noisebox wrote:IdeFan wrote:- Rear suspension geometry looks different.
I think it's pullrod - a first for HRT.
Yes, the rear suspension is a pull rod actuated design.
Whilst there are some areas where HRT do seem to have improved, on the other hand there do seem to be some areas where the team has gone backwards if anything - as others have said, hopefully the front wing is not the final article. After all, they were using a more advanced design last year, so it would be strange for them to suddenly switch to a much older specification part this year - unless they have intentionally chosen to fit a 2011 specification nose (which is possible). scarbsf1 was also suggesting that this car seems to be missing a few pieces (such as the bargeboards), so it might be the case that the final car is a little more refined when we hit Australia.
ElizabethSterling wrote:It seems Marussia will be keeping ahead if appearances are anything to go by. The exhaust 'solution' especially appears to be just jam them up and out of the side-pods with little regard for how it'll impact the car.
Well, okay, clearly they thought about it but had no money to actually make a real go of the kind of exhaust work the other teams, (even Marussia) are making.
To be fair, during the pre-season development phase that particular solution - to blow the underside of the rear wing, thereby making it work more efficiently by creating a greater pressure difference across it - was thought to be a fairly safe development path with room for improvements.
Furthermore, the designs that outfits like Red Bull, McLaren and Sauber are using (where bodywork is used to deflect the exhaust gas towards the diffuser region) only received approval from Whiting after the Jerez test - HRT probably went with the blown rear wing as that was the only approved concept during the off season, and they couldn't afford to be wrong-footed by a late regulation change (take the banning of Lotus's proposals for a form of passive ride height regulation).