Simtek S941

[gridwalker]

It is hard to make out senna's face in the video, but the personal sponsors on his cap make him rather easy to identify ... I find it a little creepy, seeing him there (as the only driver standing at the scene in solidarity) when you know what happened the following day.

Throughout my teenage years, I had a little shrine to both Ayrton and Roland in my bedroom : lest we forget what happened, as I hope to never see the likes of that weekend again.

(I know, I know : wishful thinking)

[andrew]

I can still remember seeing that crash when I was only 10 and for me personnaly it was the most significant of that bizzare race weekend. 17 years later it is still shocking to watch.

I know this sounds harsh and unfeeling (it's not meant to) but these deaths kick-started a dramatic increase in driver safety which has saved several lives since 1994.

Another prominent crash to remember from Imola was Rubens Barrichello where he nearly chocked on his tongue whilst unconscious.

Two weeks later in Monaco Karl Wendlinger suffered a horrific crash and which resulted in him falling into a coma. Pedro Lamy also broke both legs during private testing at Silverstone.

[scarbs]

and Nick Wirths comments from the Autosport forum

http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?s ... suspension

"I came up with this concept as a way of removing all blockage behind the front wing assembly, as well as effectively forming an extra front wing element - albeit one with an unfavourable aspect ratio.

It started off as a bit of a wind tunnel experiment, but I seem to remember that when it was partially optimised, it gave a balanced efficiency gain of about 3% when compared to the standard S931 front suspension layout. (The S931 was the stillborn Bravo F1 car).

The cantilever design consisted of a central carbon tube spar, with the dampers located behind removable cover panels in the leading edge of the 'foil shape with the track rods beneath a cover which formed the trailing edge.

The suspension action and geometry was achieved with custom made recirculating-ball linear bearings mounted on shims to allow adjusment of RC heght, anti-dive and virtual SAL. Small bellcranks turned the vertical motion of the wheel into the horizontal motion need for the dampers.

Brake cooling was to be done with a variable size intake on the L/E of the damper cover.

The biggest problems (before the show-stopping one) were achieving sufficient castor and camber stiffness without excessive weight. I seem to remember bump stiffness was OK.

The show-stopper was when all bodywork was banned between the front wheels (remember the long FWEP's?). What was already looking risky (but fun ) became unacceptable as the entire cantilever would have to have been structural (no access to dampers etc) with these new regs, and we abandoned it. However, if F1 had been sensible and adopted 15" rims, I think this concept would still have been interesting.

It was the hangover from this which led to the S941 having the high FLWB design, which we abandoned (far too heavy for the aero gain) on the S951.
"

[matt21]

You had been quicker than me
But I think your database is nearly a black hole.

What does FLWB stand for?

[gridwalker]

To me, FWLB means Fire Wall Load Balancing, but that is certainly wrong in this context ...

Please Scarbs, I'm all ears

[747heavy]

FLWB - Front Lower Wish Bone - perhaps
just a guess, could be all wrong

[gridwalker]

FLWB - Front Lower Wish Bone - perhaps
just a guess, could be all wrong

Damn, I spoonerised the acronym

[marcush.]

FWEP- Front wing endplate
FLWB-Front lower wishbone

maybe Wirth is a teacher...in germany those just love abbreviations as do Engs...

I totally forgot about Nick wirths concept..he is one cool guy and not to underestimate...

[timbo]

Two weeks later in Monaco Karl Wendlinger suffered a horrific crash and which resulted in him falling into a coma. Pedro Lamy also broke both legs during private testing at Silverstone.

Don't forget Alesi's and Montermini's crashes too.
The cars where too dangerous...

[andrew]

Forgpt about Alesi and Montermini accidents.

The cars were ridicoulsly fast with very little protection for the drivers. Crashes and injuries were almost bound to happen.

Coppied this off of the Wikipedia site about F1 1994:

Technical changes

In order to combat the spiralling costs of running a Formula One team, and to counteract criticism that over-reliance on technology was reducing the drivers to a secondary role, sweeping rule changes were introduced for 1994, most notably banning of all electronic "driver aids" such as active suspension, anti-lock brakes, traction control and launch control.

Ayrton Senna was among several observers who said that, with such features removed but no attempt to curtail the speed of the cars, 1994 would be "a season with a lot of accidents".

1994 also saw the reintroduction of refuelling during the race for the first time since 1983, and after Ayrton Senna's crash at Imola a 10mm wooden plank was affixed to the underside of every car to prevent ground-effect advantages. Wear was permitted on the plank up to 1mm by the end of the race. In addition, after Imola several further rule changes were made involving reducing the effectiveness of the airbox (by creating holes in it) and creating dorsal support for the head of drivers in the cockpit.

[timbo]

The cars were ridicoulsly fast with very little protection for the drivers.

The "fast" thing was not a problem on itself.
The real problem was that designers got used to extracting a lot of DF running cars very close to the ground and without active ride it required VERY stiff suspension. It resulted in very nervous car that was very sensitive to bumps.

And safety was lacking, yes...

[Formula None]

Cool stuff. Thanks for the post, Scarbs. I've thought about using a linear bearing at the upright for suspension travel. I imagine the main drawbacks are bearing life and their weight. What do you guys think, would the effect of restricting wheel travel to a singular linear motion any downsides?

[lotus7]

That's the one !
I formed my own opinion of Nick after seeing this contraption - there were more detailed drawings/sketches/photos available at the time - and it probably will remain unchanged permanently

Why would anyone package the suspension in lumps like that when it can be easily packaged in the front of the chassis close to the centreline

[marcush.]

He claimed a 3% aero efficiency gain over the conventional suspension...not shabby.
It is taking the elevated lower wishbone concept for aero reasons to the extreme.

And look all teams have adopted to this .

the mechanical side of the concept looks sketchy to me although I have seen suspension components with linear ballbearings I´m not convinced .

[willga]

I remember at the time seeing pictures of a weird ( to me in any case ) front suspension design by Wirth . Does anybody have knowledge/piccies of this ?

S941 itself had an unconventional front suspension, with the outboard end of the lower front wishbone attaching to the front upright at the level of the front axle.

The idea was to raise the front wishbone and improve airflow underneath the car, but with the wishbones so close together (and in those days, steel rather than carbon) the setup was insufficiently stiff, especially under braking.