Caterham CT01 images revealed early
2012 F1 cars
The first pictures of the Caterham CT01 have appeared ahead of its official publication tomorrow.
Images taken from the current issue of F1 Racing have been posted online.
Caterham later issued an official image of the new car. The CT01′s distinctive stepped nose is a consequence of new rules aimed at lowering the noses of the cars.
-
- Caterham CT01
-
- Caterham CT01
-
- Caterham CT01
-
- Caterham CT01
-
- Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham CT01, 2012
-
- Caterham CT01, 2012
-
- Caterham CT01, 2012
More information on the 2012 F1 season.
2012 F1 cars
- New HRT F112 seen for the first time in Spain
- New Marussia MR01 breaks cover at Silverstone
- A closer look at the Caterham CT01
- Mercedes W03 officially revealed in Spain
- Picture: Mercedes W03 spied at Silverstone
- Mercedes W03 spotted testing at Silverstone
- Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car
- Toro Rosso STR7 - first pictures and video of Toro Rosso's 2012 F1 car
- Red Bull RB8 launch - first pictures and video of Red Bull's 2012 F1 car
- Sauber C31 launch - first pictures and video of Sauber's 2012 F1 car
Browse all 2012 F1 cars articles
Luke said on 25th January 2012, 10:55
Yikes!! Thats one odd looking nose!
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 25th January 2012, 11:06
Argh, my eyes! The goggles do nothing!
Slr (@slr) said on 25th January 2012, 11:35
Haha :)
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 25th January 2012, 11:41
See, there’s a Simpsons quote for every situation. It’s pretty much all you need in life, especially if you work at an IT desk.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65) said on 25th January 2012, 14:23
couldn’t agree more!
Osvaldas31 (@osvaldas31) said on 25th January 2012, 11:37
It’s the ugliest F1 car nose, I’ve ever seen. Will see, if others can beat Caterham in this category.
Bleeps_and_Tweaks (@bleeps_and_tweaks) said on 25th January 2012, 12:36
It’s not exactly a looker thats for sure. But to be honest I couldn’t care less, I just hope its quick. Caterham are easily my favourite new team, I think they’ve done a great job so far starting from scratch.
It will be interesting to see if Mclaren, Ferrari, RBR are able to implement the new regulations without having to adopt such a radicle step on the nose. Other F1 forums have been debating whether the MP4-26 and F150 would almost meet the 2012 nose specs already, so hopefully they won’t have to change too much.
Matt Pepprell said on 25th January 2012, 23:22
Even more so that the Williams walrus nose? (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Montoya_2004_Canada.jpg)
matt88 (@matt88) said on 26th January 2012, 9:50
that walrus nose was quite cool, this is hideous! Reminds me of an old Fiat Multipla…
http://img.automobile.de/modellbilder/Fiat-Multipla-28775_haessliche_autos_kw52-2010_2.jpg
PJ (@pjtierney) said on 25th January 2012, 12:11
It looks like it was beaten in with a hammer.
robk23 (@robk23) said on 25th January 2012, 15:46
It looks more like Johnny Vegas sat down on the nose!
TY said on 26th January 2012, 2:34
i think a nose job is in order!
ajokay (@ajokay) said on 25th January 2012, 12:13
I think I’ve only ever seen one F1 nose that was uglier.
John H (@john-h) said on 25th January 2012, 12:41
Haha! Classic.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 25th January 2012, 12:41
@ajokay I knew it was going to be Prost!
peru said on 25th January 2012, 18:47
keith, have you posted the car’s unveil dates yet?
Mike (@mike) said on 25th January 2012, 23:11
He did recently in this article.
Some are still unknown.
peru said on 25th January 2012, 15:33
that was a good one, i was expecting it, but very good nevertheless.
You have to agree that that was one of the fastest as well.
drmouse (@drmouse) said on 25th January 2012, 15:41
LOL @ Prost comparrison.
