Renault R31

[hardingfv32]

This safety talk is all about one's position along a gray scale.

Look at the Renault picture above. How many hours has this view been in front of the Renault engineers and/or mechanics? No one suggested that this MIGHT be a dumb place for the pressure vessel? They made a risk assessment and kept it there. These people showed poor judgement... on who's scale are we judging?

Yes, I drove my own creations, but now my son does the driving as he is faster. My position on the safety spectrum has not change just because he is in the car. When he is at the track, he is the driver and treated as such, just part of a complex system.

Just so I can gage how rational you guys are about this safety vs performance subject: What is your judgement on Colin Chapman? Where is he on your safety scales?

Brian

[n_anirudh]

Some hi-res pics of the Renaults fire...

[Richard]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Yes it does look silly to put a pressurised container so close to the exhaust, but that location is probably cooler than if it was in the engine bay.

Yes it does look silly to not have a release value to safely discharge excess pressure. They are standard issue for pressurised systems, perhaps there was one but it failed. I'm sure they'll correct that detail for the next race.

We have to bear in mind these cars are prototypes. That pit stop was probably the first time that car had been stationary at high revs for so long. They don't have the opportunity to stress test them in all conditions. Even when road cars have been extensively tested, they can still burst into flames due to poor design of a seemingly minor detail.

[HampusA]

That livery with those tires are just wonderful to look at, love the contrast.

[PlatinumZealot]

It's Fabulous!

[Fil]

That pit stop was probably the first time that car had been stationary at high revs for so long.

Wasn't it quoted at being about 4sec held at high revs?
At race start, how long do they hold their revs for when waiting for the red lights to go out?

This was going to happen in this race anyway, the exhaust was already in a state of fatal failure. The pitstop was merely the straw that broke the camel's back.

[raymondu999]

The race start procedure calls for about 13000 revs. Apparently Heidfeld was holding it at top revs at 18,000

[bill shoe]

Good question about keeping exhuast cool on the starting grid. I think it's common for cars to start the formation lap with dry ice in the tops of the sidepods. This ice melts and somehow cools the radiators as needed until the race/airflow start. The current cars all have small sidepods and tightly packaged exhaust so I will guess they have similar dry ice systems for some kind of exhaust cooling.

Obviously, by the first pitstop, any ice would be gone and the temp just spikes until airflow resumes.

If Renault's form keeps slipping then they will have a shorter wait from the time they hit their grid spot until the race starts

[Byronrhys]

The race start procedure calls for about 13000 revs. Apparently Heidfeld was holding it at top revs at 18,000

Can you even rev to 18,000 with the pit limiter on?

[Fil]

The race start procedure calls for about 13000 revs. Apparently Heidfeld was holding it at top revs at 18,000

You're claiming they need more revs to leave the pits than they do for the race start?

For some reason, i would assume it would be the same procedure. But surely not 5,000rpm different?

Good question about keeping exhuast cool on the starting grid. I think it's common for cars to start the formation lap with dry ice in the tops of the sidepods.

Is this still allowed? They definitely drop ignition to 4 cylinders for this reason. I haven't seen footage of loose dry ice in the sidepods for a while now.

[raymondu999]

I have no idea why Heidi was doing that, but Boullier implied he was bouncing off the limiter.

[HampusA]

He could have hit the gas to early while up in the air.
It´s delicate enough to stand in pits waiting for green light to come on or stand on the grid on front row waiting for backmarkers to position themselves.

Hitting the gas a few seconds early in pits could probably cause massive overheating.

[marekk]

I've watched this several times and didn't see nick doing something wrong. Maybe just a second to early on the throttle.

Eric blames nick, but in my opinion it was renault's new engine mapping going wrong.



As soon as nick leaves the pits, there is nice strong flame going out of the right side exhaust for 1-2 sec, probably due to unburnt fuel deposits in exhaust pipe.
Have no picture at hand, but as soon as nick leaves the pit lane and starts to accelerate, left bank of cylinders wakes up and produces even more flames and smoke on the left side of the car - for the same reason.

If it's true, this shows some potential danger of the design - if they have some fuel deposits in exhaust during pit stops AND some cracks in the pipe, they introduce fuel's vapor to the sidepods - can be even explosive.

[Donuts]

Qualifying 2011:

Australia, 1.718 s off the pace.
Malaysia, 1.254 s off the pace.
China, 1,443 s off the pace.
Turkey, 1.247 s off the pace.
Spain, 1.490 s off the pace.
Monaco, 2.259 s off the pace.
Canada, 1.048 s off the pace.
Spain, 1.806 s off the pace.
England, 2.335 s off the pace.
Germany, 2.100 s off the pace.
Hungary, 2.444 s off the pace.

[Donuts]

http://www.lotusrenaultgp.com/6278-Jame ... ml?lang=en