Rene Hillhorst – Head of Aero design, Toyota

This was a private one-to-one interview with Rene at the launch of the 2002 TF102 car at the teams HQ in Koln (Germany).

CS> How pleased are you with the new cars aero concept ?
RH> Its nice, but its not where we would like to be from an aerodynamic point of view, there's still a lot to do, this is the result of our first big step of pushing. As you know we are testing 10 days per Month in the Lola wind tunnel, our new tunnel will be ready in the New Year.

CS> What scale models will it run ?
RH> 50% it can go slightly bigger, but It is optimised for 50%, which is what we are running at Lola.

CS> It's obviously a moving ground tunnel can you Roll, Pitch and Yaw the car and steer its wheels ?
RH> Yes we can simulate all the positions the car takes on the race track.

CS> With the aero concept of the new car a lot looks to be carried over, the rear end is looks like where most of the work seems to have gone in ?
RH> Rear end is pretty much all-new, but in fact although the general philosophy looks the same, every part has been worked on. The old car was designed as a test car not from an aero point of view.

CS> The rear deck looks higher, with the test cars upper wishbone running over the top of the bodywork ?
RH> Optically it is linked to the new suspension, the new suspension is very different, Gustav Brunner brought quite new things here.

CS> The hot air outlets and flip ups seem quite far forward, where as most F1 cars have them close to the tyres, with the lower engine covers is there a problem getting the flow into the coke bottle shape ?
RH> You must create space around the wheel, but you must also cool the engine, so its always playing the best compromise, so what you see here is an opening on top and the rest trying to exit a bit lower.

CS> The test car had a two piece diffuser with a piece of the central tunnel attached to the gearbox, did that work or have you gone to a one piece design?
RH> Yes it worked, we were planning to do some things in the testing, so it was also planned to do that, it was linked to the test car so there were a lot of changes. The new car is on one piece.

CS> The front wing was the one run at the Spa test last year, will it change for the new year testing ?
RH> Yes it will

CS> Will it be significantly different ?
RH> It's a definite improvement in efficiency and stability on the car, but visually its similar.

CS> The front edges of the sidepods on the test car were rounded, the new car has a lip, is that to stop airflow spilling under the car or to produce some effect into the coke bottle shape ?
RH> Its mainly to get the best flow under floor, so there some ideas and concepts there, we're trying to optimise the philosophy.

CS> The Brake ducts are not full Barrels like Ferrari but covers, are you also trying to contain the flow through the wheel ?
RH> It goes in the direction of the Ferrari philosophy, there's still a lot of work going on, you will see some changes in the future.

CS> And those are the old barge boards, not the definitive ones?
RH> Yes.

CS> The front wishbones and steering arm are quite narrow and the steering arm exposed. It doesn't look like you are trying to interact with the front wing with them as Gustav has on the Minardi last year, are they the definitive ones ?
RH> They're the first real solution, there a lot of development on the way, but they are a real solution.

CS> How do you intend to introduce aero changes during the year ?
RH> We'll have many steps during season.