Sauber C32 Ferrari

[Matt Somers]

Another hi-res photos of the car:

Its the NACA style duct on the engine cooling hole on the back of the engine cover, im not sure what they want the air or are trying to do with it. May be something for the team to expand on in the future.

I've just mentioned the same in my blog: http://somersf1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/ ... lysis.html it would appear they are trying to control the flow coming out of the cooling exit by enforcing it with re-ingested air from the Engine Cover perhaps to increase the effect of the Beam Wing. Be interesting to see how this area changes if/when they apply DRD.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

The C32 looks good. They had a good base to work off of from last year. And I totally dig the livery. Best looking car yet, IMO. Even better than my beloved F138.

[motorloon1993]

True it looks fantastic the exhaust section is so smooth, hope the paint looks that metallic out on track looks mean.

[Nando]

Sidepods looks great, get a Red Bull vibe from how they are shaped. Sort of a "start wide, end thin"

Whereas others start thin, bulge, then thin again.

[Absolutelee]

This car is beautiful IMO

[beelsebob]

Makes me wonder if they're using air around the side of the side pod to create the downwash, rather than air over the top.

[stefan_]

Nosecone slot like the C31 had.

[Artur Craft]

Either Morris is way too optimistic or this car is gonna win races this year. So far I can only give this to the team =D>

[Matt89]

If you zoom you can see that the nose vent is still there.

[stefan_]

^ Do you even watch previous posts?

Front end(...)
Either Morris is way too optimistic or this car is gonna win races this year. So far I can only give this to the team =D>

Well, it sounds good in theory. I am eager for the qualifying in Melbourne to see what it can do.

[Engel_T]

And like Lotus has done for the bottom front wishbone (at least in the renderings), they have integrated the steering rod with the upper wishbone.

[dren]

Makes me wonder if they're using air around the side of the side pod to create the downwash, rather than air over the top.

My thoughts as well. It looks like the flow conditioner top wing around the side might send a vortex right down to the exhaust. Those sidepods might have a two fold benefit, better air flow up top for the exhaust and a lower cofg.

It looks like most teams are encasing the drive shaft, too.

[Ferraripilot]

The step in laminar flow from the sidepod top to the exhaust system concerns me. Mclaren started their system somewhat like this last year but ultimately found as we can see with late 27 and now 28 that the transition of flow to the exhaust is about seemless ie. no step. It can also clearly be seen in the new Ferrari that the flow transition to the exhaust is minus any brakes.

The new Sauber's sidepods opted for what is essentially no undercut around the sidepods/floor area which causes that area to be slightly larger, and this packaging is probably why they could not further tighten the sidepod transition to the exhaust. I actually believe the exhaust almost looks like an afterthought with the way everything else around it is designed.

Sharp looking car otherwise.

[WillerZ]

I highly doubt any of these launch cars have an engine fitted or much of the internals for that matter. I guess if one wanted to they could make cheap bodywork for the launch that was nothing like what they will run at the first test. Not to say sauber are doing that but damn those side pods are tiny.

You do reliase that to make a "decoy" bodywork, someone has to design the part, design the tooling which includes a pattern and then a mould, program the CNC machine to spend hours cutting the tooling board, layup a tool onto it, cure the tool, demould and trim an the post cure the tool treat the tool with release, layup the actual part, cure it, demould it, program the CNC machine again to trim it, fill it and paint it...

The only real expense is the design: you can make it out of papier mâché and it'd look the same once it's been sanded and painted. Given a big enough 3D printer you could print a nylon show car body very quickly indeed. The only car we know is real so far is the Force India, because they started it up and did a lap of Silverstone after the unveiling.

I am a bit surprised that we don't see the bigger teams showing off a more refined design than they will use at the first test: once the design is done the marketing department can 3D print a nylon version for the paint shop before the tooling for the real thing is more than a glint in the technical director's eye. And in terms of misdirecting people it would be brilliant: we spend much less time scrutinising a part which was on the launch car and not present at the first test even if it later re-appears.

[beelsebob]

The step in laminar flow from the sidepod top to the exhaust system concerns me. Mclaren started their system somewhat like this last year but ultimately found as we can see with late 27 and now 28 that the transition of flow to the exhaust is about seemless ie. no step.

Except that they didn't – as we were just discussing, it looks like sauber are using air from around the sides to create the downwash over the exhaust, and fill in that gap.

The new Sauber's sidepods opted for what is essentially no undercut around the sidepods/floor area which causes that area to be slightly larger, and this packaging is probably why they could not further tighten the sidepod transition to the exhaust. I actually believe the exhaust almost looks like an afterthought with the way everything else around it is designed.

I'm pretty convinced that it's quite the reverse – this is all intentional, and designed to make the exhaust work better, with it as the first thought, not the last.