RB VCARB 03

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AR3-GP
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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Multi-element bargeboard strut.

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vorticism
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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AR3-GP wrote:
29 Jan 2026, 07:42
Multi-element bargeboard strut.

https://i.postimg.cc/8CYxdncD/image.png
Brilliant. They've combined the 1 allowable tension stay and 1 allowable brace for the floor board & floor foot area, which of each can only be single-section, into a two-element stay.
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vorticism
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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The wide airbox allows them some different interactions with the camera pods. Parallel surfaces topside. The side cameras are 50+mm further outboard, their tips now almost as wide as the halo. Maybe it was not exclusively about centerline cooling, but improving the camera pods as aero implements.

The RW pylons are swept back, attaching further back on the main plane of the RW. The opposite from the other teams.

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Lasssept wrote:
20 Jan 2026, 19:23
Davide Cavazza | Motorsport Italy
Great pics, thank you.
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john downforce
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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vorticism wrote:
30 Jan 2026, 16:42
AR3-GP wrote:
29 Jan 2026, 07:42
Multi-element bargeboard strut.

https://i.postimg.cc/8CYxdncD/image.png
Brilliant. They've combined the 1 allowable tension stay and 1 allowable brace for the floor board & floor foot area, which of each can only be single-section, into a two-element stay.
The floor foot stay cannot be attached to the board, so the arrangement above would not be legal if one element was defined as floor foot stay. The board brace can be multi-element as it is exempt from C3.2.4.
"aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines" ~ the goat

vorticism
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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john downforce wrote:
31 Jan 2026, 18:41
vorticism wrote:
30 Jan 2026, 16:42
AR3-GP wrote:
29 Jan 2026, 07:42
Multi-element bargeboard strut.

https://i.postimg.cc/8CYxdncD/image.png
Brilliant. They've combined the 1 allowable tension stay and 1 allowable brace for the floor board & floor foot area, which of each can only be single-section, into a two-element stay.
The floor foot stay cannot be attached to the board, so the arrangement above would not be legal if one element was defined as floor foot stay. The board brace can be multi-element as it is exempt from C3.2.4.
Excellent. You’ve reminded me how important the section headers are. Global rules sometimes followed by exemptions. I would have assumed, given how simple the tension stays are, that the board brace would have been demanded simple. The RW endplate braces must be single section, f.e. I was wrong in a second way as well--if it was 1/2 a stay, they have to be circular.

So: how much money can be crammed into a 40x300mm cylinder? They’ll end up looking like T-wings, or even more complex.
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MIKEY_!
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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Interesting "bull horn" :lol: devices on the nose. I'm not sure what to make of them, their rounded shape makes me think they're sensors (e.g. for observing front wing actuator behaviour) rather than aero devices, but they are quite well integrated so not sure. Pic stolen from Matthew Sommerfield's substack.
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yinlad
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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MIKEY_! wrote:
07 Feb 2026, 22:31
Interesting "bull horn" :lol: devices on the nose. I'm not sure what to make of them, their rounded shape makes me think they're sensors (e.g. for observing front wing actuator behaviour) rather than aero devices, but they are quite well integrated so not sure. Pic stolen from Matthew Sommerfield's substack.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_ ... 7x844.jpeg
Almost certainly cameras to monitor the SLM actuators during testing. They’ll be housed such to create as small an impact on the flow down the car as possible. Hence the housing
MVRC - Panthera

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AR3-GP
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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Vortex generators under the front wing endplate.
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qoochet
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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RB seems to be the only few teams that middle part of the front wing is not movable.
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AR3-GP
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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qoochet wrote:
13 Feb 2026, 16:42
RB seems to be the only few teams that middle part of the front wing is not movable.
https://ibb.co/xSTdm2C3
Mercedes also
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mzso
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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AR3-GP wrote:
13 Feb 2026, 19:44
qoochet wrote:
13 Feb 2026, 16:42
RB seems to be the only few teams that middle part of the front wing is not movable.
https://ibb.co/xSTdm2C3
Mercedes also
For Mercedes the whole wing moves. Even the part under the nosecone.

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AR3-GP
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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mzso wrote:
13 Feb 2026, 22:07
AR3-GP wrote:
13 Feb 2026, 19:44
qoochet wrote:
13 Feb 2026, 16:42
RB seems to be the only few teams that middle part of the front wing is not movable.
https://ibb.co/xSTdm2C3
Mercedes also
For Mercedes the whole wing moves. Even the part under the nosecone.
Unless they changed it since the Barcelona test, it doesn't.

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mzso
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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Well, here you can clearly see it popping back up between the nose attachments: https://youtu.be/UeqOpme6Z3M?t=86
The tip cover the center most bit. But what's visible does not agree with that drawing.

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AR3-GP
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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mzso wrote:
13 Feb 2026, 22:30
Well, here you can clearly see it popping back up between the nose attachments: https://youtu.be/UeqOpme6Z3M?t=86
The tip cover the center most bit. But what's visible does not agree with that drawing.
I don't see the center portion in that video so it's not clear. It's possible that it is now mobile and was not in barcelona. A lot of teams didn't have the full active aero in Barcelona (Audi, Aston Martin, among others, maybe Mercedes also).
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AR3-GP
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Re: RB VCARB 03

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Flap angle adjust:

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They have modified it since Barcelona where it looks like the holes were horizontal:

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