Well, racing season is upon us once more. This year the competition is bound to be tighter because of the leveling of the playing field do to a host of new rules that further reduce the down force and installed are peaky 3.0l engines. Many designers have stated that they feel that these are the most sweeping rule changes to have been introduced since the flat bottom became mandatory in the early 80's. The designers, most notably Jordan's Gary Anderson, have also stated that they feel that the cars are not as pretty this year. Anyone who has seen the new McLaren will agree to this.
Anyway, what has changed and what are the effects? Starting with the outward appearance of the cars, many teams have gone to the Benneton style raised nose. This arrangement apparently pre vents air from "piling up" under the sidepods thus increasing the ground effect of which much was lost by the new "stepped bottom" rules. Others have a low nose with a pronounced arch under the front axle centerline. This is to try and produce a low pressure area before the flat bottom starts to suck the car down. Most teams with a low nose are running longer sidepods as well. Also notable are the smaller rear wings and lower front wing endplates, all an attempt by thew FIA to reduce the downforce and, thus, cornering speeds.
The engines this year are all three liter (down from 3.5) and normally aspirated and without the benefit of the ram-air effect. Some teams have been more creative with their ventilated engine covers like Benneton and McLaren. McLaren going as far as adding an ugly third wing to try and force air into the ventilation hole! The engines are reported to be somewhat more peaky in their power delivery, this coupled with the reduced downforce and lack of legal traction control will make the cars rather hard to drive.
Suspensions. When the teams last had active suspension in 1993, they enjoyed being able to control many attributes of their suspensions. For example, roll characteris tics could be dealt with totally separate from those in bump. Also the ride height could be set as an absolute. Well, that was all gone last year with the banning of active. But, engineers are not so eager to give up the performance advantages of active, so Tyrell has introduced a hydraulic system that attempts to get some of this adjust ability back. Minardi had a sophisticated system last year as well. If it proves successful, look for other teams to be tossing those conventional dampers out!
Clutch pedals are disappearing from the footwells of the top cars! McLaren, Jordan, and perhaps others are running with no clutch pedal, allowing their drivers to left foot break, while letting the clutching be handled (no pun intended) by a hand mechanism or a button on the steering wheel. Some drivers like them, some don't. All teams this year are running some form of semi-automatic transmission with Tyrell notable for using a pneumatic (in place of hydraulic) gearshifting.
The new rules are very likely to level the playing field as it forced every team to design a new car for the 95 season. Look for more teams in the points and new paces on the podium. Here's to a safe and exciting season!