8
WS RENAULT 3.5
E
ven Renault Sport Technologies
managers couldn’t have hoped for
such a debut. The new Dallara 3.5
single seater was extremely fast during
the first collective test sessions for the
Renault 3.5 championship, which took
place at Le Castellet at the middle of
March. At the end of the two day event,
the best time, achieved by Robin Frijns
(
current Eurocup Renault 2.0
champion) was 4”3 quicker than
Robert Wickens’ record on the same
track the previous year.
But what are the fundamental points
of Dallara’s new single seater,
equipped with a F.1 style DRS and a
new, Zytek derived Renault engine? We
asked Giovanni Venturini, the Italian
driver who races for BVM Target, and
who drove the old model, used for the
2008
to 2011 seasons, during winter
testing in 2010 and 2011.
What were your first impressions of the
new single seater?
“
With no doubt the increased grip on
fast corners, thanks to the Dallara’s new
aerodynamic design. The old car was
fitted with a series of skirts under the
belly, but these wore out after a few
laps. This meant that the ground effect
only played a significant role on the
initial bends, after which it began to
disappear, and the car began to lose
stability. The difference with this
Dallara is that, instead of being fitted
with skirts, it exploits other aerodynamic
solutions, such as front and rear wings,
which keep the grip the same from the
first fast corner onwards”.
Does the DSR offer significant
advantages?
“
With no doubt, although I was unable
to use it to full extend due to a series of
problems with the car. However, it’s
certainly an interesting development, it
should be activated when exiting a
corner, where it is important to
determine when exactly press the button
on the steering wheel, before
deactivating it again while approaching
the following turn. The button should be
pressed at all times, and in cases where
the DRS remains active even when this
button is released, the wing returns to
its original position as soon as the driver
touches the brakes”.
The new features include the pneumatic
gearbox that initially caused a few
problems for the drivers…
“
You have to identify the exact point
where the clutch releases otherwise the
engine stops. Once you’ve mastered this
procedure, it’s just like using other types
of gearboxes. The anti-stall can also
create problems, as soon as you drop
below the minimum number of
revolutions, even by a very small
margin, it cuts in and blocks you”.
How has the release changed?
“
The brakes, although still in carbon,
have been an enormous improvement.
For example: driving the old car at Le
Castellet, using new tyres, it was
necessary to start releasing at around
ninety metres off the first corner; with
the new car and new brakes this is
reduced to sixty metres or even less”.
The steering wheel now features a
number of buttons: are they easy to
manage?
“
It’s not complicated at all. In addition
to the DSR button there are two small
knobs that are used for mapping the
accelerator pedal in order to modify the
engine response. There are three
different positions: the first gives you a
brusque, possibly excessive, “shove” in
the back, the second is what you might
call the normal setting, whereas the
third is for wet conditions. Almost
everyone used position two during the
first test sessions. There is a third knob
that is used to set up the limiter for the
start. There are six levels: during the
start phase the driver holds the pedal
down and the limiter is not deactivated
until the car reaches 85 km/h”.
A GREAT LEAP
FORWARD
W
ITH THE
BVM T
ARGET
D
RIVER
G
IOVANNI
V
ENTURINI
AT THE WHEEL OF THE NEW
D
ALLARA FOR THE
WSR 3.5
THAT DEBUTED
AT
L
E
C
ASTELLET
.
O
PTIMUM GRIP
,
NEW AERODYNAMICS
,
DSR,
PNEUMATIC GEARBOX AND NEW BRAKES OFFER SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED PERFORMANCE
WITH RESPECT TO THE OLD CAR
.
A
ND THE DRIVERS ARE GRATEFUL
