Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 16 of 16

Thread: F1 - Technical News and Discussions

  1. #11
    GearHead
    Forza Ferrari!!!
     
    KRRaj's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Lone Star State
    Posts
    5,672

    Lotus's DRS device explained

    Lotus's DRS device explained

    It's been a long time coming, but the first response to Mercedes' 'Double DRS' has broken cover, with Lotus trialling a system in Germany. Craig Scarborough looks at the development for Autosport

    This weekend's German Grand Prix at Hockenheim has turned out to be a key point in the season's technical development. Having had time since the last major updates at the Spanish GP and with the summer break coming up, many teams have used the British and German GPs to bring their next raft of updates. After the rain-soaked practice cost them development time at Silverstone, the teams arrived in Germany with the determination to introduce more new parts.


    Nearly every team has something new and in some cases the updates are major, such as McLaren's new sidepods. A lot of this development is teams converging on the ideas of others, such as Caterham's major aero update. But for Lotus, we have seen some real innovation with its new DRS ducts.

    Name:  1342958247.jpg
Views: 177
Size:  89.4 KB

    Lotus
    In the run up to the German GP Lotus promised "interesting" updates. Accordingly Kimi Raikkonen's car was set up with different rear end aero parts to Romain Grosjean's. It's been immediately obvious that a new duct system has been added to the E20, with inlets around the roll hoop, a large duct exiting over the beam wing and a smaller duct passing up to the rear wing.


    This appears to be a DRS activated system, which Lotus has simply called its 'prototype gadget'. We know that the origins of this system came from Lotus's unsuccessful protest against Mercedes Double DRS system earlier this year. With the Mercedes system being declared legal, Lotus is the first team to appear with a similar system.


    Mercedes has raced its DDRS system, which uses the DRS rear wing to blow through ducts running the length of the car to stall the front wing, all year. This has several aero effects, which add up to less drag when DRS is open and hence more top speed. The Mercedes DDRS is itself is an idea inspired by McLaren F-Ducts of 2010. These systems used a driver operated 'fluid switch' to stall the rear wing at speed.


    Whereas the driver-operated element of the F-Duct was outlawed, stalling wings for greater top speed was not. So the Mercedes DDRS took an interpretation of the rules, to find a secondary use for the DRS flap moving on the rear wing to activate the stalling of the front wing.


    Just as the Mercedes DDRS was initially a bit of mystery, so too is the Lotus E20 DRS - until all the duct work is exposed. What we can see is a large diameter duct fed by scoops near the roll hoop. This exits the engine cover and passes over the beam wing. Then passing from this duct up to the rear wing is a smaller duct.


    Aside from the visible duct work, much of the car's bodywork remains the same on both cars and to that raced at Silverstone. So the system may not even be complete, as perhaps suggested by the 'prototype' tag used by the team.


    Somehow when the DRS rear wing flap is activated, the airflow through these ducts changes and creates a different aerodynamic effect. It's clear that this system is not like the Mercedes set-up and doesn't stall the front wing. Potentially the system could create more top speed by stalling the rear wing. Or, the missing/unseen ducting could be blowing the diffuser for more downforce when DRS is closed. Paddock rumour suggests the system works on the latter strategy, to boost downforce for low speed/high downforce tracks. However a tantalising prospect is that the system could be doing a bit of both, blowing the diffuser at low speed, then stalling the rear wing when DRS is open.


    As this outing in Germany was simply a test to gather data, the E20 DRS was removed from Raikkonen's car for qualifying and will not therefore be raced. However the system is expected to see a return in future grands prix with a view to being raced.


    McLaren


    Whereas Lotus surprised most with the level of innovation, McLaren's pre-races comment about a big visual change appeared to lead to much simpler developments. McLaren has added a major revision of the sidepod/exhaust set-up to the Silverstone upgrade (front wing, floor and brake ducts).



    Name:  1342958297.gif
Views: 334
Size:  54.8 KB


    This year McLaren has stolen a march on the rest of the grid with the MP4/27's exhaust set-up. Its exhaust exits sideways through a duct in a bulged exhaust fairing. The exhaust follows the down curve of the duct and the downwash airflow over the sidepod, which all conspires to redirect exhaust flow to point downwards. This legally blows the edge of the diffuser for an effect similar to last year's blown diffusers. The effect is not as efficient as the low mounted exhausts seen last year, but is about as much as you can recover with this year's rules demanding higher exhausts pointing upwards.


