The Mercedes Drag Reduction System has actuators in the endplates at either side of the upper rear wing. That may be part of the KERS electronics on top of the sidepod, it is normally covered with a panel with a rear facing cooling vent.
That rear end of the williams is absolutely mind boggling.Would be nice to compare the rear ends of the different teams.
Btw,wont the suspension and wheel tethers at the rear disrupt air flow?Wont it be better to extend the bodywork to the rear covering them and smooth the airflow?
And speaking of the rear ends, I was going trough the Barcelona photos and a spotted what looked like a new exhaust configuration on the RB7, so I looked at older pictures to confirm that I’am not mistaking, and found TWO other completely different configurations from Valencia and Jerez! Well RBR certenly aren’t holding back, are they?
Maybe its just me, but the Ferrari and Red Bull seem quite similar in a general sense; as compared to the other cars on track, they both seem smaller. The Merc looks small as well, but when I see the Mclaren it looks huge and long.
Yes you are right. Ferrari is a RB clone. mclaren is a car from the future that just will not work in 2011. Too futuristic for its own good. merc haven’t modified their front wing since 2009.
The more I stare at the photos of 2011 contenders the more I get frustrated with wanting to know the pecking order.
I think It is safe to say that the RB7 is still the quickest car in the field, mostly to how refined the car is. Looking at those rear end photos that mateuss posted, and listening to that flying lap episode with the Big Keith, the biggest design advantage RedBull has is how ‘tight’ the body is. I am assuming, as aerodynamics is honestly just a theory so far and there is no right or wrong formula apart from the basic lift, that the Redbull can consume a larger volume of air onto the back of the car with its ‘tight’ bottle can area.
At first glance of the Torro Rosso I was’t impressed but this photo has really opened my eyes to how STR are going in a different direction to RBR. As pointed out by numerous posters, I’m sure, the main design trends include a Renault styled front wing ends, raised side pods and a wide front nose cone. I did dismiss this car as being the slowest of the mid fielders but I’m hoping this won’t be the case.
Just typing to myself here but feel free to read, many of you hate the shark fin, I for one love it because it is a big step forward in the visual appearance of a F1.
I have done extensive testing with shark fins on 1:10 scale rc cars that are travelling at 90+kmph in less then 3 seconds, around circuits. Some of you may know of these rc cars, and how sensitive they are to aerodynamics, eg wing heights, different body shells, front splitter height. The same basic principles apply to the rc car as it does on an f1 car, so it was for me a much more cost effective way to conduct an experiment.
I made several different variations of the shark fin, one similar to the RB6 which connects to the back wing, one that looked a lot like the Renault R30 before the Fduct, a Mclaren Fduct version and a custom one that looked like an actual shark fin popping out from the boot.
Before I tested hem on the track I made myself a water tunnel, a case filled with water and a high pressured hose, this was my “wind tunnel” because water has the same properties as air but I would be able to visualise the effects without expensive equipment.
My results found that shark fins don’t necessarily ‘clean up dirty air travelling over the car therefore equalising pressures evenly on both sides” as it is commonly perceived, instead I found that it was all about redirecting the pressure to specific parts of the rear wing whilst cornering. What I like to call “cross winds”, the wind traveling into the side of the car as the car turns into a corner. Without a shark fin the wind (high pressure or majority of the downforce) would be pushing against the opposite side of the wing to which the car is turning, therefore giving the car more understeer. eg. car turns left, the right side receives the majority of downforce.
With the shark fins on they all showed the pattern of diverting the air to sections of the wing.
On the track I tested the Redbull Shark fin that connected all the way to the rear of the wing and found the car to have far too much oversteer mid-corner. It was loading the pressure too much onto the side of the car that was turning, eg. car turns left, left side of wing recieves downforce.
The Mclaren Fduct was much the same, and I don’t think I was stalling the wing significantly enough to notice a difference.
The shark fin that looked like a sharks fin was very effective and directed the air to the middle of the wing allowing the car to swing around the corner with a good balance of oversteer and understeer during the high speed sweepers, although through the ‘s’ sections the car was a little too oversteery and it required a very precise line to get the most out of the car. The renault styled fin, which I made so that it flexed or ‘wobbled’ like the real one was my favourite as it did everything the Shark fin did, but during the quick directional changes during the ‘s’ section it held its poise as i suspect the force on the shark fin flexed it so that the pressure was being applied a little off from the centre, maybe 65% on the opposite side to which the car was turning.
