The 2013 Ferrari will be developed in the Toyota wind tunnel
After another failure in its quest for the world title, Ferrari has decided to review its internal organization. Thus, the Italian team will develop its new car exclusively in Toyota's wind tunnel in Cologne.
During the weekend in South Korea, Ferrari admitted that its internally developed wind tunnel had significant structural problems: the aerodynamic data recorded in this wind tunnel were not confirmed once the car was on the track!
Significant work is therefore to be carried out in the Italian wind tunnel, which will consequently be unavailable until August 2013. Obviously, Ferrari cannot afford to be without this valuable tool for such an extended period and has decided to seek out infrastructure capable of meeting its requirements.
This is how the Scuderia set its sights on the Cologne structure, which belongs to Toyota. It was established when the world’s leading manufacturer was present in F1. Since then, they have integrated a new competition program within the World Endurance Championship but also serve as a service provider for other teams in other disciplines. They had collaborated for a while with the now-defunct HRT before ending the collaboration due to the Spanish team’s lack of payments.
Stefano Domenicali, the director of Ferrari, justified this decision by stating that working in two different wind tunnels presented far too many risks of errors and confusion. He will therefore use the services of the same provider as his great rival McLaren. Like Renault’s engine activities, Toyota has had to implement very strict confidentiality measures to ensure that no data can pass from one team to another.
With the participation of www.Racingbusiness.fr
