Red Bull RB20

[AR3-GP]

There's something very "unfinished" about the sidepods and I can't put my finger on it.

[shady]

This must be considered a two floor car. Using the leading edge of the sidepods to augment the gradient between above and below the floor, Im sure all teams are doing this but the ingestion points and compression on the RBR look more extreme.

[AR3-GP]

I was just thinking that given how much RB have been undercutting their sidepods, i would have to imagine that the upper SIP is now at the top of the monocoque (somehow). This would leave them with the flexibility in the next 2 years to continue undercutting without being compromised by the SIP.

[Sevach]

There's something very "unfinished" about the sidepods and I can't put my finger on it.

Various publications are saying a zero pod is coming, i'll believe when i see it.

[organic]

There's something very "unfinished" about the sidepods and I can't put my finger on it.

Various publications are saying a zero pod is coming, i'll believe when i see it.

No doubt there will be sweeping changes happening across Bahrain + Japan but I have good reason not to believe the current reports of 'zeropods' coming

[Vanja #66]

Now, of course, the devil is in the details and perhaps they are going for small sidepods but with a different concept entirely, but I’m personally going to remain cautious before proclaiming this another Newey master stroke. I think it’s quite possible this could turn out to be a blunder. Let’s see.

I'm 99% sure it won't have anything to do with W13 zeropods, it will be just a smaller thing than it is right now. It may be close in size to W14B sidepods and that's about it. They are already committed to the same flow conditioning on the top of the floor as the last 2 years and it's completely non-compatible with W13 zeropods.

That would require lifting the overbite and surrounding leading edge portions of the side pod above the height of the cockpit, unless the cooling system is altered. The cooling radiators and intercooler/s are long lead time items which typically remain fixed throughout a season. This is perhaps even more relevant given the budget cap.

Not really, my illustration is a bit crude The idea is to flatten the rear curve after internal air ducting is sorted, as well as bringing the leading edge of the upper lip down just so it covers off the horizontal inlet from the front. No changes to radiators or SIS tube positioning whatsoever.

[Watto]

Can’t wait to see what turns up to preseason testing though even then I am sure they’ll have certain elements guarded

[LM10]

If I was Red Bull, this would be my first update. Shrink the rear of the sidepod (quite bulky now, conservative in terms of internal cooling ducts and adequate for these 3 hotter races) and bring down the upper inlet lip. A lot of lift reduction, and drag reduction by also generating thrust on the upper inlet lip. Overall decent efficiency increase. The colours are of course rough estimations of pressure plots
higher, ambient, low, lower

https://i.ibb.co/QdpTkTn/RB-20-evolution.jpg

Considering the surface of these sidepods, this update would be scary. Those who are regularly visiting this forum and have their hand on other cars, don't say you were surprised in a month and a half

Wouldn’t this shift the balance of the car and require changes to other areas (especially in the front) of the car as well?

[stewie325]

There's something very "unfinished" about the sidepods and I can't put my finger on it.

I hope Red Bull go with only a vertical sidepod inlet, shaped like the W14, and no horizontal inlet.

But instead of going zero-pod, they use the sidepod as a "wing" with a huge undercut underneath it (much more extreme than the new VCARB car: https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/ibimg/hgm/1920x ... 917482.jpg).

Imagine if the VCARB "sidepod" was much thinner from start to end, slightly thicker than the new Red Bull upper lip. That would guide the airflow towards the rear better than Merc's zeropods.

[Vanja #66]

Wouldn’t this shift the balance of the car and require changes to other areas (especially in the front) of the car as well?

Both wings are about 4-5 times further away longitudinally from CoG than any surface on the sides. Basically 2-3 clicks on the front wing and all good to go, these changes would bring more on drag reduction than downforce increase.

[Stu]

If I was Red Bull, this would be my first update. Shrink the rear of the sidepod (quite bulky now, conservative in terms of internal cooling ducts and adequate for these 3 hotter races) and bring down the upper inlet lip. A lot of lift reduction, and drag reduction by also generating thrust on the upper inlet lip. Overall decent efficiency increase. The colours are of course rough estimations of pressure plots
higher, ambient, low, lower

https://i.ibb.co/QdpTkTn/RB-20-evolution.jpg

Considering the surface of these sidepods, this update would be scary. Those who are regularly visiting this forum and have their hand on other cars, don't say you were surprised in a month and a half

Looking at the huge increase in cannon size, if they have moved the cooling package rearward and swept it backwards (in the same way as with the Tyrell 012 - thanks @Blackout for the image!), they could maintain the upper plan shape as it currently is and massively increase the undercut volume.
This would allow for continuation of the outwashing sidepod concept and also allow increased flow over the floor edge wing.
The pod shape itself becoming purely bodywork that is used for flow control.
I’m ‘seeing’ something like the original Merc Zeropod, but turned upside down; mixed with the RB20 rear pod shape. Quite similar to an Indycar DW12, with the big wheel pods removed?
Obviously moving the mass of the cooling package rearwards creates a potential issue with the weight distribution, but if they have been able to continue on mass reduction they will have some ballast that be strategically placed (behind the panel in the nose cone?)

[mzso]

if you scroll down you can see an animation without intakes like on the pictures here and if you scroll down a bit more you can see W15 style intakes on the sidepods

https://www.redbullracing.com/int-en/

If you play with the 360 ​​degree view, you can see that there is no vertical inlet, just a small step and structural change in the monocoque.
And you can see the air inlets exactly where they make sense: on the front of the side pods, narrow and high up.
So, no W15 style visible.

There's no 3D view that I can find. One image has a 360° and arrows, but it's still just a static image.

https://i.postimg.cc/9QHKCJhk/rb20inlets.png
There they are... if the model is correct...

Actually you can modify the renderer.
1. visit the page: https://www.redbullracing.com/int-en/cars/rb20/
2. hit F12
3. find the <model-viewer html element (or search for min-camera-orbit=)
4. change its value to min-camera-orbit="auto 124deg 28deg"
5. you can now see under the car

https://ibb.co/x5hbycg
https://ibb.co/0XKtNPM

Opened the page in multiple browsers, but I still don't find a 3d view.

[DRCorsa]

4 years earlier... viewtopic.php?t=28765

[mzso]

If those inlets are real, either they have some impressive cooling system or some Hondas are going to go boom

Actually they look not much smaller than last years on some pics. The true size will only be seen in the tests and I bet that they will actually be similar to those of 2023. Everyone is just boiling water and no one can do magic.

AN is acutely aware of power unit heat rejection performance.....specifically making the choice of Renault over a Ferrari unit on this metric some years ago. They were contracted to run Ferrari, which they bumped into Torro Rosso to facilitate that contracted use.

Can't see it being an issue now.

On the other hand the 2014 RB immediately overheated in testing.

[mzso]

4 years earlier... viewtopic.php?t=28765

I've been wondering about something similar. But I imagined disposing of traditional "radiators" as well. And reduce cooling to surface cooling, or at most elongated fins that secondarily have useful aero effects.