Renault's future?

[TeddyG]

I was thinking about this before and wrote on it in another thread about Renault but never really got a response.
With the news that Renault is scrapping it's wide-angle engine after this year do you think this will cause them to struggle for the next few years?

I mean doesn't the fact that the engine in the car right now IS wide-angled contributing to the reason that the car is so fast around corners (lower center of gravity, etc.) allowing for certain allowances in building the chassis and race setups?

Will Renault combined with having to build a new engine type also find it difficult to produce a chassis as quick as their current one AS A DIRECT RESULT of changing their engine angle?

As a big JV fan I am hoping he might get a seat at a decent team in 2004 but I am worried about hoping for a Renault seat as I am not too sure where they are heading. Also it is rumoured that Renault's designer M.Gascoyne has been approached by Toyota and if that is true I am even more worried that Renault could be heading downwards instead of up.

[climb]

At Renault they are not stupid, I guess; your point is fair, but I must think they have pondered over this important issue, before deciding to reduce the engine angle.
After all, a car performance is always depending on the combination of ita features, more than on a single aspects.
It's not easy as far as now to predict how can this new and more difficult equilibrium be reached, but if we talk aboutit, much more will have made engineeres at Renault, won't them?
About making baricenter lower: why not returning to pullrod suspensions?

[TeddyG]

I guess you are right in a way climb...I am sure Renault have thought this through and have decided that the benefits they can gain by producing a less wide angled engine with more horsepower outweigh the loss they expect to have in terms of higher center of gravity, chassis design, etc. Still you have to think they will be held back somewhat by this decision to change their engine tactics.

I just hope they continue to improve and don't end up treading water or even worse going backwards in the next few years.

[MiniMe]

Renault has my full support - I really want to see them win a few races and get in amongst the established top 3 teams and make a sport of this circus.

JV to Renault would be a good thing too, I'd really like to see if JV has the goods in a competitive car

[shiny side up!]

I think a major motivation to get rid of the wide V angle is reliability... with Max's proposed long-lasting engine rules, maybe they feel acceptable performance coupled with lasting 3 races is just not possible with the current geometry...

[Mr V]

Originally posted by TeddyG

As a big JV fan I am hoping he might get a seat at a decent team in 2004 but I am worried about hoping for a Renault seat as I am not too sure where they are heading.

I don't think you need to worry too much about that Teddy.IMO, theres more chance of Jenson going back to Renault than JV.