Virgin present the MVR-02 in London
Virgin have the launched their 2011 car at London’s BBC Television Centre in the UK. The fledgling team, heading into their second F1 season, hope the Cosworth-powered MVR-02 will move them up the order after a difficult debut year.
Like its predecessor, the new car has been designed entirely in the digital domain, making extensive use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), under the guidance of technical boss Nick Wirth. However, with more processing power at their disposal for 2011, the team aim to improve on last year’s 12th place in the constructor standings.
“We faced a very steep learning curve and experienced some tough lessons, which we have applied to our design programme for 2011,” explained Wirth. “We have addressed every single issue that troubled us last year, but in our own unique digital way.
"In terms of sheer CFD throughput, the number of configurations that our new processes have allowed us to test for the MVR-02 is a giant step forward from the VR-01, and we are looking forward to further improvements here as we finally begin to benefit from the new Supercomputer that our partners CSC have provided for 2011.
"I am confident that we have made real progress with the MVR-02, producing a car with considerably more aerodynamic efficiency than the VR-01 despite the regulation changes, and having made significant gains in terms of overall quality. It provides a good basis for development over the course of the season, and I'm very sure we'll be able to keep up the impressive rate of aero development that we've had since the beginning of the MVR-02 project.”
Virgin have a new title sponsor for 2011 in the shape of Russian sportscar makers Marussia Motors (the ‘M’ in MVR-02). Marussia have also taken a significant shareholding in the team. There is also change on the driver front, with Belgian rookie Jerome d’Ambrosio replacing Lucas di Grassi as team mate to the experienced Timo Glock.
“We had a tough but incredibly rewarding baptism into Formula One last season and I am extremely proud that we proved ourselves to be more than equal to the challenge,” said team principal John Booth. “2011 is all about moving forward and starting to achieve solid results and we have a very exciting driver line-up in Timo Glock and Jerome d'Ambrosio.
“Timo did an exceptional job in difficult circumstances last season and contributed a great deal to the car’s development and that of our racing team. We are also delighted to welcome Jerome in his debut season of Formula One competition. He is a very exciting young talent and we are enjoying seeing his clear potential unfold with each outing in the car.
“The MVR-02 is a clear step forward in every area and a credit to all the hard work that has gone into our car development programme over the past 12 months. Generally, we have every reason to believe that 2011 will be a very exciting and positive experience for our team.”
The MVR-02 is expected to make its track debut at Jerez in Spain later this week, the team having run an interim version of last year’s car at last week’s Valencia test session.
Credit: Formula One Administration Ltd (www.formula1.com)
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