BMW new front Wings?

[walter]

After all car racing is (hopefully) about the fans

IS IT NOW?

who are the fans? can't engineers be fans as well? i am not even an engineer but I do like the innovation of F1 technology.

to say its about the fans is almost like saying its about the money.

I like strange, unique designs, is avant garde, maybe it works, maybe not, butt it is the human effort that we have here, creativity of a different kind.

[johny]

i consider myself a fan and i don't like those star wars cars. F1 should find a compromise between progress and race quality

[vyselegend]

I don't think one can put a ban on ugly things, coz that's a subjective opinion, but I'm sure those front vertical wings won't meet current rules, and if they do, rules will change quickly. Maybe there's already a rule which put a limit on the height of the things you're allowed to put between the driver's eyes and the road he's supposed to see. OK, those are thin when viewed on profile, but if it's vibrating a lot, it could put a stress on the driver view.

I remember JPM told he was annoyed when his uncliped left mirror was moving around freely, because it was a distraction and prevented him to focus on the road. So I wouldn't be suprised if drivers begin to complain about those things vibrating in front of them.

I think the first time they ran the car with it the other day was just to check if it didn't move too much, but obviously it is supposed to work in combination with the horns, and so I don't think it have very much effect on it's own. Probably it just help the airflow to reach the airbox, and then the horns help redirecting this air to the rear wing, as on the Mc Laren.

BTW, I admit it's ugly.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Who cares how they look? F1 cars arent designed to be good looking for god sakes. That's the most stupid thing I've heard... The FIA aren't going to ban them just because people think they look ugly. They will only ban them if they provide any kind of substantial advantage. The reason being the FIA want to continually reduce car performance for safety reasons. If there is just a single element of a car that can be removed which reduces performance without compromising safety then they do it.

[fwa2500]

remeber the side-pod wings in 98 (or was it 97?)?

i love the inovation, and im sure it will help alot with the airflow, but i also see a safty hazard if one were to detatch (or get broken off by somthing like a wheel like what happened to Kimi last year) and fly strait at a drivers head......

[i70q7m7ghw]

I suppose, but you could say the same thing about the mirrors, and they are alot heavier...

[Downforce]

Mu guess is that it will be banned because of the safety reasons.Those wings decrease driver visibility.

[Carbon]

My immediate thought was of - wow, that is unsafe due to the limited visibililty out of the cockpit, especailly in corner. I imagine that straightline vision would not be affected as much.

Interesting concept, but I question whether the BMW crew will try to race it.

[RH1300S]

That's the most stupid thing I've heard...

Surely not

I'm sure I could get myself wound up in a "safety" rant, but that would be pure speculation and pointless. I will suggest this....next Heidfeld does a barrell roll, I wouldn't fancy him landing the car on top of my cockpit - imagine that catching you right in the dangly bits

I don't mind standing up and saying the cars should look good. Remember when the X Wings came out, they pretty soon vanished - I've heard it repeated many times that the main reason was Bernie didn't want the cars looking like that.

In itself, it's interesting to try and figure out what they do, but that's all. If all the cars suddenly grew those little horns it wouldn't improve the quality of racing one tiny bit.

I'm a fan of F1 and a fan of racing generally. Cast your mind back over the years, the cars you liked as a child, the ones that you have fond memories of will all tend to be winning cars and also beautiful ones. I respond to the visual appeal of the machinery as much as the racing.

[i70q7m7ghw]

You can't really say the quality of racing wouldn't improve if everyone had those devices on those cars because you dont even know what they do. Who knows they might even remove the dirty air affect everyone complains about...

[RH1300S]

You can't really say the quality of racing wouldn't improve if everyone had those devices on those cars because you dont even know what they do. Who knows they might even remove the dirty air affect everyone complains about...

Fair point....

[scarbs]

I guess these wil be banned for safety reasons, but right now they lack a name, how about "bunny ears", their upright shape kinda reminds me of a rabbit.

[bhall]

Accoring to reports, BMW will run the car with those wings in France.

http://www.f1racing.net/en/news.php?newsID=123812

[Tp]

F1 cars aren't designed to be good looking for god sakes

I have to say, in my opinion it's the regulations that are main culprit that results in these ugly and messy solutions, simply because they are limited in freedom within certain dimensions of the monocoque.

But about F1 cars not designed to be good looking, "Well if you think about it a Formula 1 car is simply a machine that moves through the air. And when you start looking closely at aerodynamics, you realise it shares lots of properties with water - and that governs the way you think. In short it's all about logical solutions. And you've never seen an ugly dolphin, have you?" GA

[RH1300S]

And you've never seen an ugly dolphin, have you?" GA

And I've never seen a Dolphin with downforce either

Some "aero" shapes are beautiful. I think the current Renault has some very sexy curves, so too the McLaren.