    In the first half of the season many teams have followed McLaren's style of exhaust set-up: Ferrari, Sauber, Force India, Williams, Toro Rosso and Caterham. Now McLaren has made its first update to the sidepod/exhaust set-up since the start of the season. Its new sidepods are smoother, with the exhaust fairing now less of a bulge, but merged more seamlessly into the sidepod shape.
    Perhaps more importantly the undercut shape of the sidepods is now more pronounced, the internal packaging of the electronics radiators and ducting of the sidepods have been altered to allow a deeper undercut. This allows more airflow to pass under the exhaust bulge and reach the diffuser. This increases airflow over the diffuser for more downforce. Despite the changes to the sidepod shape, Sam Michael confirmed the car has not needed new side impact crash tests.


    Along with the general sidepod shape, the bodywork has gained new fins on the front shoulders of the sidepod. Whereas two fins first appeared on the car earlier this year, the German GP spec ups the fin count to three. These fins set up a series of trailing vortices along the top of the sidepods to direct airflow most effectively over the exhaust outlet. This helps redirect the exhaust plume towards the diffuser. Although the effect of the vortices over the top of the sidepod creates lift, the net effect with the extra created by exhaust on the diffuser means more total downforce.


    The changes in Germany were part of a general aero programme to add more downforce. They weren't specifically aimed at the problems Jenson Button has suffered with the cars set up and Pirelli tyre management. However, in the dry practice sessions at least, these changes appear to have brought both McLaren drivers up to the speed of their rivals.


    General technical developments



    Ferrari and Red Bull had new front wings and further sidepod revisions at Silverstone. These parts have been carried over to Hockenheim, although Ferrari has yet to race its new 'extreme' front wing. This wing focuses the downforce it creates towards the outer tips, a series of wing profiles curve outwards to direct the wings wake around the outside of the front tyre. In some places the wing is formed of seven separate profiles, which when added to the cascade winglet above the main wing, means nine elements are used in total! Along with its shark tooth bargeboard tips, Ferrari is clearly getting more adventurous with their aero development.


    Both Ferrari and Red Bull have added a resonant Helmholtz chamber to the exhaust system. This extra closed end of tube running from the exhaust system aids mid-range power, by altering the tuned length of the exhaust at certain RPM. It's also possible it has a legal smoothing effect on the exhaust flow when the driver is on and off the throttle.


    Williams also has a new front wing with detail changes to the cascade winglets and the flap design. The wing was also tested at Silverstone and finally made it into qualifying for Germany. Although the McLaren style sidepod/exhausts remain tested, but unraced.
    Caterham brought a huge range of updated parts to Silverstone and these were applied to both cars at the British race, with further updates in Germany. The CT01's main updates are McLaren style sidepod and exhausts, as well as revisions to the brake ducts, turning vanes and front wing.


    Not to be outdone by Caterham, Marussia introduced its first windtunnel developed parts, with a revised nose, rear wing and turning vanes. In a year of where high stepped noses have been prominent, the MR01's lower nose gained an aerodynamic 'chin' to help produce downforce in the middle section of wing.

    Source: hellof1.com
    "Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
    -Calvin

    Dai!!!

  2. Thanks NFSpoet, avinash thanked for this post
  3. #12
    GearHead
    Forza Ferrari!!!
     
    KRRaj's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Lone Star State
    Posts
    5,672
    The Red Bull Engine Mapping Row

    By
    Gary Anderson, BBC F1 Technical Analyst


    Red Bull arrived at the Hungarian Grand Prix at the centre of a storm over controversial engine settings they were running in Germany last weekend.

    In the few days between the races, a new rule has been issued to stop Red Bull and engine supplier Renault doing what they were.

    But what was that, and what effect will the new rule have on their performance?

    It is to do with the torque curve of the engine - how it delivers the power through the rear wheels - and what effect changing that can have on the driveability of the car and its aerodynamic performance.

    What Red Bull and Renault were doing was smoothing out the torque curve to ensure the best possible driveability.

    Each team's airbox and exhaust configuration affects the engine's performance and creates peaks and troughs in the torque curve.

    So the engine manufacturer will do as much work as possible to optimise the car in whatever specification a team is using to make the car as responsive for the driver as possible.

    Changing the torque curve can also have an effect on the aerodynamics of the car because it affects the relationship between the power delivery of the engine and the throttle.

    Most top teams have an exhaust set-up that blows gases on to aerodynamic parts at the rear of the car to increase downforce.

    If a team or driver doesn't want all the torque, they have to use less throttle.

    But if a team can set up the car to have more throttle opening for a given torque output, that will flow more air through the exhaust pipes, which works on the rear brake ducts and outboard edge of the diffuser to create more downforce.

    What they are trying to do is protect the rear tyres from spinning and at the same time create as much downforce as possible from the rear of the car.

    So in the example of Red Bull in Germany, if you have less torque output for a given throttle opening, you are reducing wheelspin, which increases tyre life, but getting more downforce because the throttle will be further open for less torque delivery.

