[johnnyburst79]

Wow, that really is a bad crash

[johnnyburst79]

Williams has released their FW29. Sam Michael has been talking up the big technological gains they have made in the car, from aerodynamics to cooling. It still has the zero-keel front suspension, according to Williams, and the cooling issues in the FW28 have been supposedly resolved to try and eliminate the major reasons for the multiple Williams retirements last year.

The rear wing certainly is lower. And the front wing does have an interesting get-up.




Renault's R27 is closing onto the McLaren of Alonso in the time sheets. McLaren was faster by 1 sec at Valencia the first day of testing, but Ferrari and Renault closed in on the second day. Red Bull and their RB3 are at the bottom of the time sheets.

Super Aguri's release date was changed to March 12th after the car failed the new and more stringent crash tests.

Ralf Schumacher topped the time sheets yesterday, cutting a second off Alonso's time and 0.2 off the Renaults. And it was only Ralf's 3rd day of driving the car, so maybe it does have potential.

[valis]

pics still won't come throught at work, will check them out tonight......that's big news about SA....first I've heard about it. March 12th is cutting it rather close.

[johnnyburst79]

Can you check out www.itv-f1.com? That is where I get most of the info.

And SA is cutting is very close, 6 days prior to the inaugural race of the 07 season at Melbourne. It had better be set up with all the aero prior to showing. It would be a shame to produce the car and then have to change all the aero once getting to Australia.

[valis]

no, we've got pretty strict filtering here. I mean, I am IT, so I could bypass it, but that sets a bad example and I probably get yelled at by someone or other. No biggie.

Dude, 6 days? Who's driving for SA again? Without them, will they still have 20, as per the Concorde Agreement? 6 days is NO guarantee that they will make the grid.

[johnnyburst79]

Takuma Sato is the lead driver and Anthony Davidson as the 2nd driver. Yeah...6 days...well they should be done with the safety tests well before then and maybe they are just holding off on the release of the car? Who knows.

I would like them to do very good this year. Takuma is ok, but Anthony Davidson has impressed me in testing quite alot. He was usually at the top of times beating some VERY big names. It is about time he got his shot.

[valis]

you are spot on, that front wing on the fw29 looks odd. Betcha it doesn't last the season. Remember BMW's last year? Changed about halfway through......

They NEED better cooling.....'retirements' is a very tactful way of saying 'grenading'. I mean, those things just flat out exploded. Not a lot of guessing what went wrong when they stopped going.

[johnnyburst79]

I know it won't. With each course having different air density's, heat, etc., the aero will certainly change. Sam Michael did say they put bigger chimneys in the side pods to help with cooling. I think that was a necessity, really. WAY too many retirements for them.

Did you see the younger Rosberg say he will draw off the experience of his F1 debut season to place this year? Cmon man, his rookie year just ended, in F1. I don't think he has the car or the necessary skill to yet make such a statement. Maybe in a few years, but he needs the racing experience before he will beat drivers such as Kimi, Alonso, Button, Rubens, etc.

Spyker F8-VII Challenger for the 07 Season. Ferrari engine. Drivers Christian Albers and rookie Adrian Sutil. I do hope they do well this season. With Gascoyne coming in as technical director, I think that is an excellent start.


The nose looks a bit high, very little nose cone slope, and the front wing appears to be at the absolute minimum height. Nothing else really sticks out at me though. It looks a little long, but thats it. Of course, there is only one low quality image. Some better ones should appear tomorrow.

[johnnyburst79]

More Spyker pictures. It has a forward biased weight distribution to keep the rear as compact as possible. Good idea, but what about when the car loses traction? And, wouldn't drifting the tail out on a corner now be more difficult? Possible traction issues?

Spyker has also said they want to win GP's within 5 years. Possible?

Nice front wing.







Honda continues their testing. Any wonder that Button says the car can be improved upon? Is this guy EVER happy?

[valis]

I stand by what I said earlier; I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see spyker podium this year, IF the car is reliable enough......race length is quite different from 3 quick laps on a light load and fresh tires.....we'll see.....

button? Nope, never happy, and it's never his fault.

[johnnyburst79]

I have yet to see any times for the Spyker for comparison. Podium wise...too early I think. Maybe next year or the year after but I highly doubt this year from both a driver and a car perspective. Gascoyne admitted the car's philosophy was already completed and the build started when he came on board, so his contributions will be limited, must like Adrian Newey's for RBR last year. But...who knows.

Williams front wing detail. William's car is sitting very high on the timesheets...

[johnnyburst79]

Scuderia Toro Rosso released their STR2..which is the concern of many other constructors as they claim it is a "customer" car and therefore the team should not be allowed to score any constructor points.

You decide. Compare it to the new RBR car...










A perk of being an F1 driver. Your own female Roman Centurion

[valis]

hell, they both look pretty slick....like the livery on both.....what's this about a 'customer' car now? Hadn't heard about that.

[johnnyburst79]

Scuderia Toro Rosso and Super Aguri have been accused by Williams of using cars designed by their more well-funded teams, Red Bull Racing and Honda (and Arrows as well). McLaren has also expressed an interest in the accusation. However, in 2008 there is a stipulation in the rules that allows customer chassis' on the grid, as ProDrive enters the fray.

The only difference is ProDrive will be a complete privateer unlike STR and Super Aguri which are essentially B teams.

STR is having issues with the engine though. The chassis was designed for a Renault engine and the Ferrari is of a different configuration. so alterations to the engine bay are needed.

[valis]

I don't see why that would be a customer car.....if anything, it's a testing car for the grade a cars. I mean, c'mon. Red Bull == Toro Rosso. Just a different language. Not like they are hiding anything.