Geoffrey

I haven't really paid much attention to F1 in the last few years, but was watching it the other day. What is the deal with the front wheels of the Ferrari cars? The centers don't turn, or it has a large center nut, or there is cooling, or something. What is the deal with that?

ECS

I have heard its an aero improvement. But...no idea where I heard that.

chrisp

It's sold to the FIA as an enhanced brake cooling system. Looks to me like an aero enhancement that gets around the rules because of its brake cooling functionality. To me it's like a solid disc bicycle wheel. That was legal because the UCI (cycling governing body) did not have a minimum spoke count and this wheel was considered one spoke....even though the manufacturers only talked about its aero advantages.

Bull

Alonso should be able to tell us...or just about anyone...

J richard

Ferrari isn't the only one running them, a few races back one flew off a car and laid in the middle of the straight at the nurburgring, spyker i think. Watch the wheel changes, they snap onto the centerlocks, they don't turn and have a cutout on the rear edge, they are all about aero and brake ventilation. I've heard the idea that they are mainly for the aero during high speed turns, as the car turns/rotates it presents a considerable face of the wheel to the airflow. It will be interesting to see if they really catcht on, they remind me of the 935 wheel fans or the old 70's can am aero cars.

or they could be F1's idea to sell wheel spiners...

mdrums

These disc vent air from inside the wheel to the low pressure area outside and behind the wheel. The aid in cooling plus give an aero aid as well. There was a hug tech write up in a euro autosport magazine last month plus a tech session on TV that covered these.

chris walrod

As stated above, they are aero enhancing.

What I would like to know is how they keep these disc's clocked and stationary? Open wheel uprights, generally speaking, have a rotating spindle that the wheel mounts to. A center-wheel nut etc. The wheel bearings are trapped by the spindle with a through bolt in the front and a driveflange at the rear. All of this junk rotates -- curious to see how these folks mount it?

Matt Marks

It definately doesn't spin - you can see that the cutout at the 5:00 o'clock position is stationary. Now - what is REALLY lame is that the front ones seem to have gained a picture of a BBS wheel since the last race...

chris walrod

They've had the BBS logo for a few races now....after BBS complained. It does look silly IMHO, but in racing-- form does follow function. Perhaps Ferrari didnt get that email as well

chrisp

for anyone who hasn't seen the ducts:

Nano

F1.com has a technical section ya know



"Last season, Ferrari adopted shields to cover the rear wheel rims. These additions meant the mechanics could only access the wheels with their wheel guns through a small central hole. To improve the timing and precision of this operation, the F2007 has been fitted with a wheel nut extension, which enables the mechanics to fit the wheel gun onto the nut more easily. This modification has already improved the timings of the team's pit stops."



"Although they've been tested at Barcelona and Paul Ricard, Silverstone marks the race debut for these items. Their purpose is to direct the hot airflow generated under braking away from the wheels and underneath the car (red arrow). The slit in the rim shield has a specific 27-degree angle to achieve this. The hot air accelerates the airflow underneath the car, hence helping with the extraction of air via the diffuser. This provides additional downforce, better stability and an improved aero balance. As you can see, the function of the front shields is completely different to the rears, which simply aid brake cooling and reduce turbulence"



"Introduced in Hungary and retained for Turkey, a thin Gurney tab (blue arrows) has been applied to the top half of the shields. The tab has a slightly curved side profile, wider at the extremities and narrower at the centre, so as to split the airflow in this area in two. This reduces the turbulence generated by the inner portion of the shields and helps with hot-air extraction via the diagonal vent in the lower section (red arrow)."

Chaos

If they worked McClaren would have them !

LouZ

The Ferrari guy forgot to tell them

ltc

They had to paint the look of a BBS wheel onto them after BBS complained that the original design covered up the BBS logo and the wheel.
Seems very odd watching the car go by and the 'wheel' isn't spinning.

J richard

Now if they could only keep them spinning when they pull in the pits they'd really have the ****z yo dawg....