7 replies to this topic

[cheesy poofs]

I am looking for some information & pictures regarding a very unusual rear wing that the Williams team tried out at Monza during the summer of 1997.

Basically, the wing was made up of only the lower element to reduce drag down those very fast Monza straights.
These type of wings were also seen on Italian F3 cars with the only difference being that the
end-plates would be the same as the normal high/meduim downforce setting.

Anyone who has seen the FIA's 1997 year-end review will have noticed it on there

Why was the wing not raced and what were its and ...?

[byrkus]

I heard another story of 1996/1997 Williams (not sure which), which had IndyCAR (or CART) style front wing, basically just small spoilers, which were there for minimum downforce. Any info of that, too?

[kober]

I remember in 1999 or 2000 many drivers took the top element off in Hockenheim F3000 race. Most of them ended in a spin during braking

[Ali_G]

Originally posted by kober
I remember in 1999 or 2000 many drivers took the top element off in Hockenheim F3000 race. Most of them ended in a spin during braking

I remember that too. Heidfeld I believe took the top element off the back of his car.

Niall

[kober]

Originally posted by Ali_G
I remember that too. Heidfeld I believe took the top element off the back of his car.

Surely Heidfeld was one of them, but he was not the one who spun...

[RDV]

I remember in 1999 or 2000 many drivers took the top element off in Hockenheim F3000 race. Most of them ended in a spin during braking

standard lola 99/50 f3000 rear wing is an abomination, was made for a lower manufacturing cost, wing was mounted on pylon attached to main plane (which had fixed angle) and two flaps that opened and closed like venetian blinds lo increase or decrease downforce, for high speed tracks like Monza or Hockenheim only option was to remove top flap or middle, not much in it between both options. drivers spinning off was more a case of hard tyres on bumpy track with low downforce going into mickey mouse chicanes

re williams wing monza used to be mainly about engine power and low drag, any variation on low drag wings will be tried out there. mid 90`s F3 used to rub just with endplates , and no element at all

[Ross Stonefeld]

There's footage on the 97 review tape, they tested it at Monza, it was basically the lower half of the bi-plane wing. It actually looked kinda cool from the side, it was like a low downforce le mans style wing mounting.

I know last year in F3k SuperNova-Petrobras were only running one wing on the rear and everyone else, including SuperNova-Renault were running the double.

[Ali_G]

Anyone have any hope of getting a pic of tis. I've searched long and hard through Forix and no good.

Niall