- 09 Jun 08, 01:04#47478
Gilles Villeneuve: If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.
I was wondering where they went.
Canadian Grand Prix: Who took the hubcaps?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/06/09/smhugh209.xml
Ferrari had to remove their front wheel-hub covers that usually aid the car’s aerodynamic efficiency. As much as 35 per cent of the total aerodynamic drag of an F1 car is created by the front wheels, which by regulation have to be open to the air and cannot be covered by bodywork, as with a road car.
The F1 front-wheel covers – which remain static while the wheel turns - are designed to channel the air that cools the brake discs in a more aerodynamically efficient way. Not only does this create less drag, but the design used also has the effect of giving more cooling effect to the brake disc. The teams use this effect to then reduce the size of the downforce-robbing brake duct inlets.
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But Ferrari found in practice that they had reduced them too far for the tough braking demands of this circuit, heat was building up behind the covers and they were left with no alternative but to remove them.
Canadian Grand Prix: Who took the hubcaps?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/06/09/smhugh209.xml
Ferrari had to remove their front wheel-hub covers that usually aid the car’s aerodynamic efficiency. As much as 35 per cent of the total aerodynamic drag of an F1 car is created by the front wheels, which by regulation have to be open to the air and cannot be covered by bodywork, as with a road car.
The F1 front-wheel covers – which remain static while the wheel turns - are designed to channel the air that cools the brake discs in a more aerodynamically efficient way. Not only does this create less drag, but the design used also has the effect of giving more cooling effect to the brake disc. The teams use this effect to then reduce the size of the downforce-robbing brake duct inlets.
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But Ferrari found in practice that they had reduced them too far for the tough braking demands of this circuit, heat was building up behind the covers and they were left with no alternative but to remove them.

Gilles Villeneuve: If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.