Ferrari F2012

[The King of Spa 637]

Anche Cavicchi s'? allievato.

[mircocatta 901]

domanda: cosa lega ancora rory byrne alla ferrari?

 

la squadra con cui ha lavorato per anni non c'? pi?: ross brawn, todt, iley, aldo costa, schumacher e il connazionale dyer

addirittura la met? si trova alla mercedes..

 

il dio $ conta cosi tanto?

[Ruberekus 12189]

lo pagheranno bene

[Ferrarista 1681]

domanda: cosa lega ancora rory byrne alla ferrari?

 

la squadra con cui ha lavorato per anni non c'? pi?: ross brawn, todt, iley, aldo costa, schumacher e il connazionale dyer

addirittura la met? si trova alla mercedes..

 

il dio $ conta cosi tanto?

Chris Dyer ? australiano...

[ema00 859]

Chris Dyer ? australiano...

vabb? sudafrica, australia... siamo l?

[mircocatta 901]

Chris Dyer ? australiano...

ops ricordavo che byrne fosse australiano sorry!

[sundance76 9]

Su AutoSprint di questa settimana c'? una bella intervista a Frank Dernie che parla delle sospensioni Ferrari.

[ema00 859]

Su AutoSprint di questa settimana c'? una bella intervista a Frank Dernie che parla delle sospensioni Ferrari.

in bene o in male?

[sundance76 9]

in bene o in male?

 

In bene.

[jkHox 1]

la ferrari, cosi come la claren della passata stagione, ha portato una macchina tanto rivoluzionaria che ci metter? una stagione per capire come funziona.

la mclarem, cosi come la ferrari della passata stagione, ha messo in pista una macchina tanto solida quanto lenta.

[lucaf2000 1470]

wow ? arrivato otelma

[Ferrarista 1681]

wow ? arrivato otelma

[Bertoku 1]

Launch Analysis: Ferrari F2012

 

 

 

Car: Ferrari F2012

Concept

Having followed a very similar concept since the 2009 F60, Ferrari found in 2011 that the conservative route was not making up the ground to their rivals. The F150 was a fast car, but lacked that final ounce of pace to beat the Red Bulls and McLarens. This was exacerbated by the car being easy on its tyres, to the point where it had tyre warm up issues. This showed itself in qualifying were the car would not make the most of a tyre around a single lap and also in cooler weather, or where the harder Pirelli tyre was used. The team recruited Pat Fry in a major reshuffle of engineering staff. Fry spent the year assessing Ferrari problems and set about a recruitment programme of new staff and a more adventurous design programme. The resulting car is clearly very different from its predecessors.

Externally very little remains the same on the new car, it does perhaps shares Ferraris favour for a long wheelbase and clearly is set up to run a fairly steep rake angle. But only the front wing, which is derived from the late 2011 wing appears to be carried over. Even this detail was a development in preparation for 2012, Fry leading the team to follow Red Bulls format of front wing in both shape and aero elasticity.

 

Layout

With a similar wheelbase, the revised seating position is perhaps the only change to the cars layout. The seating position was altered for Fernando Alonso last year and has been altered once more for a lower position.

 

Nose

 

 

Of all the 2012 front ends Ferrari has one of the most striking, the nose being very wide and square in cross section. The width is part of philosophy to use the extended wing mounting pylons, as a pair of turning vanes cascaded with the normal undernose turning vanes. By making the nose as wide as possible within the space allowed within the regulations, more undernose surface can be used to accelerate air through the duct formed by the nose and vanes. As a result the edges are tightly radiussed and cannot be rounded as with other teams. The aesthetics of the nose being also worse for the rectangular cross section front bulkhead. Ferrari opting not to make a ?V? shape of the bulkhead, in order to make the area under the raised chassis uncluttered to make the vane set up work most effectively.

 

 

 

 

 

The flow through this vane set up starts with the wing mounting pylons, these are wide spaced at their leading edges and they then converge to end inboard of the main turning vanes. The main turning vanes then pick up the flow accelerating between the pylons and sweep out to direct the flow towards the lower leading edge of the underfloor.

Curiously Ferrari has yet to fit a driver cooling vent into the nose. This hole is not mandatory and clearly not a requirement for a chilly Spanish pre season test.

 

Front wing

As previously mentioned, the front wing is a derivative of the late 2011 wing. This was extensively detailed in a previous post. The wing is a three element set up, the main plane being slotted to create the leading two elements, and then the flap trails this. An extra slot in the down-turned corner of the flap helps keep flow attached in the steepest section of wing. The footplate is formed by the wing curving down on itself, while the upper section of endplate is a separate vane, albeit joined along a lot of its length to the foot plate. Front wings are now subject to a doubling of the deflection test used by the FIA 2011. So far the Ferrari wing has not exhibited the flutter seen last year, which is not to say it is not flexing.