    To use an extreme example, say the car would normally go through a corner at 50% throttle because the driver wants 50% torque. What you might want is to be driving the corner with the throttle, say, 90% open but still the same torque output from the engine.

    That way there is a lot more air going through the engine for the same torque delivery. And then when you open the throttle the remaining 10%, that takes you from 50% torque to 100%.

    The numbers involved in the Red Bull-Renault case are not as extreme as that - I understand the variation was more like 10% between the throttle opening and the torque output - but would still have an effect.

    The reason the FIA was upset about this was that they had always interpreted the relevant regulation to mean that at 100% throttle the engine had to provide 100% of the torque of which it was ultimately capable.

    So the FIA saw the Red Bull's engine settings in Germany and saw that it was producing less torque than it had in previous races, and they felt this was illegal.

    But Red Bull and Renault interpreted the rule to mean the engine could not deliver less torque than it was programmed to deliver on that day. That was another way it could be read, so they got away with it.

    The new regulation imposed from this race onwards says teams have to provide a "reference" map from one of the first four races of the year, and that the torque of the engine at any race from then on cannot vary by more than 2% from that reference.

    There is still some argument going on, with some of the engine manufacturers saying 2% is not enough of a margin for the changes they would like to do to account for the differences in ambient temperature and atmospheric conditions at various circuits.

    But while that 2% number might change a little, the rule will be staying for the rest of the season.

    There is no doubt this change will affect Red Bull more than any other team, because they were changing their torque settings more than anyone else.

    However, it is impossible to quantify either how much they benefited from doing this, or how much they will lose as a result of it being banned.

    Over one lap in qualifying, it would probably be very small differences, but it will be more difficult for them to look after the rear tyres in the race.

    It's also true to say Red Bull did not look very good in first practice in Hungary, on a track which should suit their car.

    It's too early to draw any conclusions from that.

    But what you can say is that they were doing a lot of mechanical changes to their set-up, more than I have seen them do for a considerable amount of time, and the car did not look that good out on the track.

    It will be fascinating to watch their progress through the weekend in Hungary.
    Source: bbc.co.uk

    This is really intelligent thinking by Red Bull I think the FIA should give some leeway to the teams.. We will have some interesting things like this to get more performance from the cars.
    "Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
    -Calvin

    Dai!!!

  4. #13

    '' May the Torque be with you
    all ''
     
    Torquoholic's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    ßȩȵɠαŁǾǾЯЏ
    Posts
    166
    How many tyres does an F1 driver use over a season?
    Here is the answer.




    ps- Im lucky to have access to this content over BBC, if you guys are able to logon to a UK network either VPN or someother means, BBC is one heaven for motorsports and all other action.
    SANU-Racing Instincts.

    2000 Suzuki Fiero
    2004 HH Karizma
    Ducati 848Evo - Hopefully.

    Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul.

    I only provide My opinion- I dont support any manufacturer.

  5. Likes avinash liked this post
  6. #14
    on a sabatical from Gearheads
     
    avinash's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Vaasa, Finland
    Posts
    5,597
    Blog Entries
    4
    I've been watching a bit of Formula 1 history and particularly about the Turbo era.
    Found some pretty amazing archive videos. I can see them. Not sure if there are restrictions elsewhere.



    Turbo F1 engines - How they started, part 1



    Turbo F1 engines - How they started, part 2

    www.codereddy.wordpress.com

  7. #15
    not aware that he can set his status here!
     

    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    1
    Loving the deets in this thread!
    This a treat for F1 lovers in and around Mumbai, regarding the Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes F1 car coming to take a test lap on sea-facing Marine Drive! Talks for appropriate permissions required in motion.

    An F1 car may zip down Marine Drive - Hindustan Times

  8. #16
    GearHead
    Forza Ferrari!!!
     
    KRRaj's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Lone Star State
    Posts
    5,672
    The FRIC Suspension System

    FRIC stands for “Front and Rear-Interconnected” system, which links the front and rear suspension using hydraulics with the aim of improving ride stability. This helps to give the driver confidence in the car and, the real boost for 2013, it helps make the tyres work better.

    The FRIC suspension works by transferring hydraulic fluid from front to rear and it does so passively, which is why it’s legal – it’s not something the driver actively controls, it happens as the car moves.
    That perfect ride: The must-have technical device of 2013James Allen on F1 – The official James Allen website on F1

    That's some very good innovation
    "Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
    -Calvin

    Dai!!!

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. General Photography Discussions (Technical Stuff)
    By jaguar in forum Photography
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 7th Jan 2013, 14:38
  2. All Cars Technical Info
    By Silver Rocket in forum Automotive News & General Discussions
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 9th Dec 2012, 17:45

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •