Williams FW33

[beelsebob]

U-pods and Williams gearbox would though...

That would work very nicely indeed!

Who of the big guns will try Williams gearbox idea for 2012? Any thoughts?

I would be extremely surprised if any of Ferrari, McLaren, RedBull and probably Mercedes didn't immediately swing into action developing a new gear box when they saw williams'.

I expect McLaren will be most eager – their body's rear end is the least tight at the moment.

[MIKEY_!]

I doubt RBR will go for the low gearbox as the current arrangement works so well for them. Ferrari and Mclaren are possibilities though. I think we will see more of the double floor and U sidepods next year with the high nose and EBD gone.

[beelsebob]

I doubt RBR will go for the low gearbox as the current arrangement works so well for them. Ferrari and Mclaren are possibilities though. I think we will see more of the double floor and U sidepods next year with the high nose and EBD gone.

Bear in mind that the high nose and snow plough do a lot to set up the air flow for the U sidepods – it could become harder to feed them next year.

[MIKEY_!]

Fair point. Makes a better case for a double floor though. A rounded upper side of the nose might do the trick but still not as good as the snow plough.

[roadie]

This is getting off topic, but the exhausts will also have to be incorporated into the sidepods again.

[timbo]

This is getting off topic, but the exhausts will also have to be incorporated into the sidepods again.

Yeah, with the exhaust placement for 2012, I wonder whether it would be possible to have sidepods as tight as we have this year.

[beelsebob]

This is getting off topic, but the exhausts will also have to be incorporated into the sidepods again.

Yeah, with the exhaust placement for 2012, I wonder whether it would be possible to have sidepods as tight as we have this year.

I doubt it's any issue for the U-pod design if that's the way williams are going. But the kinky-kylie rear design may be out.

[ringo]

U pod is a dead end. It can be developed much further and it's downforce levels can never reach the level of the better design.
There is a better design on the grid.

It's the best option for poor teams though. Teams that don't have a Newey.
Since it's a direct benefit in drag reduction and rear flow improvement.

But wait so see what the exhuast regs do to it. I'll be suprised if Mclaren bring back the U pod.

[madly]

[Francesc]

[beelsebob]

Wow, I'm surprised the back of the williams isn't even more tightly packaged – that gearbox is unbelievably tiny.

[Tyler]

Very interesting looking front wing supports!!!
One thing I've liked about Williams this year is all the unconventional and unusual bits and pieces they keep bringing.
The car looks actually really looks neat and fast, pity it's not living up to its looks!
I hope it brings some improvements in performance - it looks really nifty!
Re: the U-pods
perhaps there is more performance to be extracted from them.
Surely there's a good benefit from the decreased drag.
McLaren had the fastest car in Japan so it may not be certain that Red Bulls design is better.Perhaps there is more performance still to be extracted from the u-pods than the traditional design.
Maybe this is a stupid question but wouldn't it somehow be possible to energise the airflow through the channels in the u by placing the exhaust in a strategic position?

[aleks_ader]

I definetly agree that the Williams will be more eficient with U-pods! With u-pods will became this tight back structure more efficient! This will improve grastically drag penatly and also nice improve downforce?

[horse]

I'll be suprised if Mclaren bring back the U pod.

I'll have a friendly bet with you that they're still on the McLaren and one more car next season. Maybe this one!

[ringo]

Very interesting looking front wing supports!!!
One thing I've liked about Williams this year is all the unconventional and unusual bits and pieces they keep bringing.
The car looks actually really looks neat and fast, pity it's not living up to its looks!
I hope it brings some improvements in performance - it looks really nifty!
Re: the U-pods
perhaps there is more performance to be extracted from them.
Surely there's a good benefit from the decreased drag.
McLaren had the fastest car in Japan so it may not be certain that Red Bulls design is better.Perhaps there is more performance still to be extracted from the u-pods than the traditional design.
Maybe this is a stupid question but wouldn't it somehow be possible to energise the airflow through the channels in the u by placing the exhaust in a strategic position?

The Mclaren pods are better than the conventional design. But the redbull design is really not conventional; though it looks that way.
macroscopic-ally it's not.

did a little experiment with the various sidepod shapes a couple months ago.
Used three designs as the standard. Results showed:

L side pods have an 11% better Lift to drag ratio than conventional designs.

contrastingly the redbull design has a 21.4% better L/D than conventional design.

The redbull sidepod is 8.51% more efficient than the L side pod.

The L side pods drag is lower by only 2.44%.

These are all my numbers with close replicas of the the various pods. All were tweaked to certain aspects to ensure the experiment was as controlled as possible.
I wont say why the redbull pod isn't conventional yet though; simple as it looks.
And you don't have to take my word for it. I'm just giving some figures to add some meat to the discussion. It's not gospel but it has some logic to it.

Concerning the williams, after looking on this shot:

The cosworth is one of the weakest links on this car in terms of packaging.
It looks like an old perkins engine in the shot.

the renault engine would be an instant improvement next year.