Quote:
Originally Posted by herr_oberst
I'm probably coming across as thick here, missing the plot as it were, but could you explain what you mean?
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Sure.
The areo people see every square inch, that they cant get rid of, as an opportunity to tune for down force (or negative lift as they call it) and/or reduce drag.
Some of the (very uneducated) things I see on their virtual car are:
The one major irritation for Adrian Newey on open wheel cars is that the wheel/tire combination creates SO much drag/turbulence. This car has nice wheel fairing helping reduce this.
One of the big aero rules changes for the current generation car, that the people with the wind tunnel struggled to overcome, was the narrowing of the front wing. This caused them to work much harder to try and divert the air around the front tires. (As Steve Matchett said once: You can suggest to the air what you would like it to do, you just cant tell it what to do!)
Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website - Technical - 2014 rule changes - narrow front wings
"For 2014 the width of the front wing will be reduced by 15cm. This will alter the alignment of the wing relative to the front tyres. Previously the wing's 180cm width was the same as the car's total width, so it was relatively easy to design front wing endplates to minimize the drag produced by the tyres."
This car has the front wing back to flush with the outside of the tires, (less turbulence/drag = better airflow control=more down force). It actually looks like they are doubling the square inches of front wing with the bi-plane front wing, but have it at a very low angle of attack. (back to my unjust Italian design principal of "Did they do this for function or aesthetics?)
If you look at the back of the drawing look at the rear diffuser. Many, many square inches at a much more steep angle then what is legal today (heck, if you look the entire car is at a better nose down/butt up aero angle). More under car low drag down force. ( And I am assuming because I do see the exhaust, that a blown diffuser may be easy to slip in. Blown diffuser = Lots of low drag down force)
I would guess (back to my unjust Italian design principal of "Did they do this for function or aesthetics?") that they are assuming that they are creating so much low drag down force under the car, that they can reduce drag even my by using a small angle of attack, single plain, upper rear wing (Or maybe this drawing is for their "Monza" aero settings). Or maybe the small rear wing just looks better
I will sum it up, and quit displaying my poor writing skills, by saying I bet if you ask somebody like Adrian Newey to choose which car to design to try and win the constructors title, (the 2015 rules or this design study), they would pick the design study rules package. (sure the increased speeds and G loads would kill more drivers, but hey! this is for the constructors title, not the drivers title!)