltrs (?). Pete
Time to silence the critics again! Michael, Rubens and Ferrari are going to teach the world never to doubt again.
LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - Ferrari will give their new F2005 car its race debut in Bahrain next week, the Formula One champions said on Thursday. "We decided this morning," a spokesman said. The decision was taken after seven-times champion Michael Schumacher drove the car for the first time at the Mugello circuit on Wednesday. Ferrari are struggling after Renault won the first two races of the championship. Schumacher, winner of 13 of last year's 18 races, has just two points.
I was under the impression the new engine is the 055? They dropped the 054 as it was an extension of the 053 (one per weekend) and wasnt able to cope with the 2 weekend rule. So they went straight to the 055, which is what Sauber is running already. I dont read F1.com very often though, so I could be wrong.
In that case the 625 followed the traditional Ferrari method of identifying the cars by the capacity of one engine cylinder in cubic centimeters. In this case the engine was 2500cc and had 4 cylinders, hence 625cc for one cylinder. The only trouble with that scheme is that you had to know the number of cylinders in order to determine the overall engine size. Those 850s had some pretty large cylinders!
Well it's about time! I think they were hoping that the other teams would have had problems with their new cars, thus giving them a little more time to refine the F2005. But they guess wrong and it hurt them for the first two races. We will see if Ferrari did their homework, as well or, better than the rest of the teams in Bahrain. I hope so.
