The F1 Technical Developments Thread

What, a new engine, reintroduction of active suspension, and an aero overhaul will cost less than a DDD ban? :confused:
 
What, a new engine, reintroduction of active suspension, and an aero overhaul will cost less than a DDD ban? :confused:

New engine: Planned for the season after-the-next anyways.
Aero overhaul: Is the result of the DDD ban plus new engines plus KERS anyways.
Leaves active suspension as the only thing on my list that isn't already planned in one form or another and i guess that it won't be more expensive than what could be saved by a limit on wind tunnel testing and/or aero regulations that limit the sense of wind tunnel testing.
 
So now we know how Ferrari's drivers activate their Blown Rear Wing system - the in-car showed Alonso moving the top of his left hand to something inside the left side of the cockpit. SPEED TV's commentators thought it might either be a button or a magnetic switch and it's why Alonso was using his right-hand to adjust his brake bias instead of his left hand when traveling down the straight.
 
It was fairly obvious he using his left glove to cover the hole. What's crazy is that he spends most of the time driving with one or no hands...
 
Is that why the pad on his hand was black? It might be made of metallic material. But it seems a bit dangerous. "Look! no hands!" at 150mph?

I heard Brundle say it was just a hole, bu I could be wrong.
 
Is that why the pad on his hand was black? It might be made of metallic material. But it seems a bit dangerous. "Look! no hands!" at 150mph?

I heard Brundle say it was just a hole, bu I could be wrong.

Yeah I heard that too and it has to be a hole because anything else would be illegal (a switch, electric, magnetic or otherwise)
 
Can someone explain to me why it's called a 'Blown Rear Wing'? What does 'Blown' mean? (it sounds kinda weird to me) :|
 
Can someone explain to me why it's called a 'Blown Rear Wing'? What does 'Blown' mean? (it sounds kinda weird to me) :|

A directed air stream from a duct inside the car literally blows air from the front of the car onto the rear wing or out of it through a slot in the rear a la McLaren. Not really sure how this contributes to stalling the wing and reducing drag by some amount, maybe someone with theoretical aerodynamic/CFD knowledge can continue the explanation for me.
 
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Basically the two or more channels of air interact and either both cancel out or cause tubulence that prevents laminar flow over the rear wing, ie, no downforce.

I think.
 
It stalls the rear wing because it creates a new high pressure flow through the wing slot, which basically guides the normal airflow around the wing in such a way that it makes the rear wing ineffective. There's a diagram on how it works on F1tech.
 
Remember that there's a difference between passive systems and active systems. Only Ferrari, McLaren and Sauber are running active systems, all the other variants are passive, meaning they are quite a lot less effective.

As I understand it: when you drive on long straights the car produces so much downforce that you don't really need all of it to stay stuck on the ground. Therefore these new devices make the rear wing less effective, meaning less down force and a higher straight line speed.
 
Ahh, I see. Thanks for the explanations guys :)
 
I heard the FIA was going to ban the F-Duct for the next season. I was thinking... wasn't it easier to just ban it this year instead of making every team spend bucketloads of money copying McLaren's duct, which be useless next year?

But that wouldn't be politically correct. One team spend money, had great idea and at the end they would be informed that they can't use it. That isn't a good way either IMO.
 
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You could. Limit the complexity of aerodynamics, allow active suspension (which was once in use in F1 and is used in other series, so it only has to be updated/adapted) -both at the same time cutting costs (less wind tunnel testing, re-using already existing hardware) and making overtaking easier- switch back to smaller turbo engines and, most of all, stop fiddling with the rules every season. If there's a loophole, let there be one. Don't close it and thus re-start development.

Going into active suspension again with a limitation of aerodynamics would be a very good move. You'll get closer racing and the development of active suspension (which also doesn't need expensive wind tunnel development!) does have a realistic application for general road cars --> Stuff like the F-duct and those hyper complex front wings don't!

Oh and I'm salivating about the turbo engines, however they need...hang on NEED NEED NEED a universal fuel limit. But instead of making it say 185 Liters of fuel per race (like it was in the later turbo years), make this fuel cover qualifying as well. That will prevent people from cranking up the boost for qualifying.

However if they do they'll have to be hyper careful during the race to actually make the finish, while the guys that eased off in qualifying (who have more fuel etc) have to fight their way through the field....This will also make KERS very important...

But that wouldn't be politically correct. One team spend money, had great idea and at the end they would be informed that they can't use it. That isn't a good way either IMO.

Well it politics in motorsport. All classes have it. If you have the political will and the $$, with a crap car and driver you'll be fine, since you can manipulate the whole field down to your level...

/very bitter about motorsport in general atm...
 
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Anyway if anyone noticed, McLaren were running different exhaust outlets on their cars this weekend.

Left:
2h7nbdg.jpg


Right (the one from the car launch):
11lnfhs.jpg
 
Yeah I noticed that. I love the way the launch exhaust looks.

I was musing with my friend that the McLaren exhaust looked on from dead rear looks like Franck Ribery's face :lol:
 
Anyway if anyone noticed, McLaren were running different exhaust outlets on their cars this weekend.

Left:
2h7nbdg.jpg


Right (the one from the car launch):
11lnfhs.jpg

This was discussed during friday practise by one of the BBC team, something about diverting more air through one of them if things heat up too much, or something about diverting air through one more than the other.
 
F-duct banned for next year. This kind of stuff really pisses me off. They come up with an innovation, great. Then they say it's legal, OK. But then, after everyone will have copied it for an advantage THIS season, why the hell would you ban it for next?
 
Huh? Sauce?
 
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