full res link: Qui e Qui
Pick one of three DTM cars you see here at random - the Merc C-Class coupe, for example - and you'll find it has 25 wings. Twenty- five. Roll that figure around in your mind for a minute, and compare it to other bewinged inventions - a 747, for instance. That's only - technically - got five. British Touring cars, the UK equivalent of Germany's DTM, have just one. If there were a world championship for wings, the DTM would sew up the podium every time.
But every single flick and flap has a purpose. This year more than ever, because the DTM - Deutsche Tourenwagen-Meisterschaft, to give it its full title - will be contested for the first time by the cars you see here. The German Big Three. Mercedes vs Audi vs BMW. The three biggest rivals in car manufacturing will all be hammering the same bit of tarmac with full works backing. Three makers that strive every day to launch a road car that bests the others.
The 2012 regs have changed to keep costs some 40 per cent lower. So DTM organisers standardised over 50 parts - stuff like the carbon chassis, the Hewland paddle-shift gearbox, the dampers and the steering rack - which means that all three manufacturers will effectively just pick these bits up off the shelf. It also means new-boy BMW shouldn't be too far behind championship stalwarts Audi and Merc, because it won't have to spend as long developing the complicated bits. Mind you, the engine is still unique, and that won't be an easy job.
Aerodynamics is the darkest of the dark arts of engineering. As a result, a 2012 DTM car should produce about 1,000kg of downforce at the rear wing. That's like having a Ford Ka perched over the back axle. And that figure doesn't even include the effect of the diffuser. That's the big tray that stretches for 2m under the car - half the length of the vehicle - channelling air under the belly of the beast to aid stability. Because the diffuser is so long, it should make the cars very balanced around their centres.
Yet despite all those wings, there is actually less aero-induced grip than last year. Less aerodynamics means a greater reliance on ‘mechanical' grip - instead of relying on the wings to stick the car to the track, the drivers will be depending on the tyres. And that means the holy grail of motorsport - more overtaking. If the car in front isn't ‘stealing' as much of your downforce - and therefore grip - then you can get closer in faster corners. The 2011 cars were on the edge, especially in qualifying, but because the Hankook tyres are larger than the Dunlops used last year, the cars should be more stable.
Is there anything Gary Paffett, Merc's leading driver, would change? "I wish we had more power. That would make it more interesting because of the extra mechanical grip." Sorry, Gary - you want more power? The 4.0-litre V8, revving to 8,500rpm and producing about 500bhp in a car weighing 1,050kg, isn't enough for you? No, you're right: 0-62mph in about 3.0seconds and a top speed approaching 200mph is a tad sluggish.
There's other deliciously trick stuff as well. All the cars are fitted with a brake cooling system, so when the driver comes into the pits for a tyre change, they can press a button on the steering wheel that dumps water onto the brake disc, as they are no longer being cooled by air alone.
-> GD1 
) darà anche un pò più di competizione tra di loro. anche vero che favorisce la bmw, che torna quest'anno
