Virgin Racing have today launched their first ever F1 car – the VR-01 in an all-online launch.
The VR-01 is the first of a new breed of race car designed entirely in the digital domain using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics). It is the brainchild of Virgin Racing’s Technical Director, Nick Wirth, who has gained an international reputation for pioneering a purely CFD approach to car development, wholly designing, building and testing race cars in computer simulation without the need for expensive, resource-heavy scale-model wind tunnel testing.
Nick Wirth said:
“When you see what the existing teams have achieved using the conventional but proven design approach, it is unsurprising that there is a great deal of scepticism about our all-CFD approach. But we are competing in a sport that is undergoing significant change having come face to face with today’s harsh economic realities. Under resource restriction, convention will become too costly and necessity really will be the mother of invention. I have absolute belief in the digital design process and the opportunity to put the all-CFD approach to the test at the highest level – to demonstrate that this could be the way for the future of F1 – is very, very exciting.”
Nick Wirth
Virgin Racing’s team principal John Booth commented:
“Today is the culmination of a very emotional journey which really began in June last year when we celebrated the fantastic news that our entry into Formula One had been accepted. The celebrations were necessarily brief however, because we were already in a race against time to design and develop a race car at the same time as building a new team of people and premises.
“I have always had the utmost confidence in Nick to design a good race car, just as he has the faith in the race team to make a good job of operating it. Having worked closely with the technical team over the past 10 months, I know that the VR-01 is the product of a very intensive and thorough design and development process and my excitement at seeing our first race car make its track debut later this week is shared by every single person involved with Virgin Racing.”
John Booth
Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin group, added:
“What a car! Nick and his design team have done an incredible job and so today they deserve all of the spotlight. It’s been fantastic to be part of this journey almost from the very beginning and to see a great engineering mind at work. I’m sure we will be measured by how fast the car is on the track in Jerez next week, but I hope that doesn’t overshadow the far bigger achievement of pulling an entire racing team together and taking a brave step that defies convention. In many ways this is an exploration, but given the absolute self-belief we have seen, I can’t help but feel very excited about what we can go on to achieve in the years ahead. For now though I’m looking forward to seeing the VR-01 on–track in testing in the coming weeks as we prepare for Virgin Racing’s very first grand prix.”
Sir Richard Branson
Specification
Chassis
Construction – Virgin Racing carbon fibre construction monocoque and nosebox
Suspension
Wishbones – Virgin Racing carbon fibre construction with titanium flexure joints
Uprights – Virgin Racing aluminium alloy construction
Dampers – Penske
Wheels and Tyres
Wheels – BBS
Tyres – Bridgestone Potenza
Fuel System
Fuel cell – ‘FT5’ safety specification
Fuel capacity – In excess of 200 litres
Brakes
Calipers – AP Racing 6 pot calipers
Discs/pads – Hitco Carbon-Carbon
Steering
Steering wheel – Virgin Racing carbon fibre construction
Power steering – Virgin Racing hydraulic steering assist
Driver seat – Anatomically formed carbon composite
Seat belts – Six-point harness (75mm shoulder straps with HANS system)
Electronics
ECU and logging system – FIA standard ECU & FIA homologated electronic & electrical system
Transmission
Gearbox – Virgin Racing precision aluminium construction with 7-speed, longitudinally mounted Xtrac internals
Differential – Electronically controlled hydraulic differential
Gear Selection – Paddle operated hydraulic shift system with “seamless shift”
Clutch – AP Racing
Driveshafts – One–piece driveshafts with integral tripod joints
Dimensions
Overall Length Approx 5500 mm
Overall Height Approx 950 mm
Overall Width Approx 1800 mm
Wheelbase
Approx 3200 mm
ENGINE
Designation – Cosworth CA2010
Duty Cycle Type – 4 stroke reciprocating piston, normally aspirated
Configuration – 8 cylinders in banked V configuration with an angle of 90 degrees
Construction – Cast aluminium alloy cylinder block and head, forged aluminium pistons, steel crankshaft
Capacity – 2,400cc
Valves – 32 with pneumatic valve springs
Maximum Speed – Limited to 18,000rpm
Timing – Double overhead cams driven via compliant gear from crankshaft
Mass – In excess of 95kg
Cylinder Bore – Less than 98mm
Fuelling – 8 injectors supplied by a pressurized system at 100bar
Ignition – 8 ignition coils each driving single spark plug
Lubrication – Dry sump
Spark Plugs - Champion
Gallery
Personally I can’t decide whether I like the livery or not. I think I have to wait until I see it out on track for the first time before I make my mind up. What about you? Leave us a comment!
