Ferrari have been testing many Front
Wings over the last few races so it was no surprise they arrived in
India with yet another iteration.
The main Wing differs only in
small details from its predecessors but the Endplates offer an
alternative arrangement for the holes.
The team also arrived in India with a
new diffuser arrangement featuring a section in the
central portion that allows the starter holes airflow to exit higher
up. This is not revolutionary and a more aggressive version has featured on the Mercedes W03 for some time.
Alongside the Diffuser amendment it was presented with a new Gurney Flap. The Gurney extends down around to
the bottom edge of the Diffuser where as the old one stops short and
had more of a bulbous section as it curved around the top edge. (The new Diffuser Gurney is very similar to the one McLaren ran earlier in the season and have since switched to one very similar in design to the outgoing Ferrari one) As we can see in the picture below they have still opted to use a 2 tier Gurney just as Red Bull are employing.
Above: New Diffuser Gurney extends around the whole of the Diffuser
Above: Old Diffuser where the Gurney didn't come all the way around the edge
Both drivers did back to back tests
with the Diffuser during the practice sessions but as only one was
available at the circuit Fernando went on to race it.
An area where the team have stepped
back is the cockpit fins, the team have been running for a number of
races the foremost fin as part of the Mirror Stalk. In India the
team reverted back to old fins under the mirrors.
Red Bull
In India the team once again revised the cars but this time chose to
run their drivers with a minor difference.
Mark ran with different Sidepod Airflow
Conditioners, unlike the ones on Seb's car and that have been run all
season these Conditioners connect to the Sidepod at a lower point
whilst Seb's arch over creating an airflow frame much higher up the
Sidepod.
The Conditioner's on Seb's car are
pretty much the same design used since the start of the season and so
it's unsurprising the team would look to develop this area.
I looked back last week at Red Bull's update path over the last few races and chiefly the alterations made to the Front Wing and Nose. I also looked at how the team had revised the length of the Sidepod in order to extract more Exhaust/Aero performance: http://somersf1.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/red-bull-recent-development-analysis.html
I looked back last week at Red Bull's update path over the last few races and chiefly the alterations made to the Front Wing and Nose. I also looked at how the team had revised the length of the Sidepod in order to extract more Exhaust/Aero performance: http://somersf1.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/red-bull-recent-development-analysis.html
If we were to look back at my comments
on the RB8 after Spa and Monza
(http://finalsector.co.uk/tech-roundup-low-downforce-special-spa-monza/)
we would see that I eluded to the Tunnel concept choking, as too much
airflow overwhelmed the area's the Tunnel's were sending airflow to.
In the pictures below from Italy &
India we can see the different ethos employed around the outside of
the lower engine cover exit.
This airflow is received from the smaller more rearward Tunnel and was initially aimed squarely at the Starter
Motor Hole (SMH) With the Starter Motor Hole being overwhelmed by
airflow the airflow was causing the SMH to stall affecting the
diffuser's performance, meanwhile the airflow that couldn't penetrate
the SMH tumbled off causing a more widespread diffuser inefficiency.
Above: Great Illustration of the Red Bull Cross-Under Tunnel by Craig Scarborough the full article pertaining to this diagram can be found here: ScarbsF1 - Red Bull Ducted Sidepod & Blown SMH
With a wider reaching outlet now in
employment it allows the SMH to receive airflow but as the floor is
scalloped out around the sides of the SMH and Crash Structure a much
more laminer and constructed flow pattern emerges which isn't
degraded or overwhelmed by an exponential increase in speed. This
allows the Exhaust plume to flow between the Driveshaft Cowl / Floor
Strakes unimpeded by an erant flow structure leading to an increase
in downforce and better overall balance.
As always it must be pointed out that
Red Bull are still the only team to have employed the Driveshaft
Cowling / Floor Strakes in 2012 in an attempt to control the airflow
in this region. Although the team have made many revisions to the
design of their Exhaust solution during 2012 this feature has
remained constant and plays a large part in the efficiency of Exhaust
Plume control for Red Bull.
In this last shot we can see that the
team also painted flo-viz around the Exhaust Ramp/Engine cover at
some point throughout the weekend. This was probably to assess the
effect of the New Vertical Floor Strake position we can see being
used in the picture below. The Strake reaches in more towards the
ramp aligning with the outer part of the exhaust channel acting as a
Vortex Generator at the edge of the floor further helping to 'Seal'
the edge of the diffuser. The previous Strake was perpendicular to
the outer rear edge of the floor.
Good read. Will the new RB floor strakes be more effective in controlling tyre squirt than the previous perp design?
ReplyDeleteThanks David, I think the intention of moving the Strake is more aimed toward helping the exhaust plume direction than worrying about Tyre Squirt.
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