Ferrari's wind-tunnel failure

**Mickey T** · 15th May 07, 18:45

somewhere around two weeks ago, Ferrari had a monumental failure in its wind tunnel.

one of the links in the chains that drive the rolling road snapped when the road was running at more than 200km/h.

it was out of action for more than a week while awaiting analysis and repair, but they don't really know what caused it.

with three shifts of aero nerds running there seven days a week, that's effectively three weeks out of action.

I don't imagine there will be any immediate impact, though if Ferrari goes off the boil just a touch in two or three months, then plays catch-up, I won't be surprised.

Interestingly, Ferrari still run only a half-scale wind tunnel. Williams, Toyota, BMW, McLaren, Honda etc all have full-scale tunnels (some can run two full-sized cars line-astern, but hardly ever bother) alongside their half-scale models and rely on mathematicians to calibrate the differences.

**Easy Drifter** · 15th May 07, 19:12

Not as accurate but it was a heck of a lot more fun to study oil droppings and bug guts streaks on the car. Ah ain't science wonderful. Just showing my age.

**ioan** · 15th May 07, 19:22

They'll have to do a better selection of the aero parts to be tested if they want to keep moving as soon as the device will be up and running again.
Just shows how much more important aero development is than anything else.
Big cheers to Max for freezing engine development!

**andreag** · 15th May 07, 21:13

They can also buy Honda their wind tunnel. Maybe Ferrari can make it worth.

**futuretiger9** · 15th May 07, 21:38

The pace of development in F1 is such that this failure could hamper at some point. I remember Williams moving mountains to get a full-scale wind tunnel many years ago, realising how crucial it would be.

**Gannex** · 15th May 07, 23:26

Are any of them full-scale?

**Hawkmoon** · 16th May 07, 02:53

Originally Posted by tamburello

Ferrari have three wind-tunnels.

That simple statement perfectly sums up what's wrong with F1 today. Three bloody wind tunnels! And they probably run the stupid things 24 hours a day too.

**Valve Bounce** · 16th May 07, 03:58

Originally Posted by tamburello

Ferrari have three wind-tunnels.

"LINK PLEASE"

**ioan** · 16th May 07, 07:55

Originally Posted by Hawkmoon

That simple statement perfectly sums up what's wrong with F1 today. Three bloody wind tunnels! And they probably run the stupid things 24 hours a day too.

Completely agree with this statement. But at least they froze the engine development and also limited the engines to 19000 rpm (after they were running close to 21000 last season), not to mention that when they went from V10s to v8s they increased the minimum weight!

All this means that the field is leveled on the engine side already and McLaren has finally got their first bulletproof engine since 1999!

Ferrari runs away with the trophies for a few years, they change the rules.
Renault runs away with it twice, they change the rules again.
I expect them to change the rules after ever back to back wins for a driver from now on.
How nice is the FIA these days!

**Mickey T** · 16th May 07, 19:26

No, Ferrari has no full-scale wind tunnel.

the half scale, which is the one which broke, is the largest they have.

**Valve Bounce** · 17th May 07, 01:26

Originally Posted by Mickey T

No, Ferrari has no full-scale wind tunnel.

the half scale, which is the one which broke, is the largest they have.

The way I see it, then Ferrari are just plain lucky to have people who go in the right direction on instinct. If the other tunnels are less than half size, then the correlation of results must be extremely difficult.

By the way, Mickey, I just would like to thank you for coming here with insights that the rest of us have no way of knowing. Don't be a stranger, OK?

**aryan** · 17th May 07, 12:29

Originally Posted by Valve Bounce

By the way, Mickey, I just would like to thank you for coming here with insights that the rest of us have no way of knowing. Don't be a stranger, OK?

Well...there is only so much he can say out loud in a public forum.

**Flat.tyres** · 18th May 07, 14:37

Originally Posted by Mickey T

No, Ferrari has no full-scale wind tunnel.

the half scale, which is the one which broke, is the largest they have.

are you sure? i thought they had one that took models from 65% up to full size with maximum simulation speeds of 150kph for full scale up to 250kph for 65%.

may be wrong though but i thought i knew who developed it.

**Flat.tyres** · 18th May 07, 14:58

done a bit of digging online and came up with this. its not 100% accurate but not too far out. at least it gets the right designer although i think a german company built it (or was that the other one. it could be)

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns01420.html

**Valve Bounce** · 19th May 07, 00:42

Originally Posted by Flat.tyres

done a bit of digging online and came up with this. its not 100% accurate but not too far out. at least it gets the right designer although i think a german company built it (or was that the other one. it could be)

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns01420.html

I hope you realise this was a 9 year old article.

**ioan** · 19th May 07, 21:05

Originally Posted by Valve Bounce

I hope you realise this was a 9 year old article.

So what?
Some things doesn't change in 9 years.

**Ranger** · 20th May 07, 09:01

Originally Posted by ioan

Some things doesn't change in 9 years.

Maybe so, but that seems pretty unlikely in the realms of F1 technology.

**Valve Bounce** · 21st May 07, 04:19

Originally Posted by ioan

So what?
Some things doesn't change in 9 years.

I don't believe that the R&D of Ferrari "doesn't change in 9 years". Even you don't believe that.

**Mickey T** · 21st May 07, 09:09

It's the same tunnel, with a lot of upgrades and mods over the years.

the one that was kept quiet, though, was the Honda failure in the full-size tunnel last year.

apparently, the tethers snapped, and the speed of the rolling road spat the full-size F1 car into the fan blades. Very expensive...

i was in their tunnel a few weeks ago and i couldn't believe the size of the tethers. then somebody with very close access to the aero team there told me this.

**ArrowsFA1** · 21st May 07, 09:23

Originally Posted by Mickey T

the one that was kept quiet, though, was the Honda failure in the full-size tunnel last year.

apparently, the tethers snapped, and the speed of the rolling road spat the full-size F1 car into the fan blades. Very expensive...

i was in their tunnel a few weeks ago and i couldn't believe the size of the tethers. then somebody with very close access to the aero team there told me this.

Didn't Nick Fry deny that this happened recently