Ferrari Mailing List: Stepped nose, or lack thereof

[Todd Walke (racertod]

George wrote:

> Hard to tell from that low angle photo, but so far this year's car is 
> better looking - no ugly stepped nose (I never did understand why so many 
> of last year's car had that....)

        The stepped nose was dictated by the rules, like everything else 
in F1.
        The FIA was concerned about the trend to ever higher noses.  Teams 
have been raising the nose more and more in an effort to direct air under 
the nose and into the aerodynamic doo-dads under the car.  The concern was 
that the high noses were a safety issue, more likely to spear into another 
car's cockpit in a side collision.
        So they lowered the height of the nose section.  This is done by 
redefining the "box" into which the nose cone must fit.  Similar "boxes" 
are used to define where you can and can't put bodywork, the wings and even 
the exhaust outlets.
        The rules did not change the maximum height of the bulkhead just 
behind the nose, however.  So most teams lowered the nose and kept the 
bulkhead up high (for aero reasons), resulting in the very ugly stepped 
nose of last year.  McLaren didn't have this issue as their aero scheme 
didn't require the front bulkhead to be as high as the other teams.
        For this year, the nose and bulkhead heights remain the same, but 
a non-structural cosmetic panel may be used to smooth the transition 
between the nose and bulkhead.  This is being called a "modesty" or 
"vanity" panel.  It is optional.
        Some teams have the vanity panel extend quite far forward.  Some, 
like Red Bull, use a shorter panel so as not to waste too much weight on it.
        Look at the larger version of the photo in this article.  You can 
see their short version of the vanity panel. 
http://en.espnf1.com/redbull/motorsport/story/99811.html


Todd
Seattle,WA
'86 GTI, Red of course. (exciting racey car) 276,000 miles
'01 Golf TDI, silver.   (new work car)       388,000 miles
'87 Golf, Polar Silver. (retired work car)   654,000 miles <- Gone to a new 
home :(
http://www.pureluckdesign.com <-Ferrari & VW stuff