F2008 new nose cone: car faster in corners says Tombazis 

Written by David on April 19th, 2008 at 11:09 pmLast Update: April 19th, 2008 at 11:10 pm

F2008 nose coneScuderia Ferrari Chief Designer Nicholas Tombazis has analysed the major benefits of the recently tested F2008′s new ‘nose cone’ front wing. “It is not something revolutionary that we will go two seconds faster”, Tombazis told to Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. “It’s simply an aerodynamic development as there are others perhaps less obvious but perhaps even more important,” the Greek added. “It was an idea on which we were working for some time but it wasn’t part of F2008′s core project; in fact the car has run well even without this development.”

When asked why the new nose cone didn’t make its debut in the first three Grand Prix, Tombazis replied: “Mainly for two reasons: the difficulty on building enough parts in time for the races and the need to pass the crash tests”.

“The new nose cone gives us the ability to control better the airflow on the front wing with immediate benefits on other components that are on the rear end, such as the diffusers and the rear wing. The driver feels an increased aerodynamic load, which helps him approach corners faster. But, actually, this is the result of other things we introduced in Montmelo’ tests.”

Ferrari F2008 nose cone

Tombazis was asked if the new nose cone could also improve the car’s balance while overtaking: “I do not think”, he replied. “Wind tunnel simulations are not of this type; we can study similar effects only during the races.”

Asked if the Scuderia had to modify the bottom of car the Greek said: “Let’s say we do a series of developments that include that part too but are not specifically linked to the introduction of the new nose cone.”

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