BMW have strengthened their engineering department following the announcement that former BAR Honda aerodynamicist Willem Toet will join the team as chief aerodynamicist in mid-March. Toet, who has also worked at Ferrari, Benetton and Reynard, left Honda at the end of last season. :
"Signing up Willem Toet marks a key step in the expansion of the BMW Sauber F1 Team's aerodynamics department at Hinwil," said BMW motorsport chief Mario Theissen.
"Willem Toet looks back on more than 20 years of Formula one experience in this field and will find in Hinwil a first-rate wind tunnel and exceptional computer facilities.
"He will support us in the further expansion of the department's staff and will provide input for the design of the car for season 2007."
Toet, 53, first set foot in Formula one with the Toleman team in 1985 before becoming the chief aerodynamicist of the Reynard project in 1991. A year later he moved to Benetton where he designed Michael Schumacher's 1995 winning car.
He moved to Ferrari in 1995, where he stayed for four years, before returning to Britain and the BAR Honda team from 1999 to last season.
"I'm really looking forward to the job," he said. "Any development phase is by nature very intensive and affords a lot of opportunities. I will be doing my utmost to help the BMW Sauber team on the road to success."
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Nick Fry's role safe at Honda Racing F1
By Phil Huff - January 7 2006
Honda Racing F1's Nick Fry has rubbished rumours that he is facing the sack as team boss. The unsubstantiated rumours started in last months testing at Jerez, following the well publicised departing of Honda's senior aerodynamicist William Toet.
According to F1 Racing magazine, Toet sent Fry an email which, amongst other things, says "I will not be abused."
Nick Fry admits the email exists, but denies he is any danger of losing his team leader role.
"That's rubbish," Fry told F1 Racing. "I have absolutely zero worries as far as that's concerned."
Given the aerodynamic flaws of the 2005 BAR Honda 007, it remains to be seen how much of a loss to the team Toet's leaving will be.
I'm no aerodynamicist and not to disparage Mr Toet who has impressive credentials but the BAR 007 did look a bit "unpolished". It seemed to me like the new additions every time they had an upgrade development improvement as the year progressed were not part of an overall evolution of design. It was more a reactionary afterthought to the tunnel data compiled. That piece over the corner radiator entrance is one example.
To me, if a design is well thought out from the start, the development items are merely a fine tuning of an existing shape to make it more precise. There shouldn't be drastic add ons. If there is, the overall package concept is flawed. That may not have been Mr Toet's fault though. If he was handed a concept to "work with" that was flawed from the outset then all he could do was make the most out of what he has. But if the concept to implementation steps were all under his domain, then the responsibility is on his shoulders. Who knows. Obviously he was under some heat from above and it wasn't nice or civil. Did they chase him out? Good question.
if you look at the McLaren or Renault aero, the aero parts are integrated into a package.
the lines flow into one another a lot better.
I always got the impression that the new development aero bits on the 007 looked like they were a tacked on afterthought with bubble gum to compensate for a lack of desired flow direction or lack of downforce or excessive drag.
they weren't a remolding of an existing part to shape it better to provide a more precise range of aero parameters.
I just compare the McLaren front wing to BAR's and I got this impression...like I said, I'm no aero expert.
Anyway, the bottomline here for me is that Geoff Willis, the technical director who ironically used to be Williams BMW's chief aerodynamicist before coming over to BAR will now take over the aero development as well as be the tech head.
You may see a more integrated design since his ideas will be directly implemented without a step filter in between.
Quote: itv-f1.com
WILLIS CoNFIDENT OF AERO SOLUTIoN
Last Updated: Wednesday, 25, January, 2006, 11:23
Honda Racing’s technical director Geoff Willis is confident the team has addressed the weaknesses that confined it to a bit-part role in the 2005 world championship.
Foremost among these was a lack of aerodynamic downforce, and Willis confirmed that the design team has concentrated its efforts in this area on the new RA106.
Speaking at the car's launch in Barcelona, Willis said the initial indications from the wind tunnel and track testing with the concept car have been positive.
He said: “one of our key areas of focus has been aerodynamics, the design considerations for which were two-fold – the aero problem that we faced in 2005 and achieving a significant improvement in aerodynamic efficiency to meet the requirements of the new, smaller V8 engine and its implications on chassis design.
“We are pleased with the progress we have made in the wind tunnel over the winter and our data shows that we have made a good step forward.”
In other respects the RA106 does not represent a radical departure from last year’s BAR 007.
“The new car is the product of four years of steady evolution,” Willis said.
“During this time, the team has developed a high level of technical capability which now sees it designing, manufacturing and operating at the highest level on the grid.
“The emphasis now is on integration and combining our design concepts and expertise to achieve a car capable of challenging for race wins.
“Mechanically, in keeping with the evolutionary theme we have refined various concepts including our third-generation carbon composite gearbox.”
Quote: itv-f1.com
FRY: WE ARE NOW READY TO WIN
Last Updated: Wednesday, 25, January, 2006, 12:08
Click to enlarge
Honda Racing is aiming to challenge for race victories on a regular basis in 2006, team boss Nick Fry said at the Barcelona launch this morning.
The Briton set the Brackley-based squad the same goal prior to last season, and the results fell far below expectations as 2005 brought controversy and mediocre results.
But Fry believes the tribulations of last season – as well as the success of 2004 – have given the team a better understanding of what it needs to do to join the ranks of Formula 1 winners.
He pointed to the recruitment of Rubens Barrichello, Honda’s buy-out of the team and a new wind tunnel ready for use later this year to support that claim.
“Our target in 2006 is to challenge for race wins and we will do our utmost to achieve that objective,” Fry said.
“During 2005 we put in place some important building blocks that will help us meet our targets in 2006 and beyond.
“We secured two of the best racing drivers in the world, we proved our ability to develop a car through the season, resulting in points for Jenson in each of the last 10 races, and we gained a better understanding of the strengths of the 2004 car and the issues with our 2005 race car.
“Lastly, and most importantly, we have ‘works’ team status with access to the technical resources of Honda R&D.
“I’m particularly proud that we have been able to deliver a new car each for Jenson and Rubens today, which demonstrates the depth of our manufacturing ability and the skill and determination of our people.
“With our new wind tunnel also coming on-stream later this year, we are ready to step up to the challenge.”
Honda Racing Development’s new president Yasuhiro Wada made it clear the Japanese company expects results this season.
“It is up to all the engineers involved in the programme to rise to the challenge of F1 and show the world what Honda can do as a fully integrated force,” Wada said.
“The development of a new challenging spirit and a desire to work together to challenge for wins is at the core of Honda’s philosophy.”