Williams FW33

[forty-two]

Gearbox
... whereas in the past we were down to 8-9mm gears.”

Williams FW33 article

Is this why the teams seem to get so nervous when the drivers have to use reverse?

[humble sabot]

This is pretty friggin cool! The front ends of the cars share so much but there's some pretty funky stuff going on further back this year!

[Pandamasque]

Oh my... it looks like one of those LWB bikes for drifting

[mrk189]

seems slow...

[King Six]

I'm pretty certain this car does not have a gearbox, and is infact, driven by magic. That's incredible, seeing the rear wishbone on the wing support like that.

Analysis and pics here:
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/cars/williams-fw33/



=D>

This car ought to have more than 6 pages of blabber, well at least compared to the unreleased MP4-26...which has about what, 50 pages? What on earth do they talk about? The weather?

[Tim.Wright]

I'd be interested to know how they addressed the camber compliance issues with the rear wishbone and tie rod mounted on that unsupported titanium beam. Though the pull rod design would be helping the cause here on the outside wheel by reducing the tensile force in the upper link.

Tim

[feynman]

This car ought to have more than 6 pages of blabber

Agree.

The back end of that car is stunning.
The huge gaping void, the pillar suspension mounts, the crazy driveshaft angles. With a procession of carbon-copy Toyota noses this year, the real interest is to be found round the back.

Hope it doesn't end in tears. Be nice for some old fashioned engineering hardwork to get a reward.


So here's another comment to help boost the miserly page count.

[horse]

+1 I think the rear end of this car is amazing. Some of the surfaces leading to it still look a little untidy, but there are some great ideas going on here.

What is a little concerning is it's initial pace. It's 3 seconds off at the moment, which ain't great. Early days though, granted.

[747heavy]

[joseff]

Where does the electric motor go? I remember Patrick Head saying it's the size of a loo roll, hanging behind the gearbox... I don't think it can fit under that tiny enclosure.

[RacingManiac]

I'd be interested to know how they addressed the camber compliance issues with the rear wishbone and tie rod mounted on that unsupported titanium beam. Though the pull rod design would be helping the cause here on the outside wheel by reducing the tensile force in the upper link.

Tim

Ditto, I am assuming though that the F1 teams should know what they are doing, but the design doesn't seem conventionally sound....

No denying though it is the coolest thing so far for me this launch season, aside from the R31 exhaust...

[humble sabot]

It's a pretty fat post. I'm not in a position to calculate it, but i'd guess the deflection is low enough that it's not an issue.


speaking of the weather, we've got about a foot of fresh powder on the ground here in Montreal. Nice little blanket over Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

[wrcsti]

Finally, a 2011 car that isnt a cookie cutter of the TF110.

[thestig84]

I too agree. Love looking at the rear, so different! cue-dos to Williams for going for it. A nice shift from recent quite 'playing it safe' designs.

I couldnt believe F1fanatic comments about how boring the car was, only 1 person mentioned the rear! What is worrying is twitter journos saying Rubens looks pretty unhappy and they have a lot of work to do. Times seem to confirm this.

Hope they get on top of any issues.

[SiLo]

It looks so small, it's amazing, but to me it also looks butt ugly.

Not the paint job though, that is drop dead!