Cooling Problems at Jerez

By KWH at www.r-a-i-d.org
January 16 2006

Red Bull Ferrari find themselves in a dilemma of having a very slick and sexy looking RB2 chassis that has an obvious problem of air flow through the cooling system. Testing in the warmer climate of Jerez has shown the flaws in the way air flow is managed around the cooling inlet and exit of the RB2

The problem is the apparent cause of one Ferrari engine already expiring, along with gearbox and pump problems. This in turn has resulted in losing a chance to gather valuable real world data on the new chassis that only on track time can produce.

It is interesting that Red Bull has cut holes in the sides to temporarily fix the problem rather than putting shark gills on the top as has been done by other teams (including Ferrari) in the past to alleviate lack of exiting air flow volume. One could speculate that this could be due to a lack of air flow over the side pods, resulting in the inability to pull the heated air out of the cooling chimneys. A lack of air flow over the pods would mean shark gills would not help because they still have nothing pulling the heated air out.

The addition of Adrian Newey to the Red Bull Ferrari Team will have an immediate impact on the team as he will assuredly be the one who directs the cooling cure. We will just have to see how quickly the team effects a proper cure.

Many Thanks to KWH at www.r-a-i-d.org for submitting this story to the site.