It is one FUGLY nose. Almost as bad as mine…
PT (@pt) said on 25th January 2012, 18:10
A World Championship-winning nose too, unlike what Caterham is likely to be!
Pato Milan said on 25th January 2012, 15:49
My eyes…
When they first said the front noses were going to be lower in 2012 I expected/wanted something like this
Why can’t they have them even lower and have a smooth decrease in height instead of a sudden 7.5cm drop?
vjanik said on 25th January 2012, 16:11
exactly.
Looking at the new CT01 i dont think the new regulations have solved the safety issue at all. I was expecting something like the Brawn nose. Something that would prevent the cars from launching (webber in valencia) or hitting the driver in the head with a sideways collision.
I hope this is a one off, and the rest of the teams come up with something more natural.
montreal95 (@montreal95) said on 25th January 2012, 23:49
But it did solve the safety issue. The nose is now lower than the cockpit sides.
and even a Brawn type nose wouldn’t prevent the car from taking off.
PT (@pt) said on 25th January 2012, 18:15
@Pato Milan
I wanted something like that too, but after reading Scarabs interpretation I was expecting something like. The days of good looking F1 cars are fast disappearing, friend. I think even a street luge looks better than this!
graham228221 (@graham228221) said on 25th January 2012, 19:15
that Mclaren looks like a sad elephant.
But that Caterham nose…. it’s just so wrong :/
Pato Milan said on 25th January 2012, 19:41
For me a good looking F1 car would have a low thin nose, the wing lengths and height from before 2009 with no winglets on the body, no barge boards, no turning vanes, no nonsense things on the wheels (covers or Ferrari’s rims), overall a lower height. Imagine, an F1 car with the current length and proportionate front and rear wings, plain body and low like in the old days…
Dreaming is always nice….
PT (@pt) said on 25th January 2012, 20:27
…and also wide with fat rear tyres.
Chrizz said on 25th January 2012, 18:41
Well,… if all F1 noses are going to look like this, I think I am only going to watch the Izod Indycars season this year!
Chrizz said on 25th January 2012, 18:48
No, just kidding, though the nose of this Caterham CT01 is genuinely ugly. Now that I’ve seen this car, I’d bet this team won’t improve on last season’s championship position.
Concerning the Indycars: their new Dallara DW12 is seriously good-looking. It throws away that box-like mid/rear end shape. Don’t care whether they’ll be slower than the old car. I think they’ll get quicker over time.
DVC (@dvc) said on 25th January 2012, 21:23
To quote Martin Brundle, “They all look good in the Winner’s circle.”
Design the fastest car and aesthetics be damned.
Adam Tate (@adam-tate) said on 26th January 2012, 0:04
Agreed on The DW12. I really like it! Especially from the front. Indycar will hopefully take a step forward this year.
I like all of this new Caterham, except that bloody nose. It’s worse than Prost, and way worse than the old Walrus nose BMW, I actually kind of liked that one.
xeroxpt (@ukfanatic) said on 25th January 2012, 20:54
I dont remember his name but a williams engineer said that the cars would look odd if FIA continued with the 50cm nose rule.
Scalextric (@scalextric) said on 25th January 2012, 21:35
How will this sell Caterham cars? Guess I’ll stick with my people mover…
Younger Hamii (@younger-hamii) said on 26th January 2012, 21:11
Hmmm,some teams are really sticking their noses into it!!! *vomits*
ajokay (@ajokay) said on 25th January 2012, 10:55
And people are saying the new IndyCar chassis looks odd.
This just looks awful.
Havergal said on 25th January 2012, 10:57
Indeed. What’s the old saying about if it looks fast it is? That doesn’t look fast.
