It is very possible that you have never heard of Virgin Racing. Don’t worry, you are not the only one. To explain in just a few words, Virgin Racing in one of the sport’s four new entrants for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship. And of course, VR-01 is their Formula 1 car.
"The first stage in our on-track evaluation programme is our two-day shakedown at Silverstone on Thursday and Friday this week, where we will conduct systematic testing and confidence-building of all car parts and oncar systems. It was always intended that we would miss the first all-team test in Valencia this week and very early on we targeted the second Jerez test in two weeks’ time for our public testing debut. It is a testament to our methodical approach and the sheer hard work of the team that we are heading to Spain a week earlier than planned to take part in the first Jerez test next week."
The Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One team is bringing back some big names for the 2010 season that, if nothing else, are sure to garner quite a bit of attention from F1 fans around the world. After unveiling the all new MGP W01 Formula 1 car in Valecia, Spain; seven time world champion Michael Schumacher and son of former driver Keke Rosberg, Nico who are currently testing the new race car took some time out to pose alongside the team principal Ross Brawn with the latest member of the Silver Arrow family wearing its silver and green livery before the car went back into the garage to prepare for the start of the test session.
The Former BMW driver Nico will be the first of the Mercedes GP Petronas drivers to try out the new car with Michael taking over shortly after. However the big news comes with the multi world champion Schumacher being reunited with his longtime comrade Brawn, who is fresh off of last year’s title winning season in his team Brawn GP’s rookie year, who has been working with Michael ever since his Benetton days all the way up through his retirement with Ferrari.
The second team to be revealing their 2010 Formula 1 car is BMW-Sauber. Their 2010 season race car, called C29, also needed a few changed in order to obey the new regulations.
"The development of the BMW Sauber C29 has seen the team build on the experience gained last year and the improvement in performance over the final third of the season. However, the new regulations banning refuelling during the race and stipulating a reduced width for the front tires have required significant changes to the car’s design."
The increased length of the fuel tank means the car has grown longer overall. And because they are slimmer, the front tires will be more heavily worked, requiring weight to be shifted further towards the rear of the car.
Also very distinctive is an extremely long undercut at the transition from chassis into underbody. These and other aerodynamic measures also help to ensure optimum airflow to the double diffuser. Further changes were required to integrate the Ferrari engine and, in particular, the Ferrari gearbox.
Renault unveiled the new 2010 R30 on Sunday at the Valencia circuit in Spain. While missing an official sponsor (ING left the team) Renault has decided to come back to the black and yellow colors used by Renault in the 1980s.
The R30 is a mixture of evolution and revolution, and is much more svelte and attractive than its predecessor. In particular the rear of the car has been considerably reworked to allow the car to make the most of the ‘double-decker’ diffusers that were first seen last year. Changes have also been made to the architecture of the chassis to adapt to the refuelling ban, which has required the installation of a much larger fuel tank.
The McLaren F1 team unveiled their 2010 Formula One entry earlier today at their headquarters in Newbury, and almost as impressive as their new machine is the all English driver lineup with returning champion Lewis Hamilton and last year’s break out sensation Jensen Button leading the charge.
In accordance with the new sporting regulations for the 2010 season, the car has undergone some considerable changes, even if it appears to be quite the same to the untrained eye. Dubbed the MP4-25, the new race car features a radical aerodynamic overhaul and a significantly larger fuel tank to allow the team to run longer between pit stops and the championship winning McLaren design team has declared they are confident that they have explored every possible avenue in order to maximize the MP4-25’s on track performance. Powered by a Mercedes-Benz FO 108X V8 engine, the same power plant that brought McLaren and Lewis Hamilton the world title in 2008, tipping the scales at just under 210 pounds, the slightly heavier MP4-25 will make its first on track appearance in Valencia, Spain on February 1 along with many of the other F1 competitors for some pre season testing.
In a lavish ceremony befitting their status as one of the most glamorous teams in Formula One, Ferrari has finally taken the covers off of their 2010 Formula One car.
The event was attended by no less than Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo, team principal Stefan Domenicali and drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa.
While the launch went by smoothly, the planned test run of the new ‘F10’ at the Fiorano circuit had to be called off at the last minute due to a very uncooperative Mother Nature, which left the test track in a blanket of ice.
