F1 News: Ferrari unveils 2009 F60
Autosport....
Ferrari have become the first team to unveil their 2009 car, ahead of the first run of their F60 at Mugello in Italy on Monday.
The car has been named as a way of celebrating the fact that Ferrari are the only team to have competed in each of the 60 years of the Formula One world championship.
Due to the radical change in F1 regulations this year, the look of the new car is dominated by the wide front wing and narrow rear wing - with the central part of the F60 featuring a highly-sculpted 'coke bottle' rear-end from behind the sidepods.
The new car features Ferrari's Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), which has been developed in conjunction with electronics supplier Magneti Marelli. It is mounted on the engine - although the team has not yet confirmed whether the device will be used for the first race.
"As you can see the car is not an evolution of last year's car," said technical director Aldo Costa.
"It's a completely new car, starting from a white piece of paper. Fundamentally the biggest changes come from the new rules from an aerodynamic point of view and the introduction of new technology, which is the KERS system.
"Because of that we had to start work pretty early and to review the main concept of the car, so it was a very very intense and long job."
The F60 features a longitudinally-mounted carbon fibre-cased gearbox and has a new Brembo designed braking system.
Felipe Massa is scheduled to test the car for the first time later today at Mugello, with initial shakedowns having been switched from Fiorano because of freezing temperatures at Ferrari's test track.
Article #2
Autosport....
At a low-key event at Mugello today, Ferrari launched their 2009 car, called simply the F60. Despite being built to the dramatically different 2009 rules, the car appears to retain the DNA of its predecessor.
Now equipped with a KERS system, slicks and bodywork to meet the new rules, the car is the first chance we have seen to see a definitive 2009 car. Slightly shorter than the F2008, the F60 cleverly exploits every blind spot in the bodywork rules to recoup the 50% loss in downforce from its smaller wings and diffuser.
Looking at the front wing, the outer spans are the important bits as the middle section is made to the FIA template. Ferrari have a simple initial wing design, supplemented by small cascade wings elements fitted to the end plate (the new rules do not allow bridge wings). The endplates themselves now aim to sweep around the outside of the front tyre: to aid this a small fence has been added to the footplate.
Inside the end plate is the mechanism that will allow the front wing flap to adjust up and down once per lap under the drivers control. There will be no 'nose hole' this year as the new rules preclude it.
Despite the aim of the Overtaking Working Group's derived rules to ban bargeboards, there are a three spots where Ferrari have found space. Two small vanes have been added below the chassis near the lower front wishbone mounts. These are followed by a larger vane low down just ahead of the sidepod.
The sidepod fronts are the main area of aerodynamic freedom, as they are described in the rules as the area for side impact protection and thus excluded from the limitations placed on the three volumes making up the rearward part of the sidepod. To exploit this, Ferrari have shortened the sidepod front as much as possible to allow more vanes to be added.
As this area still needs to contain the side impact protection, a curious extension to the upper front of the sidepod has been added. Nick Tombaziz said this was for aerodynamic reasons rather than for a side impact structure.
The rearward bargeboard encroaches into this area and a pod wing rises up from the floor to also form the rear view mirror housing. Further back along the sidepod, the F60 makes the most of the openings allowed under the rules for cooling. Both the exhaust outlet area is maximised as well as the opening, supposedly for suspension to pass through.
Despite these openings and the 18,000rpm limit, the sidepods still need more cooling outlets and the coke bottle shape extends to the rear axle line in order to create the main exit, which is almost oval in shape.
The diffuser and rear wing appear to be simple initial interpretations of the new rules: these along with the front wing and sidepod front will no doubt evolve as testing continues.
Mechanically the car sports a new Brembo braking system and new geometry for the front suspension to maximise use of the slick tyres. The engine, coded as the 056, has been re-tuned to 18,000rpm limit and to last three race weekends as per the new rules.
The engine has been submitted to the FIA for homologation and the changes largely have involved inlet and exhaust tuning, as well as oil and fuel development. Still allied to a carbon titanium gearbox, the power train now includes the KERS system, which appears to drive its motor\generator off the front of the engine.
Additional cooling inlets have appeared in the front of the sidepods to cool the additional control units for the electrics. The system had yet to run on track before the launch, but Gilles Simon confirms it is in use on the launch car. To allow the driver to use the KERS boost a conspicuous "K" button has been added to the revised steering wheel.
The car made its first laps this morning and running will continue this afternoon
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by plv