Cyclops_PL (@cyclops_pl) said on 25th January 2012, 11:01
Remember 2009 BMW? Looked like snow plow, raced like one. Beware Caterham ;)
TimG (@timg) said on 25th January 2012, 12:19
It’s an old saying but it was mostly said before wind tunnels became widely used – the new saying is something like if it’s fast it’s beautiful.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 25th January 2012, 11:31
@ajokay Actually the more pictures of the new IndyCar I see on the thread the more it’s growing on me.
ajokay (@ajokay) said on 25th January 2012, 11:49
I like it in the first place, but even then it’s still growing on me. The haunches at the back of the sidepods… it looks like a cat primed and ready to pounce. It’s very back-heavy which makes it look even more prepared to launch itself forward in a flurry of noisy speed.
It’s a beautiful car.
This Caterham… it looks like a green and yellow sack of marbles. Lumpy.
PJ (@pjtierney) said on 25th January 2012, 12:09
@ajokay I’m sure you hate the massive gap in the livery (sidepods) as much as I do.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65) said on 25th January 2012, 15:45
To be honest (and unlike the Indycar), the only thing that looks wrong is the nose, the rest of the car is quite OK
The rear view looks fine!.
PT (@pt) said on 25th January 2012, 18:24
The Dallara IndyCar DW12 chassis looks much better than this, and the nose, which is the most prominent part of an F1 car, is balanced and proportionate. This one looks more like this crocodile –
PT (@pt) said on 25th January 2012, 18:26
oops, the link didn’t come. Here it is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gavialis_gangeticus.jpg
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 25th January 2012, 10:56
Oh, look. It’s vomit-green. Coincidence?
TommyB (@tommyb89) said on 25th January 2012, 10:57
Ewwwwwww!
DGB123 (@dgb123) said on 25th January 2012, 10:57
I think I just got sick in my mouth!!!!
Cyclops_PL (@cyclops_pl) said on 25th January 2012, 10:57
Mutated whale from Mars. And looks like render (again).
Tom Haxley (@welshtom) said on 25th January 2012, 11:04
Definetly a render, look at the tyres
iamsa8 (@aus_steve) said on 25th January 2012, 10:58
on second thoughts, i kinda like it.. it’s distinctive
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley) said on 25th January 2012, 12:11
But all of them will probably look like this! :P
Actually, I think the livery exaggerates its contours a little bit. The yellow stripes on the nose end just before the bulges, which doesn’t exactly help.
For example, this drawing by Craig Scarborough shows what he expects the 2012 cars to look like, and whilst it’s not as pretty as the 2010 and 2011 cars, I don’t think it looks as ugly as the Lotus.
Having said that, we’ve only seen two angles of this car so far. It might not be that bad.
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley) said on 25th January 2012, 12:12
OK, link didn’t work! Try this. :)
BasCB (@bascb) said on 25th January 2012, 12:29
Pretty much the same, save the Caterham being launched with its 2011 spec wings.
TheBrav3 said on 25th January 2012, 17:14
If the new ferrari and mclarens have this crash structure infront of the sidepod i will be calling them the bat cars this year! http://www.auto123.com/ArtImages/139897/f1-drawing-ferrari2012-inline.jpg
Mike (@mike) said on 25th January 2012, 23:16
@TheBrav3
As that is taking advantage of the safety rules to increase aerodynamic performance I suspect that will be looked at by the FIA.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 25th January 2012, 10:58
I have a theory about the sheer ugliness. Back when the regulations were announced, a lot of the teams complained that their cars were going to look ugly. They really just wanted the raised noses back because that would improve airflow over the spoiler, producing more downforce. This staggered nose is such an inelegant and basic design (the MP4-26 nose is a fine example of what they should be doing) that I can’t help but wonder if the teams are deliberately making ugly cars to try and get such an overwhelming reaction that the FIA relents and reverts the ruling.
John H (@john-h) said on 25th January 2012, 12:46
It’s a nice theory, but the whole of the cars aerodynamics is designed by how the flow is effected by the nose and the front wing. There’s no way any team will want a change to the regulations until next season, and their not going to run an inefficient car for all the races just to get the FIA to change their minds.