The unveiling of the F10, as well as the other cars from other teams, signals the beginning of testing for the 2010 season. As part of their initial test runs, Ferrari is expected to bring the ‘F10’ to Valencia, Spain on Monday, in time for the official start of testing.
Ferrari revealed today the first official images and specifications for the 2010 Formula 1 race car. The model will be called F10 and will weight less that 95 kg.
The F10 will use a 2398 cm3 eight-cylinder engine with electronic injection and ignition mated to a semiautomatic sequential electronically controlled gearbox.
When the Japanese automaker Toyota wanted to show the world what their latest super car, the LF-A could do, they entered a pair of preproduction Supra successors into a number of exhibition style endurance races at the world famous Nurburgring. Following a similar path, Honda’s domestic racing program has just announced that they will be returning to the island nation’s top tier of motor sport when they debut their next generation super car, the HSV-10 GT on March 20 at the beginning of the 2010 Super GT season. It is only fitting that the NSX’s successor, the Honda Sports Velocity turns its first wheel in competition at the at the Suzuka Circuit, being that it is the automaker’s own test track, making it an even more important initial run for the HSV because you know that all of the people that are going to decide the new sports vehicle’s fate will be in attendance.
Despite the exotic V10 powered future NSX rumors, the new HSV-10 GT is powered by a low displacement 3.4 Liter V8 with a maximum output of over 500 HP. The high output engine is mated to a Ricardo sequential manual gearbox, the same unit used by Nissan and Toyota in their Super GT machines, ensuring that their drivers will be hard pressed to miss a shift. With a body that is somewhere between 21st century NSX and an ASL Garaiya from the Japanese Autobacs tuning shop, the future HSV-10 GT is guaranteed to carve out a place for itself in Japanese automotive culture.
Updated 01/18/10: Official specifications released; new image gallery added.
Updated 01/22/10: Check the Honda HSV in action at the Suzuka race track where the car is preparing for the Japanese 2010 Super GT Series. More video after the jump.
Nissan has just unveiled their GT1 spec R35 GT-R that is scheduled to compete in the full 2010 FIA GT1 season. Debuting at the FIA’s media days at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, the race spec GT-R was a joined effort between Nissan’s in house motor sport division Nismo and the Essex based GT1 racers Gigawave Motorsports.
Updated 14/01/10: Nissan today unveiled new images of the GT-R GT1 which will race this year in the the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship.
The Japanese automaker Honda didn’t become the world’s best selling engine manufacturer by resting on their laurels, in fact ever since the 1960s Soichiro Honda’s baby has been competing in the top tier of open wheel motor sports, Formula One. Despite withdrawing from competition last year, the current champion Brawn GP was born from the defunct Honda team. On this side of the pond we are more familiar with a different kind of high speed open wheel racing, the IRL, and Honda had quite a display set up at the largest specialty car show in the world, SEMA.
Honda had a few variations of open wheel competitors at the show in Las Vegas ranging from professional to grassroots efforts and even added a look into the future. Even though the Dallara Indy Racing League chassis is a non working show car, it was hard imagine anything other than the red and white winged wonder screaming as it climbs the high banked turns of a super speedway before rolling back into the throttle and rocketing down the back straight at 200 MPH. The other full sized single seater on display is the prototype Honda Formula F race car, intended for up and coming cash strapped SCCA racers, the Formula F is based around Honda’s 1.5 Liter four cylinder from the Fit as a cost effective racing solution.
Despite being trapped inside a glass case, the 2012 Indy Car Chassis Concept offered quite a view into the shape of things to come. Looking more like a stealth fighter then an Indy car, Honda promises to keep making things interesting well into the future. Aside from the cars, Honda had a few of their race engines on display as well, and the only way to get this good a look at the exotic power plants would be against the wishes of an angry pit mechanic. The display included a trio of championship winning CART V8s engines in both boosted and naturally aspirated forms as well as one very special IRL spec Indy V8. Having all these engines on display like this makes us laugh and think back to when we were nearly chased out of the paddock for snapping a few photos of the inside of an Indy car. Oh how the times have changed.
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