All in all, I would very much like to see teams experiment further with the shapes of Shark fins because I’m sure that area hasn’t been explored to the fullest.
Good read there Prof Kirk. The purpose of the fins was to straighten the airflow to the rear wing when the car was in yaw ie. the rear sliding. So basically instead of the car sliding and then losing more downforce as it got further into the slide and hence creating a bigger slide, the fin would straighten the flow to the wing meaning downforce levels wouldn’t drop as much in yaw. The problem with the Red Bull style fins that went all the way back level with the front edge of the rear wing, was that it made the car very susceptible to changes in wind direction and strength.
Clearly though, Newey and the RBR design team felt it was a compromise worth taking. I’m surprised they haven’t persisted with the design with the RB7, after the loss of the double diffuser.
The Red Bull is amazingly tight at the rear end. How the fit everything in there is simply incredible! It’s certainly the most compact around the gearbox of all the new cars.
Wow, awesome blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is fantastic, as well as the content!
Gustavo920 (@gustavo920)
19th February 2011, 17:13
Good Images , thanks !
LucienTodutz (@lucientodutz)
19th February 2011, 17:17
great pics as always :D 10x Keith…
is that Mercedes’s rear wing using dfr? because they don’t have the system used by most of the teams if so, with that middle device…?
Lucien_Todutz (@lucien_todutz)
19th February 2011, 17:24
and also, on top of the Merc’s side’pods it’s that the kers ?
DeadManWoking
19th February 2011, 17:43
The Mercedes Drag Reduction System has actuators in the endplates at either side of the upper rear wing. That may be part of the KERS electronics on top of the sidepod, it is normally covered with a panel with a rear facing cooling vent.
Sangeen Khan
19th February 2011, 18:28
That rear end of the williams is absolutely mind boggling.Would be nice to compare the rear ends of the different teams.
Btw,wont the suspension and wheel tethers at the rear disrupt air flow?Wont it be better to extend the bodywork to the rear covering them and smooth the airflow?
mateuss
19th February 2011, 19:42
Here is all the rear ends compeered:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=10150146581439180&id=124126244179&aid=334137
And speaking of the rear ends, I was going trough the Barcelona photos and a spotted what looked like a new exhaust configuration on the RB7, so I looked at older pictures to confirm that I’am not mistaking, and found TWO other completely different configurations from Valencia and Jerez! Well RBR certenly aren’t holding back, are they?
Chole
19th February 2011, 19:46
Oh. Thats a nice collection of rear ends. That HRT rear end looks very developed indeed.
mateuss
19th February 2011, 19:52
Remember HRT are the only team running their 2010 car.
Shimks
19th February 2011, 19:20
The Lotus looks great. Great photos, Keith!
Chole
19th February 2011, 19:26
No McLaren :| Doesn’t bode well for them does it?
Anyways here is a good mclaren picture
SeattleChris
19th February 2011, 20:00
Maybe its just me, but the Ferrari and Red Bull seem quite similar in a general sense; as compared to the other cars on track, they both seem smaller. The Merc looks small as well, but when I see the Mclaren it looks huge and long.
Could just be the paint scheme though!
Chole
19th February 2011, 20:09
Yes you are right. Ferrari is a RB clone. mclaren is a car from the future that just will not work in 2011. Too futuristic for its own good. merc haven’t modified their front wing since 2009.
electrolite (@electrolite)
19th February 2011, 23:10
The Williams is ridiculous from that angle. It’s like half a car :D
Prof Kirk (@prof-kirk)
20th February 2011, 3:19
The more I stare at the photos of 2011 contenders the more I get frustrated with wanting to know the pecking order.
I think It is safe to say that the RB7 is still the quickest car in the field, mostly to how refined the car is. Looking at those rear end photos that mateuss posted, and listening to that flying lap episode with the Big Keith, the biggest design advantage RedBull has is how ‘tight’ the body is. I am assuming, as aerodynamics is honestly just a theory so far and there is no right or wrong formula apart from the basic lift, that the Redbull can consume a larger volume of air onto the back of the car with its ‘tight’ bottle can area.
