Formula 1: Virgin Racing VR-01

Virgin Racing will soon have their cherry popped soon and they’ll be doing it with the VR-01. (Unclassy? Deal with it.)

Virgin Racing entered F1 as Manor Grand Prix. It’s the first of the four new teams to unveil their racer. What’s interesting with this car is that it’s design using computational fluid dynamics rather than with a more traditional wind tunnel. Let’s see if pure math can trump the good ol’ wind tunnel.

The car will be powered by a 2.4L V8 Cosworth engine.

Virgin Racing might be first timers in F1 but the team behind it is composed not of racing rookies. Manor Motorsport has been participating in Formula Three races and helped launch the careers of Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton.

The car will be piloted by Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi.

Formula 1: Massa Tops Testing

Felipe Massa sure has shown that he can bounce back after his fateful crash last season.

Formula One testing is under way in Velencia and Days 1 and 2 saw Felipe Massa top the lap time board. There seems to be no stopping the Brazilian in the Ferrari.

The other comeback kid, Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher finished with the third fastest time in Day 1 just right behind BMW Sauber’s Pedro de la Rosa.

Day 2 saw BMW Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi clock the second fastest time of the day behind Massa and ahead of 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren.

It’s interesting to see BMW Sauber clinching the number 2 spots behind Massa which shows that they have quite the car in which to compete this season. Ferrari looks to have a good car.

It’d be interesting to see how Schumacher and Alonso renew their rivalry.

Toyota Problem Now Involves Prius Brakes

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Toyota is now facing its toughest challenge in the world market yet. The accelerator problem that has affect million of its vehicles across models has probably permanently scarred its reputation of building tough and dependable vehicles.

The Prius is among the models affected by the massive recall and it seems that the Prius also has another problem to go with the sticky throttle. Reports of customers complaining about brake failure problems from both America and Japan. An reported incident of a crash slightly injuring two passengers is already in the books.

Apple co-founder Stever Wozniak is among those who reported experiencing problems with their Priuses. Woz reported that his Prius sped up while in cruise control prompting him to point out the possibility that the problem might be in the software.

Modern cars have been using ECUs (or electronic control units) to help control their many systems from engine control to braking systems.

Formula 1: Scuderia Toro Rosso STR5

Three big names have already showcased their cars. Here’s Scuderia Toro Rosso. Toro Rosso might not have had mich success like its sister team Red Bull Racing (Toro Rosso means “Red Bull” in Italian) but we’d take what we can get.

Besides, wonder kid Sebastian Vettel spent two years in Toro Rosso before getting a big break for RBR eventually shining as a runner up last season.

Anyway, here’s the their race horse – the STR5 – which, given this year’s regulations , Toro Rosso developed in-house. FIA banned customer cars (purchasing cars from other developers and just slapping on liveries) this season.

Toro Rosso’s pilots for the season are youngsters Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari.

Quite honestly, it’d be interesting how the team would fare this year. Both Buemi and Alguesuari are inexperienced with only 25 races between them and a totally new car which they developed by themselves for the first time.

Formula 1: Mercedes GP W01 Unveiled

Not long after Ferrari and McLaren unveiled their new F1 race cars, here’s Mercedes GP unveiling the W01 Formula One car. And we’ll be seeing more of these in the coming days as the test sessions have begun.

Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg will be driving the car next season. Interestingly for Schumacher, this will be the first time in three years that he will be driving contemporary F1 tech. Much has changed engineering-wise with F1 cars today thanks to new rules.

Just last week, we got to see last year’s Brawn GP car use the Silver Arrows livery from the 1950s. The new car carries the same paint job.

Noticeable on the car is the nose which is reminiscent of the front-end design of Red Bull last year. Red Bull placed second in the constructor’s cup second to Brawn.