 

 

 

Front Suspension

 

 

 

A mention of front suspension in the cars launch analysis will be unique to Ferrari this year, as they have revisited an old direction with its layout. Every other car for well over ten years has had pushrod front suspension, but Ferrari has revived the pullrod set up for the front of the car.

 

 

 

 

 

This effectively turns the pushrod set up upside down, now the rod passes down from the upper wishbone and connects with the rocker, which is now mounted at the bottom of the chassis. According to Fry, this set up is a little lighter and has a slightly lower Centre of Gravity. These gains alone will not pay for the systems inclusion on the car, so the team claim to have found an aero benefit. The pullrod can be thinner, but the real gain is the pullrod is mounted near horizontal across the front suspension. This places it in line with the upwash from the front wing. Just as with the wishbones, its profile can be subtly altered within the rules to help control the wake from the wing and improve the airflow over the rear of the car. Despite appearances the pullrod is as effective in moving the rocker for a given wheel travel as a pushrod. The important factor is the angle between the rod and the wishbone is connected to, rather than the rods angle to the chassis. I?ll explain a lot more pull rod suspension in a subsequent article.

 

 

 

 

Roll hoop

 

 

 

Although not a performance differentiator, the new roll hoop is very different concept to that seen in previous Ferraris. A far curvier pair of inlets are formed by the structure, this shaping being at odds with the ungainly nose. It is strange Ferrari have not undercut this area and exposed the structure supporting the roll hoop, which is the common practice to achieve more airflow to the rear wing. The main inlet feeds the engines airbox, while the smaller inlet piggy-backed behind it, most likely feeds the gearbox and hydraulic oil coolers mounted above the gearbox. The lifting point for the trackside cranes is formed by beneath the main inlet and enclosed by a simple bar connecting it to the top of the chassis.

 

 

Sidepods\Cooling

 

 

 

It?s perhaps the sidepods that are the big performance area for the car this car.

Starting at their leading edge, the car sports a new format Side Impact Spar (SIPS) design inside the bodywork. Since 2009 Ferrari had a staggered SIPS arrangement, with a narrower spar sat ahead of a wider spar, creating the distinctive peaked sidepod inlet. Now it spears a single spar spans the sidepod and protrudes through to form the mount for the sidepod vane. This allows the spar to be wider, which creates an easier job to absorb the impact. Viewed from above the sidepod inlet lean inwards. This makes them more efficient at meeting the diverging flow that passes around chassis to enter the sidepod.

 

 

 

 

Much smaller and far more undercut, the sidepods now feature radiators mounted upright and splaying outwards from the rear of the car. Their new placement allows the flow through the cores to be directed outboard, rather than in towards the central tail funnel. This heated flow from the radiators passes out through the downswept chimney-fairings that differentiate the car from its rivals. This design keeps the centre of the car as slim as possible, with there being no tail funnel to obstruct the rear wing. Airflow passing through the undercut in the sidepod, still enters a coke bottle shape below the chimney-fairings and is passed over the diffuser. But these chimney-fairings also have a more important secondary use, for housing the exhaust outlets.

 

 

 

 

Additional cooling outlet area is provided in the tail of the sidepods, in between the rounded end of the chimney-fairings and the gearbox fairing. This gearbox fairing is nearly round in cross section also forms an outlet for hot air to exit from engine bay.

 

Exhausts

With floor level exhausts no longer allowed, the teams have had to find different ways to make use of the powerful exhaust plume. Most teams have directed it over the sidepods towards the centre of the beam wing, but Ferrari have purposely placed the exits as far outboard as allowed (on the launch spec car at least). When viewed from above its clear these are aimed outboard of the rear wing endplate.

 

 

 

Sat inside the downswept chimney-fairings, the exhaust at first might be thought to be pointing downwards. But the rules state the exhaust outlets have to point upwards by at least ten degrees. Although not visible inside the chimney-fairings, the last 10cm of exhaust do indeed point upwards.

 

 

 

 

But the cleverly the down sweep of the chimney-fairings creates a downwash effect over the exhaust plume and this directs the combined flow downwards between the rear brake ducts and rear wing endplate. This set up will potentially reach the floor and act to seal the diffuser from the ground as with the 2011 EBD.

 

 

 

 

In testing the set up has gone through several iterations, firstly the exhausts exits were in line with the end of the chimney-fairings, but soon the exhaust tail pipes were shortened and the chimney-fairings above had to be cut back to maintain legality and also the allow the downwash flow to reach the shorter tailpipe.

 

 

 

 

At the Barcelona test the exhausts were again altered, this time being brought further inboard, approximately in line with the channel formed between the chimney-fairings and the engine cover. Now the exhausts appear to point inboard of the rear wing endplate. It?s not clear if this is an aerodynamic decision or a request for a less obviously aerodynamic solution from the FIA. Should the exhaust outlet stay in this position the sidepod and the chimney-fairings will need to be altered to optimise the downwashed airflow around the tail pipes.