At first glance of the Torro Rosso I was’t impressed but this photo has really opened my eyes to how STR are going in a different direction to RBR. As pointed out by numerous posters, I’m sure, the main design trends include a Renault styled front wing ends, raised side pods and a wide front nose cone. I did dismiss this car as being the slowest of the mid fielders but I’m hoping this won’t be the case.
Prof Kirk (@prof-kirk)
20th February 2011, 3:49
Just typing to myself here but feel free to read, many of you hate the shark fin, I for one love it because it is a big step forward in the visual appearance of a F1.
I have done extensive testing with shark fins on 1:10 scale rc cars that are travelling at 90+kmph in less then 3 seconds, around circuits. Some of you may know of these rc cars, and how sensitive they are to aerodynamics, eg wing heights, different body shells, front splitter height. The same basic principles apply to the rc car as it does on an f1 car, so it was for me a much more cost effective way to conduct an experiment.
I made several different variations of the shark fin, one similar to the RB6 which connects to the back wing, one that looked a lot like the Renault R30 before the Fduct, a Mclaren Fduct version and a custom one that looked like an actual shark fin popping out from the boot.
Before I tested hem on the track I made myself a water tunnel, a case filled with water and a high pressured hose, this was my “wind tunnel” because water has the same properties as air but I would be able to visualise the effects without expensive equipment.
My results found that shark fins don’t necessarily ‘clean up dirty air travelling over the car therefore equalising pressures evenly on both sides” as it is commonly perceived, instead I found that it was all about redirecting the pressure to specific parts of the rear wing whilst cornering. What I like to call “cross winds”, the wind traveling into the side of the car as the car turns into a corner. Without a shark fin the wind (high pressure or majority of the downforce) would be pushing against the opposite side of the wing to which the car is turning, therefore giving the car more understeer. eg. car turns left, the right side receives the majority of downforce.
With the shark fins on they all showed the pattern of diverting the air to sections of the wing.
On the track I tested the Redbull Shark fin that connected all the way to the rear of the wing and found the car to have far too much oversteer mid-corner. It was loading the pressure too much onto the side of the car that was turning, eg. car turns left, left side of wing recieves downforce.
The Mclaren Fduct was much the same, and I don’t think I was stalling the wing significantly enough to notice a difference.
The shark fin that looked like a sharks fin was very effective and directed the air to the middle of the wing allowing the car to swing around the corner with a good balance of oversteer and understeer during the high speed sweepers, although through the ‘s’ sections the car was a little too oversteery and it required a very precise line to get the most out of the car. The renault styled fin, which I made so that it flexed or ‘wobbled’ like the real one was my favourite as it did everything the Shark fin did, but during the quick directional changes during the ‘s’ section it held its poise as i suspect the force on the shark fin flexed it so that the pressure was being applied a little off from the centre, maybe 65% on the opposite side to which the car was turning.
All in all, I would very much like to see teams experiment further with the shapes of Shark fins because I’m sure that area hasn’t been explored to the fullest.
Paul Grainger
20th February 2011, 6:54
Good read there Prof Kirk. The purpose of the fins was to straighten the airflow to the rear wing when the car was in yaw ie. the rear sliding. So basically instead of the car sliding and then losing more downforce as it got further into the slide and hence creating a bigger slide, the fin would straighten the flow to the wing meaning downforce levels wouldn’t drop as much in yaw. The problem with the Red Bull style fins that went all the way back level with the front edge of the rear wing, was that it made the car very susceptible to changes in wind direction and strength.
Clearly though, Newey and the RBR design team felt it was a compromise worth taking. I’m surprised they haven’t persisted with the design with the RB7, after the loss of the double diffuser.
Paul Grainger
20th February 2011, 3:23
The Red Bull is amazingly tight at the rear end. How the fit everything in there is simply incredible! It’s certainly the most compact around the gearbox of all the new cars.
Fixy (@)
20th February 2011, 11:23
Why is Tonio the only one with tyres with a green Pirelli logo?
arzu okay
12th March 2012, 4:52
Wow, awesome blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is fantastic, as well as the content!