Most of the conceptual renderings of the 2026 cars seen thus far, including the FIA’s, depict familiar ’09-’21 type coke-bottle/radish-shaped engine covers. Nothing wrong with that, as it seems like the most realistic assumption and the one that I also am most expecting to see. However, one major thing is different compared to that previous era: the outboard, inwashing bargeboards (FIA: “Floor board” & “Floor foot”). It makes me think we could be missing a beat. Could they inform new sidepod & engine cover concepts?
Where can, for example, inwash concepts be taken? Can the vortex generated by the “floor board” be entrained inboard between the rear wheels?
1. Given that inwash seems to be a key part of these regulations (inwashing FW, inwashing bargeboard): could there be such a thing as an inwashing sidepod or engine cover? What would it look like, what benefits could it offer, etc.
2. Furthermore, since the new bargeboards are such a focal point of the overall 2026 concept, how can their effect be accentuated?
3. Could these approaches be used to manage the vortex that the floor board is producing? (Let’s call it the Y800 vortex.)
Some initial thoughts:
-An inwashing sidepod might be able to entrain the Y800 inboard toward the area above the diffuser instead of losing it to the rear tire or further outwash
-A blunt sidepod placed as far forward as possible within the legality box could direct airflow outward toward the floor board, displacing or adding more energy to the front tire wake
-A higher energy vortex should attach better to bodywork, in this case, an inwashing sidepod
-DF produced by the floor board & foot may increase with this approach
A traditional coke-bottle/radish engine cover poses a problem: it lies in the path between the floor board and the area above the diffuser. If that traditional sidepod volume can be moved farther forward, or removed by some other means, that path becomes more direct. By this we might supply the structured, energetic flow of the Y800 to the area above the diffuser. The “inwash” thus arrives in the form of the inward traverse of the Y800. All hypothetical.
Sketch of the concept, below. Another way to describe it is: a waterslide on the side of the engine cover instead of the top and carried as far forward, as close to the floor board, as possible. The footprint/g-line/groundline would still have a coke bottle/radish-shaped footprint, just with its widest point brought far forward near to the trailing end of the floor board, and more severely tapered rearward. So severely that flow detachment may occur, although that may also be beneficial similar to what occurs with an over-expanded diffuser. The result is a sidepod that is strongly outwashing at the blunt front end and inwashing along most of its trailing surface. In contrast to a traditional coke-bottle engine cover which I would describe as outwashing at the front and downwashing along its trailing surface.
Another approach to this could be variations on deeply undercut sidepod concepts such as that seen on the STR6 and F92A; basically just like the above, but with the front of the side-waterslide open at the front. Less energetic Y800 but still offering a less obstructed path to the area above the diffuser.