 

Rear suspension

Almost unspoken of amidst the talk of the front pullrod set up, Ferrari also switched their rear suspension on its head and gone for pullrod on the rear of the F2012. Last year we saw the Ferrari had a very complex setup around the rear suspension rockers and placing this hardware lower down around the clutch and engine drive shaft, will be a tough task package.

 

 

 

 

Mounted to the revised gearbox, the rear top wishbone has been repositioned this year. It appears to be nearly horizontal; this places it in line with the beam wing, so the wishbone can act as a flow conditioner ahead of the wing. Even if the new gearbox is not as low as the Williams, the wishbone needs to mount to a vertical extension above the gearbox. This wishbone mounting hard point also forms the mounting for the beam wing. At first this appears to be a duct, but is just the thick swan-neck mounting similar to that used by Marussia for the past two years.

Diffuser\rear impact structure

Within the bodywork rules, there is not a lot of scope for a very different diffuser. So Ferrari have now added a full width flap around the diffuser on the new car.

Unusually Ferrari have not fully exposed the underside of the beam wing above the rear crash structure. Looking at the crash structure itself its clear it is shallow enough to allow this. Instead the crash structure has additional bodywork above and below it, which merges it with the beam wing.

 

Gearbox

As already mentioned the gearbox is a new design. The hybrid carbon and titanium case now has to mount a very different rear suspension system, with the switch to pull rod spring\damper operation and the raised upper wishbone.

Last year Ferrari were notable for having a single selector drum for their seamless shift set up. Most teams use two selectors; each one operating alternate gears, so that the phasing from one gear engaging and the other disengaging can be adjusted. Ferrari with a single selector must be confident that their system can always shift with the same aggressive phasing, without the option to go for a longer overlap.

 

KERS

Ferrari develop their KERS with Marelli, the system retains the same layout as in 2011 with the MGU mounted to the front of the engine and the Batteries placed under the fuel tank. The power electronics reside in the right hand sidepod.

 

Engine

With the engine freeze, not much can be said of the engine. Ferrari have usefully provided a high resolution image of the 056 engine, complete with integral oil tank, but lacking the KERS MGU.

 

[Schumi81 201]

Ma poi, approccio estremo...ma guardandola in pista, questa F2012, vi sembra davvero cos? estrema rispetto alle altre? L'unica scelta davvero coraggiosa ed estrema mi sembra il pull-rod anteriore, e questa per me ? un'ottima scelta. Ma quanto al resto...lo scalino sul muso ? un banalissimo piano inclinato, quasi tutti gli altri hanno optato per soluzioni pi? scavate e armoniose (senza contare il solito Newey che ci ha addirittura piazzato una fessura che Dio solo sa a cosa serve), le pance sono molto voluminose (questo ? l'aspetto che forse mi ha deluso di pi?) e ben poco scavate nella parte anteriore, almeno rispetto ad altre monoposto (non solo quelle top, ma anche vetture come Force India e Toro Rosso). Dietro si restringe molto, vero, ma ormai lo fanno tutti per imitare una Red Bull che comunque in questo campo rimane sempre un po' "oltre" (basta guardare il posteriore della RB8). La presa d'aria dietro l'airbox non ? certo una soluzione innovativa, ? ripresa dalla McLaren dell'anno scorso e adesso ce l'ha anche la Mercedes. Insomma, per carit?, la mia non vuole essere una seria analisi ingegneristica, per? dalla semplice osservazione della monoposto io non vedo quelle soluzioni e quelle forme che mi farebbero dire "cavoli, ? davvero pi? estrema di tutte le altre".

[joseki 1008]

Ferrari: Cento motivi per un primo sorriso dopo l?ultimo giorno di test a Barcellona

 

Massa: "Siamo riusciti a migliorare la macchina in maniera significativa?

 

All?ottava giornata di prove la F2012 ha superato quella barriera dei cento giri che, ad un certo punto, era sembrata quasi una chimera. Nonostante una lunga pausa attorno all?ora di pranzo, necessaria per effettuare un?importante modifica all?assetto sull?anteriore, Felipe Massa ? riuscito a completare 103 tornate del Circuit de Catalunya, pari a circa 470 chilometri. Poco importa il risultato cronometrico finale ? l?1.23.563 vale il quinto posto nella classifica di giornata ? mentre ? molto pi? significativo il sorriso che ha contraddistinto Felipe al rientro nel motorhome dove lo attendevano i giornalisti per il consueto press meeting di fine test.

