one of the fastest
over the first four days
.
Dragon Racing, Virgin Racing and
Trulli are also running new motors
but have been very secretive about
them. Trulli has had many issues with the new Motomatica JT-01 and was absent from the first test due to a delay with parts. On the last day, Trulli made an appearance and struggled with hardware problems, but insist they will persevere with the new unit. Virgin and Dragon have both said they are “happy” with the performance of their cars, of which both run the new McLaren ECU and their own inverters. Virgin were very secretive about their new technology, so much so that it was covered up 24/7.
NEXTEV were one of the first teams to announce its season two ideas, they will use a dual motor system for more performance and speed. NEXTEV will be working with Rational Motion, to work on a clever twin motor design, which is a complicated undertaking for it to be successful.
There are many factors which can go wrong, which is why they are the only team to going which this philosophy.
At first the press claimed it was a direct drive design, which would see the spline going straight to the rear axle without no gearbox. This would lead to the differential which will put the power onto the road. This doesn’t sound right as the team use a one-speed box, where would it fit in?
The team claim that they are using a one-speed Omnigear gearbox. So this would mean the team would have a mini gearbox ahead of the differential. Then they would have the two motors mounted behind the gearbox connected via the spline of the motor. An axle would connect the gearbox to the differential which would lead to the drive shaft and to the rear wheels.
This means NEXTEV will have a great increase in performance and Torque, but until the last test at Donington, they have had issues with the mechanical and electrical side in harnessing the AC power to the wheels. If this works the instant torque will be greater than its rivals.
But, with two big motors, the team could create too much power, which is why they could have split the motor at the rear. By this, they will still generate lots of torque but with a lot less stress on the gearbox, motor and the inverter.
To run two motors you would in theory need two gearboxes, which is why I believe the team will have a drive shaft mounted on the spline of the motor, which would lead straight to the rear wheels. This is the most likely solution by NEXTEV. This idea has little drawbacks and is able to use more revs from the motors.
For the gearbox, the team would use the single gear to get the motors to a higher rev range, it would have to be a tiny concept which sits in-between the motor and the wheel. No official word has been told about the design. There are
many possibilities to what NEXTEV
could be doing. It’s very innovative
from the team, and if it does work,
they're onto a winner. If it doesn’t,
they could be nowhere.
One benefit to all the teams was
updated cooling. Season two
radiators are over 3cm shorter in
width with less length of cooling
pipes to the intercooler. Cooling
was an issue for serval outfits in
season one, so an update was necessary.
The battery has also been updated and will be able to work at its optimum battery temperature, something which was an issue in season one as the battery couldn’t work effectively in the hotter climates such as Putrajaya.
The dielectric cooling system has been heavily revised by Williams Advanced Engineering. Williams have also placed
more individual battery cells into the battery pack, for a slight improvement
in the
overall
battery
life.
Although
the brake updates
haven’t become
available, they will
arrive later to the series.
Spark have also supplied
each team with new double
wishbones which are even
stronger that season one.
The steel design was used for safety
as it bends under load, therefore not snapping like it would in Formula 1. The steel is hollow but the thickness is greater, so we shouldn’t see as many suspension failures as we did in season one.
With motor sport’s flagship ‘green’ series taking their first decisive technological leap, the burgeoning championship could quickly assume a technology campaign between old versus new.