2007 Toro Rosso STR02 launch

[johnnyperl]

Toro Rosso, among much controversy, has launched their 2007 model:

Here are the technical specs:

There are a couple more pics HERE

[Kitdy]

Thank you johnnyperl. That was truly epic

[Egg Nog]

Thank you johnnyperl. That was truly epic

I edited your post. For the record, quoting the first post and quoting posts without removing the images are both considered to be faux pas. That was a double whammy

[Kitdy]

I edited your post. For the record, quoting the first post and quoting posts without removing the images are both considered to be faux pas. That was a double whammy

Yeah, that was a bad call there I guess. Oops. No less, very comical cardboard box car.

[Jack_Bauer]

The one criticism I've always had of Formula One is that there have never been enough female Roman gladiators. Finally the balance is beginning to be restored...

In terms of the actual car I can see Frank Williams, Spyker and anyone else upset about the use of chassis sharing and "B-teams" being pretty furious by how the STR02 has shaped up.

Spot the difference...

[Kitdy]

In terms of the actual car I can see Frank Williams, Spyker and anyone else upset about the use of chassis sharing and "B-teams" being pretty furious by how the STR02 has shaped up.

Jack_Bauer, that was a very good illustration of the exact similarity of these cars. Didn't they circumvent the rules by stating that the engine mountings of the Renault and Ferrari Engines were considered part of the bodywork and thus the cars were different? That is a key way to get around it. I personally don't see the big deal about 4 cars having nearly the same bodies, or SA piggybacking off of Honda - poor Frank will be pissed off though, especially if the TR's and RB's beat him in the points this year.

[Zytek_Fan]

The Adrian Newey designed STR02!

Super Aguri should be debuting their car soon...look for it to be like the Honda...

[Jack_Bauer]

Didn't they circumvent the rules by stating that the engine mountings of the Renault and Ferrari Engines were considered part of the bodywork and thus the cars were different? That is a key way to get around it.

That's not how it works. It's all down to "Intellectual Property Rights". Under the current Concorde Agreement (which runs til 2008) a registered F1 constructor is not legally allowed to purchase the IPRs to a chassis from another registered F1 constructor. The way they've managed to get round it is that they've created a dodgy third-party "holding company" which buys the IPRs to the Red Bull chassis for a nominal fee (probably $1 or something silly like that) and then both STR and RBR then buy the IPRs to the chassis from that holding company for a similarly nominal charge.

So there are two "official" constructors listed on the Concorde agreement - Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Torro Rosso - and there is now the mysterious Red Bull Technology Ltd, officially registered as a company on 20th December 2006. This 3rd party company (unsuprisingly officially registered at the building right next door to Red Bull Racing ) produces the chassis for both F1 teams. The big question in this case will probably be the lateness of the date that RB Technology was registered, because clearly the bulk of the work on chassis design would have been done throughout 2006, long before this company magically appeared. If it can be proved that Red Bull owned the IPRs to the chassis long before RB Technology was formed, and it's clear that it was formed purely to circumvent the rules, then they could be in some very hot water.

Is it in contravention of the current Concorde agreement? Perhaps not, that's for the courts to decide I guess. Is it in contravention of the spirit in which the current sporting regs were drawn up? Undoubtedly yes.

I guess the only thing that can be said for certain is that a whole lot of rich lawyers are about to get a whole lot richer.

[Kitdy]

Ah yeah. My mistake; I forgot about that crazy holding company. That is a totally sweet way of circumventing the rules. I have to say it is a cheezy thing to do, but I don't "think that breaking the spirit of the rules" is illegal, just reprehensible.