 

?S?, sono contento: non solo perch? abbiamo fatto finalmente tanti chilometri senza problemi ma soprattutto perch? siamo riusciti a migliorare la macchina in maniera significativa? ? ha detto il pilota brasiliano ? ?Soprattutto rispetto alla mattina la situazione ? cambiata, soprattutto dal punto di vista della consistenza dei tempi. La cosa importante ? che, dopo aver valutato tante soluzioni, mi riferisco sia agli scarichi che all?anteriore, stiamo prendendo una direzione su cui lavorare per cercare il miglior assetto. Resta tanto da fare, ad esempio nell?uscita dalle curve, ma sono soddisfatto e dal prossimo test di Barcellona potremo cominciare i test veri e propri.?

?Oggi potevamo fare sicuramente un tempo migliore ma non era quello il nostro obiettivo? ? ha proseguito Felipe ? ?Avevamo tante cose da provare in questi giorni e la nostra priorit? era proprio chiarirci le idee su quali fossero quelle su cui vale la pena puntare adesso e poi metterci al lavoro per le prime gare. Ci siamo riusciti e ora possiamo concentrarci su quelle avendo un ampio margine di miglioramento, sia come regolazioni dell?assetto che come utilizzo delle gomme. Nel pomeriggio abbiamo potuto fare delle lunghe serie di giri con tempi abbastanza costanti, cosa che la mattina non mi riusciva. Anche il warm-up, che era stato soprattutto per me un problema negli anni scorsi, ? molto migliorato, tanto ? vero che il tempo lo faccio sempre al primo giro. La macchina non ha nulla di nuovo ma ? sicuramente cresciuta rispetto a Jerez.?

La giornata positiva non fa per? sbilanciare Felipe sulle prospettive per la prima gara e per il prosieguo della stagione. ?Noi siamo pronti a lottare ma ? impossibile dire davvero come siamo rispetto agli altri? ? ha risposto il brasiliano a chi gli chiedeva se si potesse mandare un messaggio di speranza ai tifosi della Ferrari ? ?Lo scopriremo soltanto quando saremo tutti con poca benzina e con gomme morbide nello stesso momento in pista, cio? nelle qualifiche di Melbourne. Oggi si pu? dire quello che si vuole ma finch? non siamo tutti nelle stesse condizioni le parole valgono poco. Vero, ho visto delle squadre forti: la Red Bull prima di tutto ma anche altre, come Sauber, Force India e Williams, se si guardano i tempi di questi giorni.?

A Felipe ? stato anche chiesto se si sentisse particolarmente condizionato dal fatto che il suo futuro con la Ferrari potesse essere deciso in base ai risultati: ?No, assolutamente no. Comincio la stagione cercando di fare il mio meglio, dentro e fuori la macchina, cercando di essere competitivo e di poter lottare per i traguardi pi? importanti, come le vittorie e i risultati. Quando si guida pensando ad altro non si fa bene il proprio lavoro.?

 

24th febbraio, 2012

 

 

 

Ma come, progetto sbagliato, tecnici incompetenti, facce cupe... Si vede che dopo aver girato immenso ha preso la matita in mano e ha fatto la F2012B.

[ema00 859]

Scuderia Ferrari

Prima, il 28 e il 29, ci saranno due giornate dedicate a filmati per scopi commerciali, sempre sullo stesso circuito.

[crucco 4232]

Scuderia Ferrari

Prima, il 28 e il 29, ci saranno due giornate dedicate a filmati per scopi commerciali, sempre sullo stesso circuito.

Alcuni rompono la scocca, altri fanno dei "filmini-pubblicit?"... ()

Ma vogliamo liberalizzare questi test? O almeno imporre un tot collettivi e permetterne un altro tot privati, dove e quando si vuole? Non penso che sarebbe una cosa cos? problematica o sgradevole, n? per la FIA, n? per i teams, n? per gli appassionati...

[ema00 859]

[Visitatore Rhobar_III]

A giudicare dalle piastre di materiale anticalore posizionate sul profilo inferiore dell'alettone posteriore, vicino alle paratie, si direbbe che stanno indirizzando gli scarichi ai lati dell'alettone stesso.

 

La Red Bull invece li indirizza sempre sul profilo, ma verso il centro dell'alettone.

 

Sono curioso di vedere la prossima settimana se verr? usata questa soluzione, oppure se ci sar? un'ulteriore evoluzione.

 

Resta il fatto che si sta prospettando quello che purtroppo temevo gi? dai primi test di Jerez: stanno facendo troppi esperimenti con gli scarichi, come fece l'anno scorso la Mclaren con il polipo.

Non vorrei che si perdesse troppo tempo inutilmente dietro a soluzioni improvvisate o che non funzionano, prima di usare in fretta e furia una soluzione posticcia per Melbourne.

[marco f4 37]

Semplicemente stanno facendo esperimenti e misurazioni, io credo che in Australia vedremo una zona posteriore tutta diversa, estrattore compreso..