Team Lotus T128 Renault

[raymondu999]

Elliot (head of R&D): "The area that intrigues me the most is the front suspension, and the rear as well actually," he said. "We've tried to push the boundaries with a few things to make it a bit lighter and more efficient."

they're hiding the real suspension then. Redbull may want them to hold off until the rb7 comes out too.

Why though? Lotus only has the Redbull gearbox, not the suspension. Granted, suspension points will change etc, but surely it shouldn't matter too much?

[wickerbill]

Is it just me or is there some really weird sculpting on the leading edge of the chassis underneath each sidepod air intake.

Not only that, the rendered car has a different front wing.
Looks like Lotus is still behind with some work. The suspension doesn't even seem finished.

The diffuser is not fitted yet!!

And how do they plan to launch rear wing adjustment - there is nothing there...

[H. Zedozil]

And how do they plan to launch rear wing adjustment - there is nothing there...

Ehemmm....well, this obviously not the car that they will use during the test...this might be only a show car, the real one probably already being packed up in the truck for the Valencia test.....

[myurr]

Why though? Lotus only has the Redbull gearbox, not the suspension. Granted, suspension points will change etc, but surely it shouldn't matter too much?

They're getting the Red Bull rear suspension as well, or at least I thought they were. Was one of the reasons they went with it.

To me that car looks the business - there's still some work to do on the suspension, obviously, but it looks very similar to this years Mercedes and looks like a solid foundation for the year that they can refine as time/resources allow. I'm optimistic for them.

[nacho]

I read from TS a few weeks ago that the Lotus car will be ready at the very last moment, I can't find the news now but basically they will have all the parts ready at Valencia.

The sidepods, cooling intakes, and the rear seem very agressive, especially the undercuts near the floor.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Oh roll blades were banned?

[H. Zedozil]

It looks like the nosecone is lower than the Ferrari F150?

Comparison between T128 and F150




Edit: T128's pic is in different angle

[H. Zedozil]

Oh roll blades were banned?

Read this: T128 Roll blade analysis: http://www.racecar-engineering.com/arti ... -analysis/

[myurr]

That side comparison is really interesting. The Lotus's side pods look less bulky than the Ferrari, particularly width ways, but the rear of the Ferrari with their trick suspension actually looks lower. [/armchairanalysis]

[gridwalker]

That is certainly a much bulkier roll structure than we saw Mercedes running : If the W01's "blade" was a razor, this one is a butter knife.

Now that regs have set a minimum frontal area for this kind of roll structure (blunting the blade's edge, so to speak) I think a different term should be used to describe it : "blade" just doesn't cut it for me any more.

[Mandrake]

Roll pillar?

The actual shape geminds me a lot of the "tower" of a submarine, whatever that is called in english

[adrianjordan]

Roll pillar?

The actual shape geminds me a lot of the "tower" of a submarine, whatever that is called in english

Conning Tower

[raymondu999]

That side comparison is really interesting. The Lotus's side pods look less bulky than the Ferrari, particularly width ways, but the rear of the Ferrari with their trick suspension actually looks lower. [/armchairanalysis]

it's a 3d render though, so we'll need to see those specifics at the physical launch

[myurr]

Roll pillar?

The actual shape geminds me a lot of the "tower" of a submarine, whatever that is called in english

Conning Tower.

Edit: Apparently not - that's a component of the 'tower', with the tower as a whole being called the fin or sail.

[horse]

That side comparison is really interesting. The Lotus's side pods look less bulky than the Ferrari, particularly width ways, but the rear of the Ferrari with their trick suspension actually looks lower. [/armchairanalysis]

it's a 3d render though, so we'll need to see those specifics at the physical launch

I agree this is hard to compare on the current information, but does the car not look really short compared to the Ferrari? Its not a bad packaging job in that respect. Alternatively, you could argue that not having the maximum floor area is detrimental to the operation of the diffuser.