Personally, I have a problem with the regulatons that show a rectangular zone where no body work can be. Alll they had to do was make this zone trapezoidal, and these cars would both look alright, and also not pose a threat to the heads of other racers. This is the FIA we are talking about though.
realracer (@realracer) said on 25th January 2012, 12:55
Deliberately making ugly cars?
I’m sure glad your not an F1 car designer, you’d make the likes of Ferrari and McLaren go into administration.
“Oooh lets invest hundreds of millions of pounds, and put our blood sweat and tears into making an ugly car, so the FIA can let us make a nice looking one,were not here to compete, no not at all”
Sheer Stupidity on your part @PM
Solo (@solo) said on 25th January 2012, 19:29
The only thing sillier in this article than that nose, is this idea you just posted.
galzo33 (@galzo33) said on 25th January 2012, 10:59
Ugly looking car. one questioin why are the noses that low
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 25th January 2012, 11:03
Because the FIA wants to clamp down on high noses. They’ve been getting higher and higher for the past two years, and the FIA is concerned that in the event of a head-on collision – not unlike the Liuzzi-Schumacher crash in Abu Dhabi back in 2010 – the nose of one car could pick up on top of the other, there were would be little to stop the driver from receiving a Formula 1 car to the face. No doubt they intended that the 2012 cars would look more like last year’s McLaren, but because of the wording of the 2012 rules, only everything forward of the bulkhead (the point along the front axle) needs to be 55cm. Everything behind it can be 62.5cm, and so Caterham have clearly gone in for this split-level nose.
galzo33 (@galzo33) said on 25th January 2012, 11:04
ok thanks
M7 said on 25th January 2012, 11:13
I believed it was more to do with counteracting any lift generated when a high nose hit a wheel (like webber vs kovalainen at valencia ’10) – although there were probably several factors
Scootin159 said on 25th January 2012, 15:03
Any nose->wheel contact will involve one of the cars getting airborne – even worse if the front wheel makes contact to a rear wheel. This isn’t an issue unique to F1, but rather any form of open wheel racing (everything from your local kart races to Dan Wheldon’s crash last year).
N7 (@m77) said on 26th January 2012, 8:34
the nose height will accentuate the problem. that post wasn’t just my speculation, there was fact behind it – for backup, this is a quote from mike gascoyne yesterday: “They want to limit the heights of noses for the shunts when a car hits another car’s tyre and (risks) taking off.” [from bbc f1 website]
matthewf1 (@matthewf1) said on 25th January 2012, 11:14
So do the regs allow for a slope to merge these two heights, or does there need to be an immediate change in height, like Caterham have gone for?
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 25th January 2012, 11:22
@matthewf1 – The regulations do allow for a slope, provided that the point over the front bulkhead is no more than 55cm above ground. I think this is what the FIA intended all along, and to my mind it would be the best solution because the Caterham design has a 7.5cm step in the middle of the nose. That can’t be particularly efficient aerodynamically.
matthewf1 (@matthewf1) said on 25th January 2012, 11:26
thanks
Sangeen Khan said on 25th January 2012, 12:39
Actually,I think the V shape makes up most of the 7.5 cm difference.Along the middle,its not that much.
Adam (@adamdaly82) said on 25th January 2012, 13:32
You should really get on the phone to Caterham then to let them know that their months of wind tunnel analysis and cfd have been wrong.
Mike (@mike) said on 25th January 2012, 23:24
@adam PM is provided a detailed opinion on the technical aspects of the car. This is interesting.
What have you provided?
Also, on topic.
@Prisoner Monkeys
I think there must be a reason that the step costs less than the gain it provides. I suspect it will be controlling airflow around the side of the drivers head. But I suspect scarbs would have a more examiined opinion.
For me, I’m most interested in the back of the car, which for the most part is blacked out. It is possible to see where the suspension struts are headed and to be honest, it looks rather simple.
I suppose from Caterham a rather conservative approach is to be expected.
Adam (@adamdaly82) said on 25th January 2012, 23:43
@Mike I would much rather trust Caterham, their team of engineers and the 6 months of design and development that has gone into this car. Opinions are great but there are too many internet hacks about who think they know best.
