Changing camera positions to gain a millisecond

By Steven De Groote on 18 Mar 2007, 23:59

All aerodynamicists in F1 agree that these days the performance gains come in details, rather than revolutionary designs. Now McLaren have relocated the front nose camera position to gain an extra bit of speed. Ferrari have also adjusted the location of the camera so that it would not prevent the front wing from working efficiently. In fact one might even think that it helps the front wing in some cases. Since engines are now hardly different in terms of power output, every little aerodynamic tweak counts.

Comments

By jddh1 on 19-03-2007 at 01:23

I thought I saw this only on Alonso\'s car. Can anybody confirm?

By joseff on 19-03-2007 at 11:05

How do they run the wires? Or is it completely self-contained and wireless? What happens if the nose needs to be changed?

By Sawtooth-spike on 19-03-2007 at 13:54

I thought the same thing when i saw it, it looks really odd, but as Mclaren are one of the only teams without the moustash wing, they can use it in there design. I thought there were rules to say where u could put them

By chasefreak on 19-03-2007 at 15:17

i have gone through the pics from sundays race... and yee Alonso was the only mac driver who had cam on his nose... lewis did not have it.... so it must have given alonso some advantage

By jwielage on 19-03-2007 at 18:05

Alonso ran that durring the race? That seems quite odd doesn\'t it? Maybe it is becuase I am not as astute in the ways of Formula one as some of you, or the fact that we get limited coverage over here in the US, but I know little about these cameras. Obviously I knew that they existed due to the live shots fed from the cars, but I would have figured that they would be more integrated into the body work and wouldn\'t protrude off the car as the one pictured above does. Can someone clarify how these rules work? Must you run one of these cameras? Where can they be put? The paticulate spot chosen by Mclaren as pictured above seems odd because it seems to be placed in a very crucial aero spot. Can anyone please help me out here?

By Steven on 19-03-2007 at 23:38

Not all teams have camera\'s fitted, but they have to have a spefic amount of housings on the car.
e.g. the airbox camera is visible on every single car in the race, yet only 10 cars are equipped with one.

Yet the airbox camera has a fixed position. The cameras on the nose cone leave some room for the teams to move the location around.

By jddh1 on 21-03-2007 at 02:43

Tomba, is that really true? Only 10 cars per race are equipped with the airbox camera? I really haven\'t noticed that before. I honestly thought all of them had one.

By mini696 on 21-03-2007 at 08:06

They all have them (the camera box), but not all have the cameras installed.

By teecof1fan on 02-04-2007 at 04:44

every car has to have a camera housing above the airbox. every car has to have at least one camera onboard, but they\'re right, not all the cars have their camera in the required airbox camera housing (and most cars run more than one camera). and also, yes, there are certain places where teams may place their cameras....the airbox, either side of the nose (as we see on alonsos car or, slightly higher and further back, on the ferrari and other teams as well) and i think the front wing endplates, the sides of the airbox, and right in front of the cockpit facing the driver (also a mclaren thing)

By LewisHamilton on 29-07-2008 at 02:07

True Was Only On Alonsos Car

http://www.motorsport.com/photos/popup. ... 11546&S=F1