What are those solid parts of the wheel? Anyone know how they increase brake cooling?

Are they legal? As was said on qually session wheel must be one part but they say its part of the brakes yet it comes off with the wheel so i dont see how it can be legal.

Edit: On a secondary topic - Anyone know what they 'vents' are on the front of the f1 cars. McLaren has the round one on top of the nose cone and renault have on at the tip. Is it just to get some cool air into the cockpit to cool the driver?

They have moondiscs and I think that's why they are so fast on straights, those rims are used on cars that run on max speed competitions so they must give them a few extra km/h, don't think they increase brake cooling in any way though.

It does look like those used for top speed cars but (iirc) it was brundle who said that its to with the cooling of the brakes. Which to me sounds like ferrari have said that its to do with brake cooling and everyone else is trying to work out how.

Well I think those would hardly increase the brake cooling cause from what I see they haven't got any holes except for the wheel nut hole.

They changed a bit of the rules for the brakes and stuff. Thats why Ferrari is using little winglets on the brakehousing (which are actually movable aerodynamical part) and those wheeldiscs.

Supposedly the brakehousings now are deemed to belong to the body of the car thats why those little winglets are allegedly legal. The exact arguments for the wheeldiscs I have not found yet.

It will have a positive effect on brake cooling, by reducing the turbulence in the wheel and allowing cleaner airflow. But it will also have an effect on basic aero efficiency by, again, reducing the turbulence in the wheel area.

Earlier in the season they had a smaller lip for brake cooling, and even made it a homogenous part of the wheel rim. If this part is homogenous (which it doesn't look like at the moment) then it would technically be legal I think. I'd be surprised if Ferrari don't get asked to remove it or make it comply further.

But I'd also be surprised if other teams don't start using it if Ferrari don't get asked to remove it. It's not a complex bit of kit, although making it work with the existing brake cooling on a car might not be the work of an afternoon.

AFAIK Ferrari got permission from the FIA to use them.

If they got permission all the rest of the teams will start using them soon then.

"Ferrari first introduced these at Imola, to help extract the heat generated by the rear brakes. The lip of the shield separates the hot airflow from the rim walls, helping to stabilise tyre pressure by limiting the effect of the brake heat. In Turkey the concept is pushed further, with a wider lip section reducing the size of the central air vent. This improves air extraction still further by decreasing turbulence generated by airflow close to the wheel. It also slightly improves aerodynamic efficiency in this area."

- Directly from formula1.com

Here's a link:
http://www.formula1.com/insigh ... is/race/2006/764/323.html

I wasn't far wrong then

they claimed it's an aero part and thus got away with it.

this is the BIGGEST LOAD OF BULL i've seen in a long time. Renault have a piece of suspension removed because it is apparently a moving aerodynamic device and yet ferrari can get away with this.

why don't the FIA(t) just give the championship to ferrari before the season starts?!?!?!?!?!?! illepall

this is absurd and INSULTING to everyone!

(Secret recording from FIA meeting) "Oh no, someone is faster than ferrari, we'd better change the rules so that ferrari can win. oh wait, ferrari is breaking the rules, oh, hang on, that means they'll be faster and even more likely to win. WONDERFUL. why didn't we change the rules that way in the first place!"

i'm totally sickened and disgusted by what's happened in the last few weeks, and looking back on a bunch of other little things that have been run along similar lines over the last few years i'm ALMOST ready to stop watching the Jerry Springer World Championship.

is there a vomiting smiley?

speedfreak227

I wanna know why in the hell the FIA banned McLaren's flexi wing thingy. It was such an ingenious idea; and that is what F1 is all about. At least, that is what it used to be about anyways Damn FIA....

http://www.formula1.com/race/technical_analysis/763/321.html
http://www.formula1.com/race/technical_analysis/755/269.html
http://www.formula1.com/race/technical_analysis/754/267.html

Its not new stop being a bloody fan boy.

Heard that it may be protested after the race

Ferrari are saying its part of the brake ducting, to which Ron Dennis claims Ferrari should be penalised if thats the case. The brake ducts are a part of the car that cannot be changed after quali according to him

interesting theory and design though. I dont think it'll be long before we see everyone with them. I do find it interesting that Ferrari cannot seem to make the winglets on the upper nose work while some of the other teams (especially Renault) have 2 sets!

Quote from turbo4door :

I dont think it'll be long before we see everyone with them.

Or everyone without them

It is interesting... old Le Mans cars used the same principle for the caps and aerodynamics (787b I think?), it MIGHT be in F1, but it just looks odd.