2006 Japanese GP Technical Review

Coming just a week after the Chinese Grand Prix - whose track at Shanghai has similar requirements to that of Suzuka - and with only one more race to go, the Japanese Grand Prix did not feature many technical developments.

Furthermore, most of the teams' technical directors did not travel to the race and were instead at the factories working on the new cars for 2007. In fact, the cars were in very similar trim to the previous round and that at Turkey, despite some technical reports suggesting otherwise.

In only its twentieth running of the Grand Prix at Suzuka, the circuit has become a classic - a track that tests the car and rewards the driver like no other.

As the original track with a figure of eight layout, Suzuka includes several demanding high-speed sections, such as Degner and 130R, plus some tightening radius curves at Spoon and a final slower chicane complex. To work well there, the car must have good aerodynamic efficiency; otherwise the trade-off for fast cornering performance is detrimental to speed along the straights - notwithstanding the need for good mechanical grip, especially for the kerbs at the final chicane and subsequent traction on to the straight.

Being situated on a large plain near a mountain range, the weather at Suzuka is as much a factor as the layout itself. This year, heavy rain preceded first practice and fortunately never returned with enough strength to worry the teams. But a strong wind blew down the straight with some strength, and this tail wind caused a problem for the teams when it came to selecting wing levels and gearing for the long straight.

Super Aguri

As the sole team still adding new parts on to the car through the last races, Super Aguri had a range of major new developments for this Grand Prix and the preceding one in China.

Primarily, a new front wing and yet further revised keels were introduced by the team.

The front wing was the team's first move away from the Arrows design they have run all season. This older wing was very flat and made little use of the lower ride height allowed in the centre portion.

The new wing is initially visually identical, but does in fact have a slightly deeper curvature. It is matched to unaltered endplates, still sporting a horizontal fin on its outer face and cascades over the main wing. The endplate received a small fence added to the rear edge of the footplate.

Just behind the front wing, the SA06 has a near 'zero keel' since Turkey. The Turkey update involved shortening the metal insert in the front of the chassis to raise up the front leg of the lower wishbone.

This change was made for aerodynamic purposes, and a as a result of a further request by the aero department, the keel has again been shortened by 5mm. This change does have an effect on suspension geometry, but overall improves the cars performance.

The initial aims in the move to the zero keel set-up were three-fold: firstly, the beneficial location of the wishbone, relative to the front wing; secondly, the geometry was revised to work better with the Bridgestone tyres; and lastly, a move to MMC uprights was completed to allow running of wider front wheels.

At Suzuka, as the new front wing produced more downforce, the team needed to balance the rear of the car. To do this, they added small aerofoils to the shoulder wing and added a small gurney to the mid-wing on the roll structure.

Williams

Williams brought to Suzuka a minor revision to the brake duct set-up. This comprises of two components already seen on the car but never as a combination.

The team have again run the inner moulding to direct cooling air to the outer half of the calliper and the critical pistons that operate on the pad. But this has now been combined with an outer duct enclosing the disc to better direct air through the wheel.

A development that was not noticed on the Williams before - and thus it is unclear how long this has been in place - was a fence nestling among the bargeboards.

Most teams run curved boards or turning vanes to the side of the front splitter, and many teams also run a fence along the edge of the splitter to prevent air spilling off the edge and rolling under the floor.

Williams have now found a twist to this set-up. The turning vanes are the same since mid season - the front splitter wears a short low fence - but there is also a straight fence running just outboard of the splitter.

This fence runs in line with the car and is completely detached from the splitter. Its function could possibly be to keep more flow running straight under and not being curved outwards by the turning vanes.

This should increase pressure running up the central and harder-worked portion of the splitter to improve downforce. Williams also noticeably have run a curled footplate on the main boards, as adopted by Ferrari earlier this year.

Toyota

Again, an unnoticed feature bargeboard was picked up in Japan. Since the team introduced their third major turning vane solution in Germany, it was thought only one vane was used.

The team's previous set-up used two very small vanes, but nestling behind the new larger vane is a second. This double-layer layout is very similar to the one used on the forward set of turning vanes. Detail development of the larger vanes has also seen the bottom edges rolled over slightly to improve sealing.

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