WILLIAMS TOYOTA FW30 TAKES TO THE TRACK WITH THE WILL OF
519 STAFF
The AT&T Williams team’s 2008 season race car,
the Williams Toyota FW30, took to the track at the Valencia
circuit in Southern Spain this morning for a shakedown prior
to starting its winter testing in earnest tomorrow.
The team’s newly recruited test driver, Nico Hulkenberg,
is taking on the responsibility of shaking down the new race
car before regular race driver, Nico Rosberg and his team-mate,
Kazuki Nakajima, share first assessments of the car from tomorrow
onwards.
The car represents a clear engineering philosophy of iteration
and progressive development from the competitive and reliable
platform of last season’s FW29. The team’s Technical
Director, Sam Michael explains, “With four years of
regulation stability, we have a good basis to be progressive
about the development of this season’s car. With a good
reliability record last year, we have been able to build on
this quality while also turning some of our attention to clear
performance objectives.”
With an established technical team, the car is the product
of a stable engineering base as well as settled regulations
and for the first time since 2004, continuity of engine supplier
with Toyota meaning that drivetrain installation has not been
a resource-demanding aspect of the design process. With 8,000
mechanical releases and 35,000 manhours of design time, it
is remarkable to consider that much of this work will be rendered
obsolete in the next eight to twelve months.
The car retains the general structural and layout philosophy
of its forebear, featuring a zero keel and dual pillar rear
wing, with notable visual changes including a three plane
front wing, increased sidepod top cooling louvres in view
of the altered orientation of the water radiators, the sidepod
and side impact sails and the increased cockpit sides for
compliance with the new driver safety requirements.
“Our focus has been on performance as well as refining
our packaging and weight distribution. We are designing a
tidier car with a higher standard of build quality. The FW30
should represent a good step forward when all of the many
small areas of attention and improvement are brought together
in the overall package,“ said Michael.
Prior to the roll-out of the FW30, the team has also spent
considerable time and made good headway in attending to a
number of the other regulation changes, such as the integration
of a standard ECU and the outlawing of traction control. As
much as a busy winter for mechanical designers and CFD aerodynamicists,
specialist code and software engineers have been busy rewriting
strategies that will govern the management of the car’s
main components, from the new seamless shift gearbox to the
differentials and engine. The FW30 is also biofuel compliant
in order to meet the new season requirement that all race
fuels contain 5.75% biomatter. Having worked in tandem with
its fuel partner, Petrobras, the team was the first to use
biofuel as part of a Formula One demonstration run in downtown
Rio de Janeiro last October.
For its roll-out, the FW30 is liveried in the second of a
campaign series of six designs celebrating Williams’
thirty years in Formula One. Reflecting the collegiate nature
of Formula One, which requires a wide variety of technical
and financial contributors, a committed and skilled workforce
and the essential support of the viewing public, this week’s
design communicates Williams’ thanks to its staff and
its fans.
Every name of the current 519-member Williams workforce will
be carried on the FW30-01 this week, and the company also
thanks the 85 brands whose sponsorship identities have graced
Williams race car liveries since January 15, 1978, when the
Williams FW06 took to the track for the Argentine Grand Prix
in the hands of Alan Jones. These sponsorship revenues have
supported Williams’ purity of purpose as an independent
racing organisation and the company is indebted to these commercial
partners, past and present. The livery also reflects the team’s
wish to thank the public at large for three decades of support
and goodwill which has seen Williams develop a pre-eminent
international sporting reputation.
The FW30 will be tested by Nico Rosberg on Tuesday and Wednesday
with Kazuki Nakajima taking the wheel for the last day of
the test. Next week, for the first test at the Circuit de
Catalunya in Barcelona, the team will unveil the next in a
series of livery messages prior to the team’s 2008 season
racing colours being revealed for the Australian Grand Prix
on March 16.
FW30 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
Chassis construction Monocoque construction
fabricated from carbon aramid epoxy and honeycomb composite
structure, surpassing FIA impact and strength requirements
Front suspension Carbon fibre double wishbone
arrangement, with composite toelink and pushrod activated
torsion springs
Rear suspension Double wishbone and pushrod
activated torsion springs and rockers
Transmission WilliamsF1 seven speed seamless
sequential semi-automatic shift plus reverse gear in a aluminium
maincase, gear selection electrohydraulically actuated
Clutch AP Carbon plate
Dampers WilliamsF1
Wheels RAYS forged magnesium
Tyres Bridgestone Potenza, F 350mm wide,
R 375mm wide
Brake system 6 piston AP calipers all round,
Carbon Industrie carbon discs and pads
Steering WilliamsF1 power assisted rack and
pinion
Fuel system ATL Kevlar-reinforced rubber
bladder
Electronic systems MES
Fuel Fuel by Petrobras
Cooling system Marston oil, water, and gearbox
radiators
Cockpit Driver six point safety harness with
75mm shoulder straps & HANS system, removable anatomically
formed carbon fibre seat covered in Alcantara. Safety Devices
extinguisher systems
Motive Power Toyota 2.4L V8, 900 V angle,
pneumatic valve train. Fuel management and ignition systems
by Toyota spark plugs by ND. Engine materials include block
and pistons in aluminium, crankshaft in steel billet, connecting
rods in titanium
Dimensions & weight Weight 605kg with
driver, camera and ballast
Wheelbase: 3100mm
Overall length: 4500mm
Overall height:950mm
Overall width:1800mm
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