Virgin Racing VR-01 Cosworth

[Francesc]

[zgred]

[zgred]

[timbo]

DAMN THAT EBDs!!!
I wish every car looked like that!

[volarchico]

That's an awesome picture! If only the car could drive fast based on cool looks.

[godlameroso]

It's not bad for a first attempt, I wonder if the car will be faster next year when rear downforce is severely reduced. IIRC the acura LMP's designed by Wirth were pretty slow at first then on the second year they began cleaning house. I'm not expecting the same leap forward but with all they have learned this year, if all the data is correlated and analyzed correctly they will definitely take a leap forward.

[spinmastermic]

Plus the Williams gearbox will definitely help things too

[CEPAT]

Plus the Williams gearbox will definitely help things too

oh really? when was this announced? link?

[n_anirudh]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88129

3rd largest CFD installation..pretty good stuff..Looks like they are definitely in for the long term

[dren]

glad to see this team stick it out for the long haul. I am glad they have serious backing now too.

[ESPImperium]

Now means the Virgin Team will be arround for a good while, they now have backing and have facilities as well, now all they need is some good driving tallent beside Timo Glock. Id have ideally liked them to take the Williams gearbox liek Hispania, but they want to perservere with the 2004 technology that X-Trac offer, but this could be the last piece for them. If they find the hydrolics are an issue in 2011, id recon for 2012 they will have a decent transmission.

The team has had a rough first year, but its all good for learning and to get things correct from the start.

With their CFD facility, id recon they will make significant inroads in 2011, i recon their 2011 car will start roughly about the 2.5% off the ultimate pace, whitch is about a 1.5% leap from their current pace.

[Arunas]

Now means the Virgin Team will be arround for a good while, they now have backing and have facilities as well, now all they need is some good driving tallent beside Timo Glock. Id have ideally liked them to take the Williams gearbox liek Hispania, but they want to perservere with the 2004 technology that X-Trac offer, but this could be the last piece for them. If they find the hydrolics are an issue in 2011, id recon for 2012 they will have a decent transmission.

The team has had a rough first year, but its all good for learning and to get things correct from the start.

With their CFD facility, id recon they will make significant inroads in 2011, i recon their 2011 car will start roughly about the 2.5% off the ultimate pace, whitch is about a 1.5% leap from their current pace.

They say it will not start as good:

Although that means it will not have any impact on the design of the 2011 contender, Wirth is hopeful that its data will help with the first update package for the new car.

[thestig84]

I dont understand the CFD saving money agruement. I know Mclaren spend nearly as much running and maintaining their supercomputers as the windtunnel (not sure on buying/building comparisons). If Virgin are to get CFD only to work they will spend just as much as using a wind tunnel.

I guess they save money by not using both.

[marcush.]

I dont understand the CFD saving money agruement. I know Mclaren spend nearly as much running and maintaining their supercomputers as the windtunnel (not sure on buying/building comparisons). If Virgin are to get CFD only to work they will spend just as much as using a wind tunnel.

I guess they save money by not using both.

It is quite simple:

You got a multimillion€ Windtunnel facility that costs enourmous money to maintain and run + you need a full blown windtunnel model workshop to actually build all those 40% winddtunnel models + samples of all the iterations you fancy to build.think of all the moulds for parts that have to be soooo precise so you can scale the effects for the full size design with confidence.Plus you still need a ways to "adjust" those findings to the real world ...

With CFD only you got no extra work for designing the modelsize car and tooling.the service and maintainance should be a lot cheaper than a tunnel and the number of specialists to run the software is surely also less than whats needed for a full blown tunnelprogramme.
If you build on what you know and keep on an iterative track feeding back the findings from the track i feel this is not a quick ways forward but potentially a steady climb to a full understanding.

Do current aircraft see windtunnel work at all?

[imightbewrong]

Do current aircraft see windtunnel work at all?

Yep