Virgin Racing VR-01 Cosworth

[marcush.]

Yes, but he has done renault R29 in Post Season Testing last year. And the laps he has done in previous years Renaults. He will be OK. Maybes not fully OK, but he will be good enough to pass off early season, developing later on.

I sure hope so, for his sake. Piquet lacked testing, and he never recovered his confidence from the catchup he was forced to do during race weekends when performance was necessary. Same with Badoer & Alguesuari & Grosjean.

Kobayashi, to his credit, was an exception.

c´mon everyone with all his senses can learn to drive a car around in circles at decent speed given he will have thousands of miles to practise.

Isn't that my point? He doesn't have thousands of miles of practice.. less than 200 laps, in a new car with a new team with new regulations.. and he's a new driver.
yes he can drive, but is he fully equipped with the knowledge & understanding of his car, his team, their processes etc.

like you said, there is no time to learn the ropes once the season starts. so when is he to learn them now that preseason has been under-utilised?
i hope his fate has not been sealed due to Virgin's poor reliability.

I feel 200laps is not that he had no chance to drive.the problem seems more that he had no chance to drive a car that was performing as it should (with the hydraulic gremlins).

I remember Schumacher with one single test with jordan in silverstone ,that was not even one day wasn´t it? and Alesi did not even have a single lap in a F1 car before his debut if i remember correctly. Berger ? debuted in the ATS that would normally not even make the distance ,so a test was never on ,still bagged a point on his debut..
But who are the drivers that have racked up thousands of miles and then became famous? I think Damon Hill is the one valid example he did not really look that special early on .

[marcush.]

I´m not entirely sure ,do the Acura LMP1 and 2 cars sport any hydraulic system (not the brakes obviously )as it seems quite a thing that they seem to have a fundamental problem with the seals or methods of sealing..
Ok the level of veibration has to be higher with the F1 engine ,and maybe it is
something to do with the position of the pump as well,but . Williams and Lotus also having those problems (but to a lesser degree) one could ask why this is something we hear only from the cosworth camp.....is the hydraulic pump even a cosworth supplied component coming with the package (or the gearbox ,as lotus and Wirth use the Xtrac spec unit ...I heard rumours Gascoyne(?)was not impressed with the hydraulic system of the box ...
so whats goingon there the new teams in need to grade up in that area because the
fiaspec parts are not up to the task?

[PlatinumZealot]

I really wonder too. I just don't understand how hydraulics can break every single time you use it. Can't they just switch to another supplier?

[Raptor22]

could be cavitation which can result from bad plumbing, incorrect hydraulic fluid viscosity and viscosity index.
could be a bad pump choice.

they're learning and the learning curve is steep.

I'm rooting for them this year

[ESPImperium]

Yes, but he has done renault R29 in Post Season Testing last year. And the laps he has done in previous years Renaults. He will be OK. Maybes not fully OK, but he will be good enough to pass off early season, developing later on.

I sure hope so, for his sake. Piquet lacked testing, and he never recovered his confidence from the catchup he was forced to do during race weekends when performance was necessary. Same with Badoer & Alguesuari & Grosjean.

Kobayashi, to his credit, was an exception.

c´mon everyone with all his senses can learn to drive a car around in circles at decent speed given he will have thousands of miles to practise.

Isn't that my point? He doesn't have thousands of miles of practice.. less than 200 laps, in a new car with a new team with new regulations.. and he's a new driver.
yes he can drive, but is he fully equipped with the knowledge & understanding of his car, his team, their processes etc.

like you said, there is no time to learn the ropes once the season starts. so when is he to learn them now that preseason has been under-utilised?
i hope his fate has not been sealed due to Virgin's poor reliability.

I feel 200laps is not that he had no chance to drive.the problem seems more that he had no chance to drive a car that was performing as it should (with the hydraulic gremlins).

I remember Schumacher with one single test with jordan in silverstone ,that was not even one day wasn´t it? and Alesi did not even have a single lap in a F1 car before his debut if i remember correctly. Berger ? debuted in the ATS that would normally not even make the distance ,so a test was never on ,still bagged a point on his debut..
But who are the drivers that have racked up thousands of miles and then became famous? I think Damon Hill is the one valid example he did not really look that special early on .

marcush. - I think you have my view on this one. There are drivers that havnt even been to a test that have done fine. Schumachers first test of a Jordan was infact a Jordan branded Bycycle, in whitch he got 3 laps of Spa in before setting foot in the Jordan car. Alesi, Berger, Hill, Irvine; all of whitch are fine. Look at Jamie Alguersauri last year, not even from GP2, he was in WSBR and got the call and was fine, appart from ramming Hamilton or Button up the arse at Spa.

At least Di Grasi has had some milage in his car, its looking like Senna and either Chandhok or Lopez wont even get milage in the Campos-Dallara. And id have more of a concern over that than Di Grasi in the VR-01.

[mith]

I know, it's Virgin thread, but I heard Lotus is going to have their own gearbox sometime around half of the season. It was Kovi's statement as far as I remember. He also said that Xtrac is somehow outdated.

[Terrible3]

I´m not entirely sure ,do the Acura LMP1 and 2 cars sport any hydraulic system (not the brakes obviously )as it seems quite a thing that they seem to have a fundamental problem with the seals or methods of sealing..

Its funny that you asked, they had a lot of trouble with the hydraulic power steering on the ARX-02a during its first test and race. They would continually top up the hydraulics of the car but the problem was eventually mended by the second race I believe.

[horse]

There are drivers that haven't even been to a test that have done fine.

