Tech analysis: Midland F1 M16

Midland F1 Racing have been in Formula One for over a year now, and although the team raced as Jordan Grand Prix in 2005, they were very much the same Midland team that was launched last month.

During the transition year, Jordan/Midland were struggling with a car that was undeveloped and under funded. Nevertheless, the car's reliability last season was unmatched and the team finished in the points in two races. And with cash coming from a myriad of sponsors and the Midland Group, the team have had the budget to be able to design an all-new car for 2006 - the M16.

Last year's car was a simple re-engine (to Toyota from Cosworth) of the 2004 car, itself carrying a lot of parts over from the 2003 car. Signs of a financial resurgence produced the much-revised EJ15B, and although the car had some initial cooling issues, it was aerodynamically a major departure from the recent run of EJ cars.

Engineering common sense prevailed at Jordan, and the EJ15 and 15B used simple low cost, low weight solutions. This of course resulted in a car that was no match for the midfield in most circumstances. The battle with Minardi (running an all-new car in 2005) was close, and the difference may have been down to the drivers and good fortune on the day. Overall, though, the Jordan did prove to be the slightly better car.

Over the winter, the team did little running; only some "test driver" runs with a V10-engined car and latterly with an interim EJ15B revised for the V8. But this interim did not complete anywhere near the mileage of the other teams, although it did allow the new rear-end to gain some testing ahead of the all-new car.

The Dallara connection

Some confusion reigned over who exactly designed the car. It was Midland's original plan to start their own team from scratch and engage Dallara as consultants to design and build the car. However, when Midland was able to purchase Jordan in 2004, the Dallara plan stalled.

Dallara were nonetheless still involved in the new car. As MF1's technical director James Key explains: "Dallara acted in a supporting role on the aerodynamics side. They had their wind tunnel working in Italy, we gave them various projects to look at, and they exchanged a few ideas with us." The rest of the car was still designed and built by the ex-Jordan team at their Silverstone base.

Now that the car's aerodynamics have been signed off, all future development will be done at MF1's (ex-Jordan) wind tunnel, and Dallara are no longer contracted to do any work for the team. Hence, the design team, lead by Key, is completely UK-based, with John McQuilliam as Chief Designer and Simon Phillips on the aerodynamics side. The result is an all-new car that sports revised aerodynamics, a new monocoque, and a new rear-end.

The M16 details

Midland has had to maintain a weight distribution in keeping with the Bridgestone tyres' demands. Typically, Bridgestones need a less forwards weight distribution, and this had to be taken into account when laying the car out with the shorter engine.

Fortunately, the team were able to design both a new gearbox and a new monocoque; the wheelbase was retained at the V10 car's length by extending both the casing and tub.

The revised monocoque has improvements in its structure bringing more stiffness for less weight. It features a raised front bulkhead but still quite a low dash bulkhead.

This produces a very sloped nose and in order to package the front suspension geometry the team have been unable to use a simple "keel-less" layout. Instead, the lower wishbone uses an unusual twin keel-esque "zero keel".

This necessitates an offset front suspension leg, and the result looks like the 2003 Jordan, with angled twin keels to pick up the front wishbones. This slight structural compromise must be repaid in aerodynamic benefits.

Wider flat nose leads with a pronounced droop over the front wing, leading back to newly packaged bargeboards. Their general shape is very close to last year's, but now they curl around to mount on the lower edge of the chassis a-la BMW-Sauber.

These consist of a complex forward-mounted board, as well as additional turning vanes mounted to the shadow plate. At their fronts, the sidepods are barely undercut and sport a revised shoulder wing, now located much lower in order to send their flow down the slimmed sidepods.

Under the flip-up is a complex strut, which is curved and features a broad flap, mimicking the shape of the flip-up above. Cooling is accomplished with a chimney and louvers over the exhausts, which themselves are tucked in well forwards on the sidepod.

At the back of the car the gearbox casing is all new, now sporting torsion bars mounted longitudinally with rotary dampers (visible through the bodywork). This makes the area at the end of the engine cover very low and sleek.

Within the gearbox, the 2005 gear cluster and change mechanism are retained. As Key explains: "because of our reliability record, it was sensible to take that across." He adds that the loads within the gearbox were balanced by the V8's greater vibrations but offset by its lesser power, making the old V10 gearbox well suited to the new installation.

The now fashionable pair of struts supporting the rear wing are also taking weight out of the rear-end. As a result of the strut, the endplates and beam wing no longer need to bear such large loads, but as yet they do not appear to be making the most of the shaping this allows. Also, the diffuser appears to be equally conventional in its design.

The Toyota V8 engine is the same as that of the Toyota works team, and MF1 will receive updates during the season, keeping them up to a similar spec to the works team.

As the engine supply has been confirmed for a while, the team have been able to design the car around the new V8 unit, hence the gearbox and bulkhead interfaces are now rationalised into the design, as are the cooling the outlets. In contrast, the EJ15 car needed makeshift solutions to fit the Toyota V10 into the car.

Control systems for the engine and chassis are still separate, using separate ECUs - with the engine managed by a Toyota unit, and Midland managing the chassis. The Midland traction control system in particular needed revisions to react to the different power delivery of the V8.

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- The Autosport.com Team

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