Ferrari F2006

[scarbs]

BTW the Ferrari IS A SINGLE KEEL, I saw it at Barcelona and have a shot of the front of the car with no nose cone on, I will post it next week.
Also there is soemthign very clever going on with the rear face of the engine in respect to gearbox and suspension mounts. I have to look atmy pics a bit closer....

Scarbs

[johny]

yes it's a single keel, but there're informations saying they'll test V keel

[DiESEL[P]]

It's single keel, but there are two elements meeting on the keel from either side. The lower wishbone, and then something above it, track rod maybe? but that low down?

[Spencifer_Murphy]

WOW...i thought it had been CONFIRMED that it will be a V-Keel....my mistake!

[Guest]

Why are ferrari so behind on aerodynamics? Nobody runs a single keel anymore. Are they just too conservative? I don't really understand. They
still run that horrible box section on the front wing, which may give some grip, but should be very high drag penalty.

[zac510]

I don't agree. Look closely at the rear end. All of it. Inverse, brighten, contrast any diffuser pics you can find.

The front might be conservative but knowing what works is very valuable. I'm worried about Ferrari this year - especially being back on soft Bridgestones!

[Scuderia_Russ]

Why are ferrari so behind on aerodynamics? Nobody runs a single keel anymore. Are they just too conservative? I don't really understand. They
still run that horrible box section on the front wing, which may give some grip, but should be very high drag penalty.

I think they were certainly conservative last year (and look where that got them) Ross Brawn is convinced they have sorted last years problems out but whether they can make up the lost ground to Renault, McLaren and a closing Toyota is the question. As for the little front winglet, apparently all of their C.F.D. analysis points to this being the most effective way of producing the most downforce from a wing that has to sit so high from the ground. Look at the trouble teams like B.A.R. had last year with their spoon shaped wing. It took them half a season to right their front end woes!

[Guest]

It just doesn't seem like that shape is very efficient. I know having the wing less than a chord-length to the ground helps induce ground effect. True, even ugly shapes can be suprisingly good in CFD analyses.

Still, I am disappointed by the single keel and the relatively few innovations. Besides the mirrors, this car just doesn't excite me.

[Guest]

They are testing both single (Barcelona) and V-keel (Fiorano/Mugello) configurations.

The pic below is from their Mugello test (you can see the silhouette of the V-keel). The 3/4 rear view best exposes the feature.

[manchild]

Any keel, V or single is part of the chassis, molded and baked together. That is why I don't see why Ferrari would invest in design and manufacture of two different chassis when so many data can be acquired via CFD and wind tunnel models. Personally, I don't find that pic much convincing.

I could find logic in this only if Ferrari has designed removable keel and chassis that is designed for both - single and V keel. Otherwise testing two different chassis, two months before the beginning of season seams absurd.

[peroa]

Any keel, V or single is part of the chassis, molded and baked together. That is why I don't see why Ferrari would invest in design and manufacture of two different chassis when so many data can be acquired via CFD and wind tunnel models. Personally, I don't find that pic much convincing.

I could find logic in this only if Ferrari has designed removable keel and chassis that is designed for both - single and V keel. Otherwise testing two different chassis, two months before the beginning of season seams absurd.

Hello everybody!

Agree on that, what one can see on the picture is an optical illusion of the single-keel, the pic is shot from behind and from the side and that gives you the impression of a V-keel, you can see the same effect on a pic of the rollout 2 weeks ago.

[scarbs]

Clearly the Ferrari is a single keel, the non-technical media jump on band wagons and predict keel-less or V-Keel designs to sound knowledgable (and often fail)
I doubt Ferrari are going to try two different chassis, I would expect the difference between the single and V keels to be minimal. As with all thigns aerodynamic there is no best solution, Ferrari will have shaped the front wing, bargeboards and chassis all to work together, the gains from these will have been set against the mechanical issues with the front suspension to arrive at the best result. Simply saying a keel-less design is best and a single in conservative is over simplifying the issue.

[Guest]

Yeah it is an optical illusion - the grey plate gives the impression of a V shape:

[ginsu]

Simply saying a keel-less design is best and a single in conservative is over simplifying the issue.

After 2005, I think we can make some conjecture about v-keel, no-keel, vs single keel performance. We cannot say for certain that the performance level of the R25 or Macca were due to their suspension designs, but it's hard to say it wasn't either.

We have to make conjectures about why Ferrari were down last year. Yes, I think primarily it was the Bridgestones, but it doesn't seem like Ferrari attack the issue with innovation. I know that Ross Brawn said last year that they don't really know why they're so slow when they're slow, and they don't know why they're fast when they're fast (This was when Schumi got his one legitimate pole position). This probably breeds some conservative thinking at Ferrari which seems to stifle their innovation.

If we truly examine Ferrari, we might find a mediocre car with an incredible driver with a huge tire advantage (custom compounds from Bridgestone, etc).

I guess I used to think that the Ferrari was the class of the field in all respects, but in recent years I'm not so sure about that car.

[Spencifer_Murphy]

Personally I think the F2002 & the F2003-GA were their best cars. Despite the F2004 winning the championship I didnt think it was a close to prefection as its two predecessors.