Scuderia Ferrari 2012

[Forza Ferrari]

It seems that hey want a guy with good abilities in thermodynamics...

what does it mean?

[Forza Ferrari]

According to jose luis, Ferrari are trying to gain between 8 to 12 points in aero.

Is it a lot? Is it possible to gain this in such a short time??

[raymondu999]

thermodynamics is basically the study of heat and how it changes things. Put in very simple terms, that is.

[raymondu999]

points is a point of contention for most people - some say it's a paddock standard. Some say it's an arbitrary number that differs by the team. IIRC for McLaren's "downforce points" system - 1 point is equal to about 0.05s of laptime. If we use the same; then Ferrari is looking for 0.4-0.6 laptime from downforce increase

[Forza Ferrari]

SO this will take a while before we reachthis number I guess..

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

I dont think the car is intrinsically bad. I just think to unlock this time they need to get their exhaust sorted.
Fry himself aluded to this. The problem they have is if the current optimal exhaust solution doesnt fit in with their concept....

[Mr.S]

thermodynamics is basically the study of heat and how it changes things. Put in very simple terms, that is.

No as a Chemical Engineer I can say that aint right.

Its basically Thermo + Dynamics. Not how it changes things. But flow or movement of heat in simpler terms. The change it causes or not is secondary.

[Forza Ferrari]

I dont think the car is intrinsically bad. I just think to unlock this time they need to get their exhaust sorted.
Fry himself aluded to this. The problem they have is if the current optimal exhaust solution doesnt fit in with their concept....

Aren't they supposed to have designed this car around this exhaust concept??

[timbo]

Well, it's easy to see what is the hard thing to solve with exhaust blown brake ducts solution -- managing exhaust plume around rotating wheels on a multitude of really short span wings moving along with suspension. That is a big gamble.
But if they would make it work, they'd have a big advantage IMO.

[amouzouris]

i watched the video about how they turned the mp4-24 from a dog to a winner...and Pat Fry..who was then working at Mclaren said that they managed to get 30 points of downforce (1.5s) in 3 weeks between the last test and Melbourne...ferrari had a little bit less than half of that..so i would say that if they work hard enough..8-12 points of downforce should be achievable...i hope they can do it...

[amouzouris]

Off topic: Prodromou is from Cyprus which is my country....He is not very well known here and that is VERY sad....for me.. HE is the guy I look up to!!

On topic: Prodromou is a great mind and it would be a very strong addition to the Ferrari squad..he would actually make a lot of difference so I hope that this is true... his study is Aeronautical Engineering and he is specialized in CAD/CFD...indeed he was the one that brought cfd to mclaren..and he got in there as soon as he graduated...you can understand what a guy he is and what a big contribution would be to ferrari!! I hope this is true!! [-o<

[bhall]

Indeed, also according to jose luis, monte and domenicalli are finalizing a m"ajor" signing , a genius of aero, a leader that is still missing.

Domenicali is supposed to be that leader. This is why I'm really beginning to think that the team will not be successful until he's gone.

(I have two words for those who'd say I've missed the point: Jean Todt.)

[Gerhard Berger]

My question would be how do they fit him in? Fry was only appointed as technical director around 9 months ago. Tombazis is a highly rated engineer and Ferrari seem to value him. His position as chief designer seems safe. Chief aerodynamicist is Nicolas Hennel, who was only appointed in this position around 9 months ago.

[amouzouris]

maybe chief of CFD?? or maybe in someone else's place

[lombers]

I don't think it's all doom and gloom.

For instance they should be able to claim some performance back simply by cleaning up the sidepods where they now no longer need the Acer ducts for the first few races. How much improvement this will yield I'm not sure, but I'm sure this is just one of many things in the pipeline for the first race.

If you believe all of what you hear/read there is some speculation that RBR may well return to their launch car exhaust configuration. Interesting considering that there weren't a heap of teams that experimented with both the outboard and inboard exhaust configuration during testing...