Wind tunnel upgrade & new driver signing

By Huw Alban
April 18 2006

In the midst of all the media negativity Midland F1 have had the nerve to carry on as normal and go about the business of racing and developing their 2006 car, the M16. If that wasn't bad enough, the team have even signed an additional test driver. Game on!

In upgrading its wind tunnel facility the team is kitting itself out ready for the 2008 season. The work is going to have to be carefully planned however, in order to avoid any delays to the current programme of work on the 2006 car.

"For example, at 40%, the current scale is a little smaller than what most other teams are running," explains team Technical Director James Key. "So we're going to 50% scale, with the capability of probably going larger than that. There are many advantages of going up to 50%, and not just the size of the model, but the fact is that you can do certain other things with larger models that we can't currently do at 40%.

"We're also going to increase the speed of the tunnel as well, to a much faster level, which will be more representative of track running. We typically run around 40 m/sec, and in the future we'll be able to go beyond 60 m/sec. It takes us much closer to what the opposition has.

"We're also going to allow it to adapt better to the shape of the car. With 2008 coming up, it's very important to have a tunnel which can cope with that shape change, so it's an obvious thing to do. There are other implications as well, with the way the CDG rear wing [proposed by the FIA] works, and we want to better model the real life situation as best we can. There will also be better options of moving the car around - ride heights and that sort of thing - and we can extend that to allow us to get more out of it."

In addition to this exciting development for the team, a fifth test and reserve driver has been signed adding to the already rich pool of experience and talent. Fabrizio Del Monte tested with the team at Jerez in 2005 and showed promising pace and technical knowledge - all of benefit to the team during it's Friday Free practice mileage time.

Whilst the wind tunnel news had been greeted positively by the fans, the fifth driver signing has received a mixed reception. Some have questioned the signing, and others have claimed that it is a desparate move by the team to inject more cash. I know I'm a supporter of the team, but I do feel that it'll take more than a cut of a driver's personal sponsorship to "save" a flagging Formula One team, and I don't accept the argument that this is a move of desperation. To be honest, I'm not sure what it's all about, but as Alianora La Canta says on the forum, "Still, whatever the reason, it's nice to have another addition to the Midland fold."