2017-2020 Aerodynamic Regulations Thread

[henry]

100 kg fuel limit must also be dropped

I think I agree. Although I'm not sure I have a clear understanding of the consequences.

For instance it might further bake in Mercedes' advantage, shown in qualifying, for making more power for longer than anyone else. We could see a further cementing of the Red Bull initiated protocol. Qualify at the front, start light, run a small number of qualy style laps and cruise to the end.

I think it possible that the 100kg limit will stay and the fuel rate will be reduced, perhaps to 90 kg/hr. This would reduce the absolute level of power difference if not the relative. Lots of lovely political wrangling to come perhaps.

[Blackout]

RacecarEngineering (2016 digital edition) recently did very interesting CFD simulations and studies about the possible 2017 rules and the needed changes to make the cars follow each other more closely and overtake... They used a 2013 car for comparisons.

Their 2017 car has a better L/D ratio (L level is close but their 2017 car has same tire sizes as 2013 as far as I understand + 25mm skirts on the floor sides) and it generally loses a slightly smaller amount of DF than a 2013 car when chasing an identical car (it would loose much less DF when the separation equals 8 car lengths and a bit more DF at a half car length). 2017 car also looses less drag when at a 4 and 2 car lengths which would make splipstreaming less effective, but who cares...

More important is the fact that there is no aero balance shift with the 2017 car, no matter the separation.
So there is far less understeer when chasing another car and less DF loss. Good for the tires, the drivers, the racing...

[Blackout]

RacecarEngineering's approach is much better IMO. It would keep the costs and the weight under control through retaining similar bodywork and tire dimensions and similar performances. 5s par lap and all those uselesss cosmetic, superficial, heavy and expensive changes are BS. Adding a less large FW would do it regarding the look.
Racecarengineering, Patrick Head, Rory Byrne and Gordon Murray are right.

[wuzak]

Any pictures of the Racecar Engineering concept?

[godlameroso]

The 2016 Bahrain event was 91 seconds faster than last year, 1.6 seconds per lap. Some of that is tyres, but a similar improvement year-on-year would make this formula reasonably quick relative to the V10/V8 era, considering some of the other limitations.

You have to consider that there was an extra pit stop done by most teams, and the average pit stop in Bahrain is 24.7 seconds. So the fact they finished 91 seconds faster with an extra pit stop means they're a bit faster than 1.6 per lap.

[Fulcrum]

The 2016 Bahrain event was 91 seconds faster than last year, 1.6 seconds per lap. Some of that is tyres, but a similar improvement year-on-year would make this formula reasonably quick relative to the V10/V8 era, considering some of the other limitations.

You have to consider that there was an extra pit stop done by most teams, and the average pit stop in Bahrain is 24.7 seconds. So the fact they finished 91 seconds faster with an extra pit stop means they're a bit faster than 1.6 per lap.

I understand, and you're correct in the sense that the average speed while racing would register as faster still, but taking an extra pit stop in itself, and running softer compound tyres, enabled the faster per-lap speeds. As such, the best representation of average race speed remains the amount of time taken to complete the race, divided by race laps.

[Blackout]

Any pictures of the Racecar Engineering concept?

So it's basically a 2013 Lotus with a 2014 Ferrari nose, a simplified 2013 Front wing, a larger/lower/more backward rear wing and an underfloor that has a 25mm step and skirts, a bigger diffuser (read the pics for better details)

[djos]

now that I'd like to see!!! =D>

[miqi23]

... and the step plane has been reduced from 50mm to 25mm so that the car runs closer to the ground.

You can see the pressure distribution on the underfloor is a lot more even compared to a traditional 2013 car.

[godlameroso]

So basically increasing the power of the floor allows cars to follow closer? To be honest, if Bahrain was anything to go by, all those cascades and flick ups on the front wing are probably not doing much. I maintain my position, all the evidence suggests that improving mechanical grip and the floor are really all the changes that F1 needs. The cars look fine to me, if the powers that be want to tweak the regulations to make the cars faster, raise the diffusers to 2011 levels, and put in stronger rear tires. Right now the cars can lean on the front tires much harder than they can on the rear tires.

There's probably another 1.5 seconds per lap in the current formula that the cars can unlock through optimizing everything, we've seen this year how much faster cars can be with more mechanical grip, by setting qualifying records. I think that times could probably increase by another second just by making stronger rear tires, not even wider, just more durable.

[miqi23]

Well, the floor could help but its not as simple as that. It is a very complex problem and a lot of time needs to be spend to understand what would really work.

In this month's Racecar Engineering, they have looked at Underbody tunnels (you get over 90% of your down-force from the floor in this case) as a potential solution to the overtaking problem. Worth a read, the results are interesting.

[djos]

I used to watch champ cars before it became a spec series and imploded, they ran tunnels and a lot less wing and were able to race each other quite hard, even on street circuits like surfers paradise.

So yeah I'd like to see the floor used more and wings used less.

[wuzak]

Any pictures of the Racecar Engineering concept?

So it's basically a 2013 Lotus with a 2014 Ferrari nose, a simplified 2013 Front wing, a larger/lower/more backward rear wing and an underfloor that has a 25mm step and skirts, a bigger diffuser (read the pics for better details)
http://i86.servimg.com/u/f86/14/79/55/26/rce10.jpg
http://i86.servimg.com/u/f86/14/79/55/26/rce210.jpg

Thanks Blackout.

I think the 25mm step was suggested by the FIA (Whiting) at some stage during the process. but for some reason not adopted.

[Thunder]

Paddy Lowe's take on the 2017 Rules and the Overtaking Problem. A quite interesting Read.

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/151 ... means-2017

[godlameroso]

"We have periodically reset the aero to stay within a certain window and at the moment we are at a historic highs of downforce, so it would be time to go lower and that would give a benefit in car following and recover where we were in 2013.

I don't buy this, I don't think the cars make more downforce than they did in 2013, they don't have exhaust blowing, maybe they have better high speed downforce, but overall...