Mike (@mike) said on 26th January 2012, 15:00
@Adam
I honestly can’t see your problem.
More interpretations of the technical aspects can’t be a bad thing.
And exactly what part of his comment do you think was wrong? I think you’d be crazy if you said the step (in itself) was aerodynamically efficient. However, there must be, as you suggested, a reason the Caterham designers have done this. Prisoner monkeys comment creates a chance for us to speculate as to why!
Personally, I’m fairly sure in my mind that it’s to allow maximum airflow under the car, this increases the speed at which the air flows and thus, should lower the pressure under the car and increase the cars overall down force.
What do you think? or have you read any interesting ideas about it?
Adam (@adamdaly82) said on 26th January 2012, 20:32
@Mike Nothing wrong with opinions or theories. The more the better. What I didn’t like though was the assertion that he knew better than the Caterham designers.
Nobody likes the look of the new nose but there is obviously a reason for it. To me, a more gradual slope to the tip of the nose would provide a better airflow over the top of the car but my degree is not in aeronautical engineering so I am happy to bow to the experts greater knowledge.
M7 said on 25th January 2012, 10:59
they wont get much prettier…
Banburyhammer1 said on 25th January 2012, 10:59
Has the car beeen in a punch up or something?
Tommo N7 (@tommothfc) said on 25th January 2012, 11:00
Nosecone is disgusting! Seems the the equivalent of a human having a broken nose.
verstappen (@verstappen) said on 25th January 2012, 11:00
If you want to have a controlled launch, maybe you shouldn’t be committing pictures to paper…
About the car, I’m obviously intrigued by the nose and I wonder if this is what Ferrari calls ugly…
guido (@guidof1) said on 25th January 2012, 11:38
thats exactly what i thought
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 25th January 2012, 12:44
@verstappen
Indeed. On the other hand, they seemed quite pleased to be trending on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/TWCaterhamF1/status/162138797847494658
BasCB (@bascb) said on 25th January 2012, 12:50
I bet they are, Fernandes tweeted something like that.
I guess its hard to trump a million people looking on Twitter and the net searching for the first pictures for a good viral, isn’t it?
John H (@john-h) said on 25th January 2012, 12:50
Indeed. This has got us talking. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out this leak is deliberate.
McLarenFanJamm (@mclarenfanjamm) said on 25th January 2012, 13:06
It’s not a leak. It’s just people receiving their copies of F1 Racing early. Frankly, I’m surprised nobody expected this.
Shimks (@shimks) said on 25th January 2012, 11:01
Chunky!
Isn’t it the general consensus that because of the rules changes, all cars are going to look a little less pretty compared to 2011?
Dan Thorn (@dan-thorn) said on 25th January 2012, 11:03
Shocking at first but I’m pretty sure most of the cars will have noses like that. We’ll get used to it, just like we did with every other regulation change that apparently made the cars ‘ugly’.
Steph (@steph) said on 25th January 2012, 11:53
Yack! I did like the 09 BMW so I should like a more straight shape but with the shade of green and yellow it just looks ghastly and something Lego could have designed.
yr said on 25th January 2012, 12:46
yep exactly..with the regulations I kind of expected this nose for some time now so no suprise. I dont know how others haven’t expected to see a nose like this.its ugly but I think most teams wil have something similar. We are all probaly going to have to get used to seeing our favourite team our drivers car noses look like this.
Mike (@mike) said on 25th January 2012, 13:53
Did you expect it? A few people are saying that now but I didn’t read one prediction on this site about it before.
yr said on 25th January 2012, 22:13
Scarbs had some sketchs up..and the ferrari renderings sported a similar nose. Doesn’t mean that if it wasn’t on this paricular site it didn’t happen. Come to think about it keith had the link to scarbs with regards to this years design trends on one of his round ups in the past couple of days.
Mike (@mike) said on 26th January 2012, 15:15
Ah that’s quite true! I apologize :D