Virgin VR01 – Floor side fences

 

           The vertical fence ( yellow arrow ) prevents any interaction between the air flow coming from the inner bargeboard-body zone with the one coming from under floor . Such an interaction would create unwanted turbulence  and an increase in under floor air pressure causing the car body to produce less downforce .

Virgin VR01 – Periscope exhausts

           VR01 has periscope style exhausts . The 2010 trend about exhaust configuration is the EBD (exhaust blown diffuser) design and thus  periscope exhausts are considered to be old fashioned now . Low team budget , lack of experience and uncertain future about 2011 due to financial issues were the factors that prevented the team from launching and testing analogous EBD system to its VR01 even though Virgin showed remarkable development rate for a rookie team during the season .

 

 

Virgin VR01 – Front suspension

 

        VR01 features a pushrod zero keel front suspension  configuration  with the steering axis made of carbon fibres  to be  placed a bit lower than the upper wishbone . The wishbones are also made of carbon and have titanium flexure joints while the wheel upright is made of aluminium alloy .

Virgin VR01 – B spec car since Spain

       Virgin asked permission from FIA to construct a B version of its VR01 because the car carried a smaller fuel tank than needed to complete a full race distance in some occasions . The problem was caused by miscalculating Cosworth engine fuel needs in high fuel demanding tracks .

        Despite the fact that chassis are homologate FIA gave the green light as some changes are possible for reliability issues . A single new car was available at Spain and Monaco only for Timo Glock while Di Grassi had to race the old car . However both Virgin drivers had the new car since Turkey .

    The B version had a longer wheelbase to accommodate a larger fuel tank and an updated engine cover and rear zone .

Virgin VR01 – Updated front wing for Australia

        Seeking for closing the gap between the VR01 and the middle grid teams Virgin raced an updated front wing at Melbourne , which featured additional winglets .

Virgin VR01 – Rear wing , Bahraini spec

 

        The rear wing is also quite simple like the front one  . In details the main flap has a small slit in the middle part to prevent wing’s stalling in high speed and high attack angle while the endplates feature four gills to reduce drag .

Virgin VR01 – Front wing , Bahraini spec

 

         VR01 was the first F1 car ever to be entirely designed by CFD program with the team  lacking totally wind tunnel data  . So Virgin preferred to start the season at Bahrain with a simple double profiled  front wing with slotted endplates instead of using a much more complicated one . The reason was that a simpler wing would gave simpler track data to evaluate and compare car overall aero performance with theoretical data extracted from CFD .

Virgin VR01 – Splitter update at Silverstone

 

        Seeking for extra downforce Virgin used a  modified floor splitter at Silverstone . The new version had additional side fences to better guide airflow under and towards the  inner bargeboard zone .

Virgin VR01 – Ballasted floor splitter

Virgin VR01 features a very simple  floor ballasted splitter without side fences or sculpted profile like top teams splitters  do . The ballast is housed inside the bulge spotted on the splitter’s central zone .

VR-01 car specifications

          The VR-01 is the first of a new breed of race car, designed exclusively using CFD – computational fluid dynamics. This radical all-digital design approach is driven by Virgin Racing technical super-brain, Nick Wirth. And you can get all the tech data right here

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 cel: ‘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 Gear Selection: Electronically controlled hydraulic differential 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

Capacity
2,400cc

Valves
32 with pneumatic valve springs

Mass
In excess of 95kg

Cylinder Bore
Less than 98mm

Fueling
8 injectors supplied by a pressurized system at 100bar

Ignition
8 ignition coils each driving single spark plug

Lubrication
Dry sump

Spark Plugs
Champion

source : http://www.virginracing.com/