2017-2020 Aerodynamic Regulations Thread

[bauc]

found on autosport forums:

spanish, but detailed drawings.

https://albrodpulf1.wordpress.com/2016/ ... la-1-2017/

slanted delta A1GP1 looks really turn me off (and that forced by the regs )

Great Find, thank you for sharing

[FW17]

It will be cool if these were the starting point for the barge boards

[Blankow]

Just reading the 2017 rules. Is it correct that the frontwing middle section (Y250) is not exactly horizontal?
I typed the coordinates in CATIA and its a bit nose up.
From all the frontwing pics of the last seasons I guessed its perfectly horizontal.

[Thunder]

A new Preview. Looks good. https://twitter.com/AlbertFabrega/statu ... 7599811584

[Just_a_fan]

No matter how many versions of the proposed cars I see, I don't like the contrived "let's angle the front and rear wing to make them look speedy" bits. It looks like something drawn up by an old guy trying to appeal to what he thinks young people will like. Shame he's thinking about American teenagers from the 1960s...

[SR71]

No matter how many versions of the proposed cars I see, I don't like the contrived "let's angle the front and rear wing to make them look speedy" bits. It looks like something drawn up by an old guy trying to appeal to what he thinks young people will like. Shame he's thinking about American teenagers from the 1960s...

I get that the swept angles were sold as an aesthetic decision. Something tells me one or two teams agreed for performance reasons as well.

That said are there any obvious or low hanging fruit advantages these swept features bring us?

I'm really curious how the swept forward bardge boards will impact performance and the angled rear wing will help the diffuser correct?

[rjsa]

That lower, wider rear wing makes it. Moving the diffuser choke point forward. The 70's style big tyres come as a great bonus. Everything else is secondary and sufferable in this package.

IMO, of course.

[wuzak]

The front wing is still too big, the floor is too wide and the rear wing end plates look silly.

[rjsa]

The front wing is still too big, the floor is too wide and the rear wing end plates look silly.

Agree.

[bigpat]

The front wing is still too big, the floor is too wide and the rear wing end plates look silly.

Agree.

Whether they look silly or not, I believe there is logic behind those 2 regulations.

Since we used stepped floors, mated with small diffusers, the floors are far less powerful than pre 1994. The downforce from the underbodies allowed closer racing, as the wings didn't have to produce as much downforce, hence turbulent flow behind another car was less detrimental.

Now, with stepped floors, the new rules seek to maximise the spans of the wings as a band aid measure to restore grip, as well as the wider rubber, hence the kinked rear wing endplates.

The underlying problem is with the floor, but politically I believe a flat floor/ tunnels would be frowned. This is a good 'fix' in light of that root cause in my opinion.....

Pat

[toraabe]

Flat floor why ?

Permit venturi tunnels instead.. Full groundeffect..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3SvoPcCpl0

[djos]

Flat floor why ?

Permit venturi tunnels instead.. Full groundeffect..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3SvoPcCpl0

Amen! [-o<

[bigpat]

I agree that tunnels should be allowed, but this was shot down by the technical working committee. It seems that in the eye of some rule makers, that flat floors and tunnels are the root of all evil, and we are stuck with inefficient stepped floors. and wake sensitive wings to compensate. Bigger rubber helps, but cornering grip in F1 is all about adding download onto the contact patch...

The problem is if you allow REALLY quick cars, then many existing circuits will face huge bills to update their safety to cope, eg: moving walls back and extending gravel traps, run off areas, safety barriers etc. Remember the faster they corner, the bigger the accident if the drivers lose it......

That's my take on it anyway!

[Juzh]

I agree that tunnels should be allowed, but this was shot down by the technical working committee. It seems that in the eye of some rule makers, that flat floors and tunnels are the root of all evil, and we are stuck with inefficient stepped floors. and wake sensitive wings to compensate. Bigger rubber helps, but cornering grip in F1 is all about adding download onto the contact patch...

The problem is if you allow REALLY quick cars, then many existing circuits will face huge bills to update their safety to cope, eg: moving walls back and extending gravel traps, run off areas, safety barriers etc. Remember the faster they corner, the bigger the accident if the drivers lose it......

That's my take on it anyway!

Cars themselves are safer and slower at the moment than they to be.

[godlameroso]

I think the new regulations will actually help racing. Call me crazy, but bear with me, at the start of the season most teams will have maybe 10-15% more downforce than they do this year, but they'll have ~30-35% more mechanical grip. The thing that currently prevents close racing is...dirty air because the reliance on aero is higher than it is on mechanical grip. By making mechanical grip more important it means the basic suspension, engine drivability, driver finesse and skill play a bigger role; and it also lessens to a limited extent the importance of aerodynamics, perhaps enough to make closer racing possible.

Again this is at the beginning of the season when the aero will be relatively new, once teams collect some data and react to their competitors the aero will develop, but perhaps something interesting will happen, since the changes emphasize getting more performance from the floor, perhaps we'll see a lower amount of dirty air, maybe enough to allow some more daring moves into turns. Using the extra mechanical grip to make a move stick, sorry for the pun.

The increased weight and need for fuel saving will keep braking distances from being too consistently short for passing. This with the wildly changing relative performance due to the rapid development throughout the year, and lower margin for error, may make things interesting next year.