Renault launch

[Glen]

Pictures reveal no big surprises (32 of them on F1Live) - lots of detail at the rear of the sidepods - flips, wings, vents. Exhausts seem to be the "flush" type, nose is quite down-turned, keel is single (no surprise there). I really like the Renaults - they've got a kind of "honest", unfussy quality.

Can't see anything on the front suspension that reveals how this Michelin camber-control works - must all be hidden away, if its on the lauunch car at all.

[enemy-ace]

The exhausts look painful to the clumsy. Decent looking car though, seems to have followed the standard in aero design. Should be good though as Gascoyne designs a good car, it all really depends on the Renault engine though.
On a superficial note: The race suits of the drivers look a whole lot better than those travesty's from last year.

[Glen]

Last year's suits made them all look like bin-men, to my eyes.

I like the "toy car" livery.

[EERO]

Originally posted by enemy-ace

On a superficial note: The race suits of the drivers look a whole lot better than those travesty's from last year.

I dunno, I think these are horror.

[ASCII Man]

They look more like garbagemen than F1 drivers with those reflectinglike stripes...

[Sodemo]

Racesuits look awful, and the car looks the same as the 2001 spec.

Disapointing...

[OVERSTEER]

Any word on why the New Test driver Allan McNish wasn't at the launch like the teams test drivers usually are?

[Inigo Montoya]

Originally posted by enemy-ace
The exhausts look painful to the clumsy.

Are you sure you are looking at the exhausts, and not that weird looking periscopic protrusion on the sides of the car? The exhausts look like the commonplace flush ones.

[RWC]

Im pretty sure they don't have to resort to periscope exausts,al la ferrari because of the wide angle V engine.ie,the exausts don't have to protrude because they start lower down and have to wrap around the engine block abit

[ParkLife]

It's not a case of having to resort to it, it's a case of finding the optimum length to give you optimum output characteristics.

Different lengths of ducts give different resonances of the fluid within them. Optimising the length of your exhaust ducts can maximise the rate of exhaust you can get out of the engine, hence increasing performance. Accoustics basically.

In the case of these cars it is a matter of deciding if this gain in engine performance is larger than the aerodynamic dissadvantage of protruding ducts.

[TeddyG]

Not a bad looking car. It will be the engine that's the deciding factor for Renault though. If it is good then I figure there will be a good fight for 4th in the championship between BAR Renault and Sauber.

[WogBoy]

Hi everyone,

I think they have gone the wrong way with this car !!!

Look closley at the car and compare it to Toyota'03'/Bar'03'/F2002 you will see that the new Renault is very "fat" aerodynamically....

What do you all think?

[twig]

I dont really think it looks even that different from last years car, although the nose seems to have been dropped a tad, and maybe thats why in the photos it looks a little "fat".

ALthough last years car was quite a good chassis, and seemingly quite aerodynamically efficient, so it can only get better.

[GTV27]

yo dude, da ren-o is way fat bro

no sh#t homes, its fully sick man

da frogs must be pulln' well hard if dey fink dat'l carve air dude

nuh man, its da bomb

what the F#$@, gimme some of dose drugs dude, yo way wacked

[Tristan]

I agree.

But back to the new Renault, I think it looks REALLY boring. And low on sponsors.

[adamwj]

The final design will look different to this as they are still working on it in the wind tunnel and won't be on the car until the last test at Silverstone just before Melbourne.

[429CJ]

Are you all sure these are the 2003 cars???!!!??