Images (C) Virgin Racing
Best livery yet and by a mile too. The detail is great too so it’s not just blocks of colours.
The fact it;s made entirely using CFD is the most interesting point. Ifit works then more teams (especially on a tight budget) could adopt a similar tactic. If it hasn’t worked then they could be off the pace due to a cost cutting gamble. I expect the car will be fine although the front wing seems pretty simplistic to what I was expecting.
The tight budget doesn’t mean anything either as if you look at Toyota who threw money in F1 and failed to score a single win then it’s clear that it’s how you use resources, manage and lead and use the talent around you that matters.
The have a couple of green partners/sponsors which is great for image, tries to make F1 cars a bit more ‘relavent’ or fasionable depending upon how you look at it and shows them again entering a new area-not cost this time but working with green companies.
This line up should be good. Glock has a huge amount of talent and can make a one stop work which will be vital to a new team. He’s good in the wet too and imagine a scenario where he is on a one-stop in the wet and potentially others are struggling in the conditions-it could just have the potential for a nice surprise.
Di Grassi he hasn’t had the GP2 crown and after trying since 2006 he really should have it. He proved himself against rated future stars however and has talent as well as experience from working with a big team like Renault which could help Virgin.
*Di Grassi, well he hasn’t…
sorry for typos and grammar mistakes I was typing far too quickly and forgot to check
Great comment Steph, deserves a post of its own!
I agree with all you say, I think CFD could be the way to go. I think F1 is such an unenvironmentally friendly sport that we should be doing all we can to encourage it, and Virgin have done that here. Same with KERS – I am thoroughly disappointed it won’t be being used in 2010. I think it is a good, green initiative which adds another dimension to the racing (but I don’t think many will agree!).
I have always been a fan of Glock’s and I think he is a good driver, but as of yet I am reserving my judgement on Lucas di Grassi.
I did do a post earlier on the art , that’s how I could rattle that out so quickly
I’ve never been that sold opn the green issue. F1 is so mad and there are so many issues with the whole green argument I think it’s better to wait for a little bit and make a move when the time is right rather than just appearing to jump on the bandwagon which I think kers kind of did. That said, I lvoed kers just because it, as you say, brought another dimension to the racing. I actually liked how it was optional too as I wouldn’t want to force all or none to have it. Sorry went slightly off topic there…
Same about di Grassi. He has quite a positive CV and some good performances under his belt but we can’t really judge what he’ll be like in F1 until we see him
Like the VR-01. If it is as nifty on the track as it is in a photo shoot then whoopee, but CFD is used by top teams alongside windtunnel work… dunno, but suspect they will need a few seasons to catch up. Just my thoughts.
Re F1 being green – think F1 has a big role to play. F1 gave the real world active suspension, ABS, advanced aero and improved impact zones on street cars. Progress. KERS was real progress that would translate into a major car industry advance. AND it made racing more interesting for me. Bring it back. Problem with current regs is the teams have no flexibility to develop new technology. F1 is becoming ‘Supacarts’ because no scope for dev is allowed. The result is all teams running within a second of each other over 5km. So close in performance, no one can go offline to overtake.
Rules need to be loosened up.
I love how they’ve kept the Manor logo on there! The BrawnGP logo should be on the Merc somewhere to show its roots.
Be nice to see an image of Flavio in his thong on the Renault then, though might make the poor soul a little jaundiced looking….