F1technical.net

Is it just me or can I see that the engine cover on the Red Bull RB2 only goes half way? - what I mean is that usually the engine cover extends like a fin all the way to underneath the rear wing, whereas this seems to be 'cut off' well before the rear wing.

Like this?



I'm sure that both Renault and Mclaren had this whole 2005 season, possibly some other teams too.

Ooo manchild do you have a hires version of those pics? That is so my new desktop wallpaper please please...

Anonymous wrote:Ooo manchild do you have a hires version of those pics? That is so my new desktop wallpaper please please...

No, sorry. Those are pics from official Renault F1 Team site but you can find other Renault high res wallpapers elsewhere.

http://www.motorsport.it/html/fotohi.ph ... dnews=2038

Here you have nice big pics, just adjust paper size to fit your resolution.

Yeah that's what I'm talking about. What's the go with it?

greggy_thommo wrote:Yeah that's what I'm talking about. What's the go with it?

It was a necessity to improve stability of the car because of the 2005 regulations. I think that this whole lengthened engine cover has same purpose as vertical stabilizer on airplanes. I also think that it is not going all the way down because than the car’s stability could become more vulnerable in turns, in case of side wind and in the traffic.

The lengthened engine cover was introduced in 2004 along with the larger rear wing endplates. The goal was to provide extra advertising space.

The engine cover coverage was mandated only down to an imaginary horizontal line. Below this teams made cutouts, I think introduced by Williams/McLaren, to reduce crosswind sensitivity.

Williams, Mclaren and Renault didn't have cutouts in 2004


Not even on FW26B (Montoya Brazil 2004)

Uh... did I mix up 2004 and 2005?

But 2004 *was* the year of the extra ad space rule, wasn't it?

Yeah it was, however Sauber still had a "cut off" rear end in '04
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We were talking about cutout not cutoff. R24 had it cutoff too

The FW27 has also the cutoff and i Ttought that the RB1 also had the cutoff with his last aero update.

greggy_thommo wrote:Is it just me or can I see that the engine cover on the Red Bull RB2 only goes half way? - what I mean is that usually the engine cover extends like a fin all the way to underneath the rear wing, whereas this seems to be 'cut off' well before the rear wing.

nope im pretty sure its "cut off"

I think that the best way to put it would be to say that first they were cutoff in 2004 and than in 2005 additionally cutout.

Ferrari “introduced” the cut on the cover during 2004 preseason testing when they were using the shelf wing above gearbox on the F2004. Then in the last tests in Imola the wing (and the cut) disappeared and the airbox wing appeared instead. The shelf wing and relative cut were then adopted again on the F2004M and the F2005. Other teams adopts the solution with or without the shelf wing.

An interesting thing, notice that the rule says :

3.16 Upper bodywork :
3.16.1 With the exception of the opening described in Article 3.16.3 [hole to lift the car - Reca], when viewed from the side, the car must have bodywork in the area bounded by four lines. One vertical 1330 mm forward of the rear wheel centre line, one horizontal 550 mm above the reference plane, one horizontal 925 mm above the reference plane and one diagonal which intersects the 925 mm horizontal at a point 1000mm forward of the rear wheel centreline and the 550mm horizontal at the rear wheel centreline.

As you can see in the R25 the rule is respected to the letter and the engine cover has consequently that triangular end.

If you look at Mp4/20 on the contrary you’ll clearly see that the cut is larger than theoretically allowed, it goes above the horizontal line 550 mm above RP; the trick is that on the side view there’s still bodywork in that area thanks to the vertical fins between the wheels.