Team Lotus T128 Renault

[RacingManiac]

Random note, seeing the whole team pic is good since I see my friend still works there....

[xv323]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but is it me, or is the front wing they showed on their 3d renderings basically exactly the same as the TF110?




I wonder if Lotus got hold of some toyota data last year. They had a similar-but-simpler wing for the spanish grand prix onwards in 2010, and that looked like a toyota wing from the previous year...

Anyhoo, this car is an absolute STUNNER, in particular from the side angle . Can't wait to see it out on track!

[siskue2005]

@xv323
yup u are right its teh same toyota wing
But the Lotus 2010 car already had that exact front wing by Sepang, if i remember properly.

[myurr]

It's not the same wing, but it is similar.

I believe Lotus recruited some Toyota engineers - probably brought some of their ideas with them.

[Florio]

At first I thought it looked like the Mp4-24, but now after that picture, thats just a Toyota with Lotus livery!

[xv323]

It's not the same wing, but it is similar.

I believe Lotus recruited some Toyota engineers - probably brought some of their ideas with them.

Ah, that'd be why.

Given that said Toyota engineers would have been involved in the creation of a car with downforce figures that apparently rivalled Red Bull's at the start of last year - the TF110 - I'd say Team Lotus as a prospect for a viable front-running team in future years is looking pretty good ATM.

[mith]

It wasn't mentioned. Actually I've noticed it at the morning but forgot to write about it because of all that R31 exhaust hype, so thanks for bringing it up. The FW from that rendering is very similar to one made for TF110, but there are minor differences. For example both parts of small flap starting from endplate have slit in them on the T128, while on TF110 only inner part has it, while outer being solid.

What is worth adding updated wing of T127 is very similar to the final version of TF109 wing. Actually FW of TF110 and T128 are its evolution.

And this is because - as was already mentioned - Lotus hired some engineers from Toyota. It was widely discussed in T127 thread, so if you're interested you can read it.

[forty-two]

I for one am a little surprised at how small the "Lotus" name is on this car. I would have thought they'd have had it plastered all over the place where they haven't sold sponsorship, given the current dispute.

Or perhaps this is the first step in a gentle winding down of the whole businesS?

winding down of the whole business? behave, theres nothing that indicates this.

Apologies, I just re-read my post and realise that it's worded really badly! Apologies all. When I said "winding down of the whole business" I didn't mean the "Team Lotus" business, on the contrary in fact. I meant winding down of the ISSUE of the naming dispute and that perhaps the teams have come to some sort of an agreement?

Bad form on my part, so sincere apologies for wording that so badly!

[andrew]

Very nice looking car indeed. Certainly the best of what has been unveiled so far.

I thought that the Merc style air box arrangment was illegal for this year. Can anyone elaborate?

[mx_tifoso]

Read the thread and part of the recent posts in the W02 thread. It's all explained rather clearly.

[xv323]

Very nice looking car indeed. Certainly the best of what has been unveiled so far.

I thought that the Merc style air box arrangment was illegal for this year. Can anyone elaborate?

My impression was that anything below a certain radius - ie thickness - was banned. Merc's blade from last year would have been illegal under the new rules, but as can be seen on the picture above, Lotus' is considerably thicker than Merc's was, and thus it complies with the regulations.

[mx_tifoso]

We're going around in circles in every thread, if people just read what's been previously said we wouldn't have so many redundancies.

[Raptor22]

the problem is there are so many people posting absolute Sh*yt that its adding to the length of reading every thread on every car.
I mean really, "Supercavitation"!!!???? wheretf do people get these ideas from?
[just read to much drivel today, carry on, nothing to see here]

[mx_tifoso]

The ideas are fine, it's just that the going around in circles adds much more to the thread than is really necessary. We're here to discuss the cars, but do everyone the favor of reading the previous posts, who knows, one might learn something without even asking.

[manchild]

I mean really, "Supercavitation"!!!???? wheretf do people get these ideas from?

No one knows where the exhaust is, so everyone is just guessing where, why, what for etc.

I've put question-mark behind supercavitation, suggesting that the idea of front blown exhaust perhaps might be based on benefits of principle of supercavitation or something similar.

I got it from here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VA-111_Shkval

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4tSRrMkYVg[/youtube]

I had in mind difference between speed, volume, mass, temperature, direction and other characteristics of exhaust gasses vs. air stream.

If you know how R31 exhaust works, and you're absolutely sure, than please enlighten us intrigued, guessing dilettantes.