Scuderia Toro Rosso STR4
Scuderia Toro Rosso revealed today their 2009 challeneger – STR4. The car was built (same as Red Bull’s RB5) by Red Bull Technology. And while Toro Rosso’s technical director Giorgio Ascanelli insists the new STR4 is not a rebadged Red Bull Racing RB5 it would be quite difficult to spot too many differences other than those directly related to different engine and then of course the livery. If you spot any, please list them out in the comments ! The STR4 should be the last Toro Rosso car built by Red Bull. From 2010 Toro Rosso should built their own car to comply with the regulations that do not allow teams running customer cars.
The size of the bull image has been reduced and it now even looks like a bull rather than spilled can of red paint. Perhaps this revised livery is to show potential sponsors that if needed the team can make some space for sponsor logos. At the moment however the dominant logo is of course that of the owners, Red Bull, making the STR4 livery look much more similar to Red Bull racing car than it used to. Will be a bit more difficult to tell the cars apart this season … I wonder what will RedBullog have to say about that 
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Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais taking wraps off STR4
Scuderia Toro Rosso STR4 - Profile
Scuderia Toro Rosso STR4 - head on
Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais with STR4
Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais with their helmets and STR4
STR4 technical specifications:
Official car name: STR4
Engine: Ferrari V8 Type 056
Chassis material: Composite monocoque structure
Bodywork material: Carbon fibre composite
Front Suspension: Upper and lower carbon wishbones, torsion bar springs and anti roll bars, Sachs dampers
Rear Suspension: Upper and lower carbon wishbones, torsion bar springs and anti roll bars, Sachs dampers Steering: Scuderia Toro Rosso Gearbox: Seven-speed hydraulic
Clutch: Sachs Triple-plate pull-type
KERS: Ferrari design in conjunction with Magneti- Marelli
Calipers: Brembo
Pads and discs: Brembo
Cooling system (radiators, heat exchangers): Scuderia Toro Rosso
Cockpit instrumentation: Scuderia Toro Rosso
Seat belts: Willans
Steering wheel: Scuderia Toro Rosso
Driver’s seat: Carbon fibre construction, moulded to driver’s shape
Extinguisher system: Scuderia Toro Rosso/FEV
Wheels: Advanti Racing Fuel cell: ATL
Overall Weight: >605 kg (including driver and camera)
2009 Helmet Sebastien Bourdais
2009 Helmet Sebastien Buemi
Photos and images: Red Bull Media
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Well, obviously it’s a different car. It says “Made in Faenza”, hence it cannot be made in Milton Keynes (RBRs HQ).
It’s not like they could design and build it in Milton Keynes and then ship it off to Italy, that would be ridiculous. 
Thank you Ascanelli
Mr. Ascanelli on what was done in Faenza:
Ascanelli is having really difficult time coming up with excuses. He is essentially only mentioning the engine and engine-related things. He does not mention aerodynims a single time. Wonder why.
he may be saving words because he will have to talk about it a lot in 12 months time
?
Perhaps. Especially this year with the new aerodynamics-regulations. On the upside he will not have to be asked the same questions next year.
Looks like Mateschitz had more of a say in the livery than ever before, with the Red Bull brand more predominate than ever before. I like it though, it looks like the stylish Italian brother to the grown-up RBR
Be interesting to see how both the STR4 and RB5 compare in testing.
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Hi guys!
I’m just back from the training day at Barcelona, really I’m dead from walking around, but it deserved the efforts:) It has been a mini GP with all the 10 teams testing with a single car. And I’ve seen both Red Bull cars, driven by Webber and Bourdais. They really look alike, the main differences are already spotted by Wolf, the bodywork’s painting and the engine mounted, it is not completely a copy… Well, not a copy and paste job
It’s easy to see that so far the RB5 use a shark finn engine cover and the STR4 uses a common one. So far I didn’t analyse my pics to find Wally or some more differences 
What Ascanelli was reporting I think that I differ in his concept, the car is different yes, but it has been adapted a design that previously appeared on the RB5, what I mean is that they surely needed to change modify the chassis to fit in the Ferrari’s engine, adapting consequently the rest of the components for the power train, even cooling, but indeed this is the same than is doing Brawn GP with their new car, after being left by Honda (in this case I mean adapting the car to fit in the new engine)… However, this is not the reality at all. Any car isn’t designed specially to suit with it’s chassis and bodywork to it’s engine, car’s are designed to a specific scale for fitting inside an engine of a determinate size, and this doesn’t change much even in F1. Of course any engine is different depending of the of the supplier, but mounting them doesn’t demand to redesign completely the car as Ascanelli makes us understand, you just need to find out the way to mount the engine and adapt or build for the whole assembly the following components as gearbox, clutch and transmission, fuel tank, etc. As he said, it demands a different installation of all that, but it is far from saying that they need to do it all new. They do not have the proper facilities for that and the needed money I guess. Surely the team will have to find a solution for all that in a very close future, or convince us that building a car with specific parameters differing from the ones of the RB5 is really a different car “Made FOR Faenza”.
Do not miss some STR4 photos and others from today’s testing sessions, later only in F1wolf!
almost impossible, isn’t it?
Lol, will need some good eyes to pick out the Golden nose and little numbers on the side bollard!
Shouldn’t be too hard to tell the difference really, maybe just take a little longer to focus on who it is in the cockpit!
Car is an RB5 rebadged, no doubt about it. Everyone knows it, but they all let it go this season because next year they can’t do it and thats when it will become a big issue for Torro Rosso. That covers the main reasons for Mateschitz to sell the team!
Torro Rosso did state in the talk at the launch that they are re-opening up old facilities of Minardi which means they are beginning the effort of setting themself up for next year. and obviously putting the car together themselves this year wouldh ave given them an idea of what it will all be like come next year. Though obviously with a whole lot more work!
[...] day in Barcelona yesterday. Toro Rosso introduced their new car, STR4, a car made in Faenza that “is not a rebadged RB5″. Jenson Button and Brawn GP raised [...]
Although this may be a significant change, compared to the overall body of the car, I noticed most of the redbull cars across different motorsports are running a “redbull cola” on the back of their cars. I did some research on it, it appears to be Redbull’s attempt at a Coca-Cola like product, however, I haven’t found this at any of the local stores… nor have a I found any information about the product, quite mysterious to me!!!
Till then,
Jean
probably only something available in certain places. Or a future product?
I’m pretty sure i have seen this on a car before too though…..
FYI – I’m from Australia and it definitely ain’t available in any shops here either!
Toro Rosso STR4 car also has come down to the track last week. The cars was running a system check in Adria circuit, Italy.
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