I agree that there are natural talents that can just get into a car and drive, but I think F1 is a bit special because of its complication. Back in the days when Schumacher, etc started driving there was not a great deal to do in the cockpit, just drive the car. The natural instinct was more important. Now though, the cars are much more complicated and they take a while to learn. Look at Fissi last year, not a slouch, but couldn't sort the Ferarri out for toffee.

I suspect there will still be people who can work the cars first time they sit in them. However I'm not sure these will necessarily be those with the most natural flair for car control, but more those who are natural multi-taskers.

[marcush.]

There are drivers that haven't even been to a test that have done fine.

I agree that there are natural talents that can just get into a car and drive, but I think F1 is a bit special because of its complication. Back in the days when Schumacher, etc started driving there was not a great deal to do in the cockpit, just drive the car. The natural instinct was more important. Now though, the cars are much more complicated and they take a while to learn. Look at Fissi last year, not a slouch, but couldn't sort the Ferarri out for toffee.

I suspect there will still be people who can work the cars first time they sit in them. However I'm not sure these will necessarily be those with the most natural flair for car control, but more those who are natural multi-taskers.

badoer and fisi are not the correct examples as both had nothing to learn in the car but simply were not able to get the most out of it ,end of story.
Fisi even came on ahigh egowise directly from a near miss of a win the race before ,so his confidence was as good as it gets .Still the ferrari scared the --- out of him obviously and he was not the same anymore from day one.

So in effect ,all the tests and driving are for nothing ,sit in and give it a go .If you are there ,fine,show me what you can do.If you miss you are gone ,it will not get easier.not without testing and a lot of practise ,which is not happening anymore in F1 .so there is no scope for waitng for the guy to settle in...its different times.

[ESPImperium]

I know, it's Virgin thread, but I heard Lotus is going to have their own gearbox sometime around half of the season. It was Kovi's statement as far as I remember. He also said that Xtrac is somehow outdated.

You did hear right.

Its gonna be in the next 3 months that its designed and built, allong with a new powersteering system as the Xtrac hydrolic system isnt up to date and is generally a weak system.

Meaning that it will be arround the Britis GP that the gearbox comes onto the car and it will be arround Turkey the new steering rack comes to the car.

I think that Virgin will eventually look at the same idea, where they design and build their greabox, but i think that eventually Xtrac will get their system up to scratch and will get it up to spec, but that may take most of the season for them. The only way that Lotus are getting it done is that Gascgoyne is using arround 20 to 25 people that came from Toyotas gearbox department.

[marcush.]

I know, it's Virgin thread, but I heard Lotus is going to have their own gearbox sometime around half of the season. It was Kovi's statement as far as I remember. He also said that Xtrac is somehow outdated.

You did hear right.

Its gonna be in the next 3 months that its designed and built, allong with a new powersteering system as the Xtrac hydrolic system isnt up to date and is generally a weak system.

Meaning that it will be arround the Britis GP that the gearbox comes onto the car and it will be arround Turkey the new steering rack comes to the car.

I think that Virgin will eventually look at the same idea, where they design and build their greabox, but i think that eventually Xtrac will get their system up to scratch and will get it up to spec, but that may take most of the season for them. The only way that Lotus are getting it done is that Gascgoyne is using arround 20 to 25 people that came from Toyotas gearbox department.

so does this effectively mean Virgin and Lotus run largely the same hydraulics? as the gearbox system is by Xtrac and the pump is Cosworth?
the pump is a problem as well as williams also had issues but not as much as Virgin and lotus?

[ESPImperium]

I know, it's Virgin thread, but I heard Lotus is going to have their own gearbox sometime around half of the season. It was Kovi's statement as far as I remember. He also said that Xtrac is somehow outdated.

You did hear right.

Its gonna be in the next 3 months that its designed and built, allong with a new powersteering system as the Xtrac hydrolic system isnt up to date and is generally a weak system.

Meaning that it will be arround the Britis GP that the gearbox comes onto the car and it will be arround Turkey the new steering rack comes to the car.

I think that Virgin will eventually look at the same idea, where they design and build their greabox, but i think that eventually Xtrac will get their system up to scratch and will get it up to spec, but that may take most of the season for them. The only way that Lotus are getting it done is that Gascgoyne is using arround 20 to 25 people that came from Toyotas gearbox department.

so does this effectively mean Virgin and Lotus run largely the same hydraulics? as the gearbox system is by Xtrac and the pump is Cosworth?
the pump is a problem as well as williams also had issues but not as much as Virgin and lotus?

Essencially its the same system with changes to suit eact team. Williams are running the same gearbox that they have used for the past 2 years with the Toyota powerplant, albeit with a new casing so it can pickup the bolt p[oints for interfacing to the Cosworth CA2010 engine better, and modified suspension pickup points as well. All that Williams has changed is the gearbox exterior and so able to have the most up-to-date system avalable for the Cosworht engine. They also are running a completly different hydrolic system to Virgin and Cosworth as they have the money to do so and also the know-how as well as they also took a fair ammount of good people from Toyota when their pull out was announced as Toyota had as many as 50 people embedded within the Williams facility.

The pump they will be running will be esencially the same for each team, so they will all have to try and source a better/stronger pump from elsewhere.

[bar555]

Double Deck Diffuser
1.The central section is formed and divided from the side sections , by two vertical fences
2.Second deck
3.Venturi channel
4.Tab

[RacingManiac]

when did they go to this front wing?

http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/13246868

[marcush.]

they surely ran the smallest barely visible upper planes now for the first time...it almost seems they use it more as flow conditioners than to create downforce?

http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/bild ... d=3&sort=1