Mike Gascoyne Q+A14.01.2006

What’s new on the car compared with last year?

“The front end is a development of what we did with the TF105B ? we very much improved the front potential with that car. And the TF106B will be yet a further development of it. We also have a significantly different rear end lay out. The gearbox is fundamentally the same, but it has reduced weight and it’s stiffer. However, we’ve gone away from the rotary rear damper concept that we’ve had for the last couple of years to a linear rear damper. We’ve identified a damping problem with the car over the last couple of years, which we've now put right. When we ran the TF105B all the drivers' comments were that we’d made the front end much, much better, but the car was rear limited ? they were just waiting for the rear to settle down. We had the linear rear damper layout coming along, and in testing we saw that the TF106 was a significant improvement. It matches the rear with the front, and produces a more balanced car.”

The V8 is some 10cms shorter than the V10.How has that affected the chassis?

“The difference in length has not played such a key role for us. Once we knew we were still qualifying with fuel, we made a firm decision to keep the front face and rear face of the fuel tank in the same place. Based on the data we received from Bridgestone we were predicting to run less forward weight distribution than we were used to. We’ve actually increased the monocoque length, and kept the gearbox length essentially the same. The V8 also makes the radiator layout slightly easier, and the radiators are smaller as well. The packaging of the exhaust is easier because there are a couple of less pipes around!”

What effect do the different characteristics of the V8 have?

“Obviously V8 vibration levels are significantly increased. We did have initial problems on the dyno, but the engine is mounted differently on the dyno and you can only learn so much. You hold an engine very differently on a dyno compared to a car, and it reacts very differently. We actually got fewer problems in the car that we expected, but it can be the other way round. Until you get it in the car and the drivers have run it, you don’t know what’s going to start breaking. The advantage we’ve had is that we've done miles and addressed any failures. Driveability is very good, and the drivers are pleasantly surprised. Luca and his team have done an excellent job. The big difference you will see compared to the V10 is in starts and low-end torque.”

How difficult is it to change tyre supplier?

“Bridgestone did a good job to provide us with a lot of information in the short time between the end of the season and the start of winter testing, so we pretty much knew what to expect. We were able to get a balance on the car reasonably quickly, but of course you’ve got to re-learn the effects of all the set-up changes that you do which affect the tyre. Obviously with a different manufacturer they all do slightly different things. Really that’s why we wanted to run the mechanical package for Bahrain in November and December. We didn’t want to spend that period learning things that we then had to re-learn because the car was significantly different. We were able to take a measured approach, just working through set-up parameters, just to see their effect and really learn how that tyre reacts. We got a balance on the car pretty quickly, and we were pleasantly surprised.”

Apart from the engine, have any rule changes affected the chassis?

“There are some small aerodynamic modifications at the front, and the rear crash has gone up to match the front test. We've elongated the crash structure in line with the increasing size of the rear wing endplates, so we can use that to take the extra crash velocity.”

Luca Marmorini Q+A14.01.2006

When did you start on the V8 project?

“When we had to decide our plan for the V8 we wanted to be able to test the engine in the car before the 2005 summer break. That was our target. Typically when you have a brand new engine you need roughly eight months for design and production and a further four months of development on the dyno. So eight months before February 2005, the planned date for the first dyno test, we started the design of the engine. After a while the FIA changed some dimensional constraints in the regulations, so we had to adapt our design around a fixed bore spacing, crankshaft height and some limitations like this. We had to start again, and instead of February, we moved to March. On 21 March, we fired it up.”

How did the first track tests go?

“The first engine went in the interim car in July in Jerez. At the time we had to respect the agreement that said we could not run with more than two cars, so the V8 could only run when one of the V10 cars stopped. There was not a lot of time, but it was enough for us to do some tests and learn. We covered something like 1000kms over several days. It was just a very quick test, but we could already do some modifications during the August test ban, and we went back at the end of September with the first step, and we ran again for two days. Then there was the October ban, and at the end of November we were ready with what we called a raceable version of the engine.”

How much has been carried over from the V10?

“As a philosophy we decided not to modify any working parts from the V10 unless it brought a clear performance benefit, or was an important modification. The 2.4-litre has the same unit displacement, so we carried over most of the internal parts. Some parts even have the same drawings as the V10. In this way we could focus on the new things of the V8, which means the dynamic behaviour. Toyota has a lot of experience in V8s from the USA, but we had not revved a V8 to 19,000rpm, so we had to focus on the new challenges. I think that was the right decision. If we had at the same time too many unknowns, including some problems we could have avoided, we could have compromised our development. If you could open the V8 and open the V10 and see them close you will understand that they've come from the same group of people, the same know-how.”

What has changed most since that test in July?

“All the hydraulic system, the installation in the car, was done according to our experience with the V10. At that very first test in July we had big problems with the car systems because of this new vibrating machine. If the hydraulics start to fail, then you cannot use the throttle, so we had to modify everything. The V10 also vibrated, but our system was tuned to a certain level. The V8 was different, and we had to adjust mountings and so on. When we ran the TF106 in November we didn't have a single stop due to the engine installation, so we could focus on engine reliability and performance. On top of this the engine used in July was an engine that could not fit the 2006 car, so we had to apply some minor modifications to fit the new gearbox. But it's the same engine in terms of key components and internal parts.”

For the first time there’s a minimum weight regulation of 95kgs. How did you adjust to that constraint?

“Let’s put it this way. If you weighed the engine that ran on the dyno in March 2005, it was much more of a Formula 1 engine than the engine we’re running now, in terms of weight. The internal parts are the same, but the one that ran in March was done with 2005 technology, thin wall castings and so on, so it was very light. To give you an example, the V10 we raced in 2005 could not fulfil the new regulations for the V8! So we had to add weight. We put material on castings, as there’s no chance now to have thin wall castings where we don’t need them. At the same time we integrated the functions of the engine to be sure that we could also collect weight for functional parts.”

How closely have you worked with the chassis team?

“An F1 engine is a part of the car. An engine is not good if it’s not well introduced into the car. You never win in this way. When we start a new engine we are sitting with the chassis people, and a lot of the input on the specifications of the new engine have come from chassis. Chassis design also takes into account the engine’s working conditions. We’ve done a lot of modifications of the engine, trying to help the car. The engine is a big spacer, and the exhausts are a big volume, around which the aero people have to design a good car. So we are always in contact with them to try to help them design a better car, and at the same time we have to design a car that is cooling enough. Doing everything under the same roof is a huge benefit.”