The F1 Technical Developments Thread

zephyrus17 said:
Interesting stuff.. Just wondering, are the RBR pullrods making a big difference to their performance compared to others?
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It might have done, as it turns out it's just going to make it more difficult for them to develop their diffuser further.
 
WillDAQ said:
It might have done, as it turns out it's just going to make it more difficult for them to develop their diffuser further.
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They don't have to necessarily build the double deck at the center of the diffuser... they might do a "double double deck" and make two extra channels at the edges of the diffuser. That might bypass the problems put by the ultra-low gearbox casing.


Let's see what Newey comes up with. I think that if anyone in F1 can work around that design problem, it's him.
 
L2D said:
I posted a great video in another thread but might as well repost it. It shows you everything about the three diffusers and whats wrong with them. A great beginners video

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2009/04/15/the-diffuser-controversy-explained-video/
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Very good video, and showed some intricacies in the regulations (for example the minimum possible gap between the underbody and the rear tires in 2004, one of the millions of contributing factors that made the 2004 cars the fastest ever), but it didn't fully explain the entire controversy surrounding the original "Diffuser Three".

Red_Bull said:
I love that car. They just stuck a socking great fan on the gearbox and then tried to pass it off as an ancilliary cooling device.
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They actually sealed the engine bay in order to pass the fan as the MAIN cooling device, with an... erm... "unintentional" ground effect as a side occurence. It was so effective, the car was being visibly sucked down IN THE PITS when either Lauda or Watson blipped the throttle.
 
Lol, Clarkson would love that car, it's a lot like his gun ideas :p
 
vikiradTG2007 said:
They actually sealed the engine bay in order to pass the fan as the MAIN cooling device, with an... erm... "unintentional" ground effect as a side occurence. It was so effective, the car was being visibly sucked down IN THE PITS when either Lauda or Watson blipped the throttle.
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Gordon Murray is not very good at lying. Which is why the car was banned after one race : p :mrgreen:
 
Not really... AFAIK that went more in a way they handled things in seventies; The other teams came to Gordon Murray and Bernie Ecclestone and said 'look, we could all have these new-fangled fans by the next race but it's not good to have cars throwing all the rubbish from the track towards the car behind so would you mind taking it off your car and we don't make them either' and instead of starting a lengthy argument about the matter with FIA and various councils Bernie and Gordon said 'fair enough', took the fan off and that was it.
 
vikiradTG2007 said:
They don't have to necessarily build the double deck at the center of the diffuser... they might do a "double double deck" and make two extra channels at the edges of the diffuser. That might bypass the problems put by the ultra-low gearbox casing.


Let's see what Newey comes up with. I think that if anyone in F1 can work around that design problem, it's him.
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Update from Adrian:

Q. When will the RB5 appear with a double diffuser?

AN: As has been speculated, given the design of RB5, it's not the easiest task getting it to fit the car and while we work on this one item, we also need to keep working on the general development of the car, to ensure we don't fall behind in other areas. The unique feature of the Red Bull cars is the pullrod rear suspension, which is a good solution when you don't have a double-diffuser. But getting it to work with the diffuser will be more difficult. We won't have a double-diffuser before Monaco.
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I think vikirad may be right, the advantage of the tight rear end may stay if they do two doubles at both sides...
 
I read an article in F1 Race Report today that Brawn opted for the Merc engine over the Ferrari engine because it would take less time & effort to get the engine to fit. Assuming that the gearbox is part of the package (and the casing thus the same form as on the McLaren & FI), this means that McLaren should actually have it fairly easy to come up with a design that matches the Brawns, Ferrari on the other hand might be screwed. Or do I have this all wrong?
 
DaHitch said:
I read an article in F1 Race Report today that Brawn opted for the Merc engine over the Ferrari engine because it would take less time & effort to get the engine to fit. Assuming that the gearbox is part of the package (and the casing thus the same form as on the McLaren & FI), this means that McLaren should actually have it fairly easy to come up with a design that matches the Brawns, Ferrari on the other hand might be screwed. Or do I have this all wrong?
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Well... the main point for Brawn was to find the engine/gearbox package that was closest to the dimensions of the Honda package that was originally planned to fit, as the car was as good as finished when Honda pulled the plug. Of course, the engine and chassis dimensions are closely related so that might coincidentally mean that McLaren got an easier task than Ferrari, but as -as has been mentioned before- the diffuser is part of the whole aerodynamic concept of the car, even a Brawn-style diffuser will not stop McLaren from sucking. But speaking of teams that suck: If a Mercedes engine _really_ makes that aerodynamic tweaks easier (which, as i said, i doubt) it would bring an interesting perspective into the Ferrari vs. Force India-duel :p
 
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123343.jpg


FI's new diffuser.


Also... Anyone knows whose team's gearbox casing this is?

123210.jpg
 
Made the diffuser-pic a bit clearer so that you can actually see the diffuser:
http://img2.imageshack.**/img2/8107/fidiffuserfix.jpg
 
At a guess, I'd say the gearbox is McLaren's. That fan in the background looks like one of theirs and the colour of the wall suggests it belongs to them.
 
Did anyone notice there was a triangular hole near the front/bottom of the sidepods on Alonso's (and I presume Piquet's) car?
Or was that the car falling apart? :p
 
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