Pirelli tested 18" tires and wheels on a Lotus E22 today at Silverstone.
I can understand the marketing reasons behind a wheel that looks like something you or I might use but, 12 inch rotors inside an 18" wheel look as silly on a Formula 1 Lotus as they do at your local mall.
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Agreed, but I'm sure they'll sort it out when the 18" tyres will be officially part of the regulations. Bigger rotors will probably have to be thinner not to increase the unsprung mass, it will be interesting.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I'm very intrigued by what a 18" tyre would lead us to. The tyre's spring rate will be very different and much stiffer, and that should be a big change compared to the actual formula, where the tyre shoulder does most of the damping.
I'm definitely looking forward to that...
Nice to see others aren't thrilled with this change either. I think they should just stick with the current sizing or do something a less dramatic like a 15" wheel. F1 is not and never was supposed to be a style of racing or technology that was intended to relatable to road cars.
ReplyDeleteSurely they would use 16in or larger rotors if they start racing with 18in wheels.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that they are looking at larger wheels. It gives them a lot more room to innovate with the brakes and tires. Besides, who uses tiny 13in wheels any more besides F1?
These cars are so finely tuned and designed that ANY changes require massive amounts of time, money and testing to accomplish. For the big teams, its not that much of a burden, but or the smaller teams, it could be fatal. The suspension at minimum will have to be completely redesigned, aero redesigned. Granted they are always making changes optimizing, etc, but all that work is thrown out the window.
ReplyDeleteAfter the engine changes this year, consecutive changes like this will make the already dominate teams more-so and the struggling teams pushed further back. I don't see how this helps F1 because its not like ANY of this technology actually makes it down the food chain to consumers or other race platforms for that matter. the materials and fabrications costs for parts is just waaaay to expensive and specialized to survive anywhere but in F1 or other premier racing leagues.
With those rims it looks like carts instead of cars.
ReplyDeleteMake em square, engineer that out F1!!!
ReplyDelete