Formula One car development blog
Low noses are more efficient in F1
After half a season with the highest nose tip of all cars, the Honda engineers have found they were pulling the shortest end and have designed a longer nose with a much lower tip. The development is however surprising as the team earlier declared that it would be focusing fully on next year's car.
Last season, Toyota made a similar, though less drastic move to improve the frontal grip upon corner entry, and it appears that Honda have learned from their fellow Japanese team.
Also note that Honda's paint scheme is deceiving as the underside of the cone is painted black, rather than the usual white. The nose is therefore slightly thicker than it initially looks.
Two different rear wings on RA108
Honda drivers Barrichello and Button have been using different rear wings at the Canadian Grand Prix. Jenson Button's version is very similar to the rear wing used at several other races this year as it features the same profile but has an extra gurney flap to it. Surprisingly, this will increase downforce. The wing used by Rubens Barrichello sports a cut out upper plane, as marked by the arrows. Such design is a quick solution for lower drag and downforce on the same wing, although it will have a lower efficiency compared to a wing with a higher lower profile and with identical downforce.
Honda's attempt for a double deck front wing
Honda have developed several new bits to increase the frontal downforce of the car. While winglets on the outer sides of the front wing end plates have been removed, a new - unpainted - element on the inside was added, effectively chasing the effect of double deck front wing but at a less effective scale. The main panel on the other hand has a cut-out where it attaches to the end places, allowing a better flow into the brake coolers.
Also marked are new endplates that were added to the "dumbo"-ears and a horizontal panel in between the suspension arms. The latter is however not new but noteworthy as it will no doubt help to condition the airflow towards the sidepod inlets and the rear of the car.
All new W-wing for Honda
Honda have raced their new W-shaped rear wing for the first time at Turkey. It had previously been tested at Barcelona before the Spanish GP. Previously, Honda's rear wing was a simple shaped horizontal aerofoil with an equal angle of attack over the entire span. For the new wing, the team appear to have started from scratch with some noticeable influence from Ferrari. The element now has a very curved lower element and, as a result, a variable angle of attack along the width of the wing. As Turkey requires slightly less downforce compared to Barcelona, this wing is more beneficial as it is induces less drag. In one move, new endplates were introduced that show some resemblence with the plates used by Renault in their 2006 spec Renault R26.
Marketed wheel fairings on Honda RA108
All teams have been very busy testing their new wheel fairings during the Barcelona test, but Honda have added an extra bit of value to the wheel covers. Essentially, the covers are a carbon fibre shield that helps with the cooling of the front brakes. Marked in the image are on the right an air inlet to accellerate cooling while on the left a small outlet - pic taken from the right of the car.
Despite being very useful, they generally don't sell well to the wide public as they cover up shiny magnesium wheels. But Honda comes to the rescue by painting their new fairings in their blue and green earthdream colours. No doubt more teams will follow.
Honda reinvent elephant ears
Almost one year ago and also at a test session at Barcelona, Honda uncovered its RA107 with elephant ears. While the ears were never raced in 2007, they are back on the RA108. Today, Honda showed off a slimmed down version of their ears. The aerofoils are now smaller but extend higher above the nose. It remains to be seen whether it will be used in races this year, but there is a possibility that the FIA will opt against it, either for security reasons or because it hinders the sight of the driver, similar to the end of BMW Sauber's twin towers.
New, curvy midwing on RA108
Also included with Honda's new aero package was a new mid wing. The newest version is a serious development step for the car as previously, the Honda cars either had no mid wing or displayed a simple, horizontal plane, in fact a design that appeared outdated. The new version is of a totally different kind as it has been optimised to work along the airflow and try to direct air as smooth as possible to the rear wing. The shape varies slightly along the width of the aerofoil while the most central part has been curved up to improve its efficiency.
All new front wing on Honda RA108
Honda have surprised many with their relatively good pace in qualifying at Australia. Part of that is thanks to a new aeropackage, including this new front wing (upper part). As marked, you can see the base plane is completely revised and is now more edged in the ends and smoother along the spoon shape. The upper element is also redesigned and is of much simpler shape than before. The previous version resembled highly the Ferrari front wing while the new one has no more cuts and is smaller (partly due to other downforce requirements at Australia compared to Barcelona and Jerez where the team tested during the winter).
As a side note, the team added an additional Bridgestone logo on the front wing while the Honda logo on the nose is now silver and red instead of red-white.
A case study on Honda's viking horns
As the new Honda has been testing with its 'viking horns' for a while now (they were quickly fitted after the launch), it is time to have a closer look at them. While it is now the only car with horns, pictured are also McLaren's version of 2006 and from BMW Sauber in 2007. As is clear in the image, the curvature is more rounded now at the outer extremities while the angle of attack is very neutral, similar to McLaren's item. The aerofoils themselves are aimed to stabilise the car under yaw and pitch, an area where Honda suffered particularly in 2007.
Honda opt for a high nose to address problems
Contrary to their philosophy of recent years to lower the nose bit by bit, Honda have taken a totally different road with the RA108. As the 2007 car had much aerodynamic problems and was difficult to extract front downforce, the team have freed up the frontal area to improve front wing efficiency. A higher nose is generally the better option for wing efficiency as it aims not to interfere with the wing's airflow. It must be said that, for a first time really high nose, Honda did a good job. While the paintjob is deceiving and the nosecone is a little fatter than you'd think, it still is slim compared to rival teams. One big disadvantage can be the lack of possibilities to position ballast low in the car at the front and it remains to be seen how Honda will solve the problems that could arise of that.
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