SPYKER F8-VII

The 'Spyker F8-VII' is a Formula One car, constructed by Spyker F1 to compete in the FIA Formula One World Championship in 2007. It will be driven by race drivers Christijan Albers and rookie Adrian Sutil. The 2007 challenger will be using a Ferrari engine. The F8-VII will be the first car constructed by Spyker F1 in their own right after their take-over from the struggling Midland F1 team part way through 2006.

Contents

2007 Season

Naming

B Specification Car

Complete Formula One results

References

External links

2007 Season

The F8-VII has been described as a solid base on which to build, as the team have had a relatively short period of time to produce the new F1 car. The conceptions of the car have been mainly put on paper with James Key, the technical director of Spyker F1, saying, "We also tried to second guess as best we could what the 2007 tyres were going to do, and we worked hard on aero, which is of course always the fundamental thing. That way we could concentrate all our efforts on performance related areas." ^[1]

So far in testing the F8-VII has come bottom of the times when running at the Circuit de Valencia against the WilliamsF1 Team. Spyker have yet to make a test with the other F1 teams, what is clear however, is that with the F8-VII, they will not be running with the top teams such as BMW Sauber, McLaren Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari, who seem to be the teams to beat this season. The team will, however, aim to have a new upgrade car ready by the Turkish Grand Prix in August when the team have more data and have had more time to develop the car.

Naming

Going against the trend originally started by Jordan Grand Prix and continued by Midland F1, the new car's naming designation relates directly to Spyker's heritage as a car and aircraft manufacturer. When the Dutch company started trading at the beginning of the 20th century it launched car models named A, B and C. When Spyker CEO Victor Muller resurrected the Spyker name in 2000 he wanted to build on that strong history.
"When we launched the first modern line of Spykers, the C8 Spyder, we called it the C line to follow on from the original model rationale," he explained. "The E line will be launched in the near future, so it makes sense for our Formula One car, our latest model, to be the F line."
The number eight refers to the number of cylinders of Spyker's Ferrari engine – the same rationale as used with road-going Spykers. The VII (7) sub-designation refers to Spyker's days as an aircraft manufacturer where all models were denoted by Roman numerals and stood for the year the aircraft was launched. Hence the F8-VII is the Spyker F line with eight cylinders in 2007. ^[1]

B Specification Car

Spyker's Chief Technology Officer, Mike Gascoyne, says that a "B Specification" car will be launched midway into the season. The B Spec car will be an advancement on the F8-VII, which is the 'solid base' from which the Spyker team will launch their 2007 campaign. ^[3] The F8-VIIB's debut was initially planned for the Turkish Grand Prix, but this has been delayed to the Italian Grand Prix after the car failed the mandatory FIA crash testing programme.^[4]

Complete Formula One results

() (results in bold indicate 'pole position')

Year	Team	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
	Spyker	Ferrari V8			AUS	MAL	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	EUR	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	JPN	CHN	BRA	'0 ★ '	'- ★ '
				Adrian Sutil	17	Ret	15	13	Ret	Ret	14	17	Ret	Ret	17	21	19
				Christijan Albers	Ret	Ret	14	14	19	Ret	15	Ret	15
				Markus Winkelhock										Ret
				Sakon Yamamoto											Ret	20	20

★ Progress score following 2007 Italian Grand Prix.

References

1. The Spyker F8-VII: from concept to design
2. The Spyker F8-VII: from concept to design
3. Q&A with Spyker’s Mike Gascoyne
4. Spyker delays B-spec car debut

External links

★ Full list of F8-VII Technical Specifications