“a very reliable car straight out of the box”
The other team that failed
Neither the Marussia MR01 (above) or the HRT F112 (left) are ground- breaking racecars, but with both chassis using proven components from the likes of Cosworth, McLaren and Williams F1 they should be able to put in respectable showings this year. The lack of KERS on either car is an indication of budgetry constraints, but there’s no doubt the season ahead will prove an interesting one for both teams
to make its debut in the last official pre-season test was HRT, but that has become customary for the team, which has never undertaken any testing ahead of the first race of the season. In reality, the F112 had a short shakedown run at Barcelona after the official testing had concluded, but the team’s second chassis arrived in Australia incomplete. This meant the scrutineers had to wait until Friday to put the car through technical inspection. In the end it was academic as, between the two F112s, just 54 laps were completed, all of which were outside the 107 per cent qualifiying time, so neither made it into the race. All that was to change a week later in Malaysia, though, with both cars starting the race and one of them running as high as 10th at one point. Like the MR01, the F112 is
a fairly conventional car. The chassis is a development of the F111, itself a lightly updated Dallara F110. With some of the update work carried out by Oxford, England-based Dash CAE,
the car retains the Cosworth CA engine used in the F111 but now mated to the tiny Williams F1 transmission in place of the Xtrac unit used in 2010 and 2011. As with Marussia, this has allowed the team to switch from a pushrod to a pullrod rear suspension. The Spanish team also lacks KERS. At Melbourne, the car
featured a number of upgrades from its Barcelona shakedown run. Immediately noticeable was the updated front wing (the initial wing appeared to be a 2011 item, but with some elements removed). To see the team undertaking
development work is encouraging, but remember in its debut season the only components changed were the fuel tank (because it leaked) and the wing mirrors (because they were illegal after a rule change). Over the winter, the team has
moved into a new headquarters in Spain and many of the team personnel are new. Hopefully, this could see a new lease of life for the tiny organisation.
May 2012 •
www.racecar-engineering.com 77
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100