Sauber: Exhaust Sidepod Development

Sauber have proven to be one of the more progressive teams with aero development this year. The team’s have played with several different approaches to aero and exhaust positioning over the opening months of the year.
Now Sauber have produced their fourth sidepod iteration and surprisingly it is a McLaren style exhaust outlet. This goes away from the path they forged with the ramped downwash sidepod. Aiding the new exhaust position is a revised vane over the top of the sidepod.
The team also ran a revised front wing. I will cover this development in a separate post.

Sauber launched their car with a simple sidepod (above); this almost looked like a Red Bull RB5 set up, with the top exit exhaust aimed generally over the rear bodywork. This simple initial attempt was probably just for the launch pictures.

As soon after, the definitive Melbourne spec exhaust was tested. This sported a distinctive ramped section, which created a downwash that drove the top exit exiting exhaust flow downwards, then the ramped tail of the diffuser encouraged the flow to follow the sidepods line down towards the rear tyre\diffuser. This mix of downwash and coanda effect all but reproduced the EBD effect used in 2011. As the exhaust flow was directed along the bodywork, it appears to be more accurate way of directing exhaust flow towards the diffuser. However the effect lacks a path for the sidepods undercut airflow to pass through. Red Bulls Melbourne spec (V2.0) exhaust attempted to cure this with the cross over tunnel.
To aid the downwash flow over the sidepod Sauber added a horizontal vane over the front section of sidepod. This front 15cm of sidepod is free of the bodywork restrictions of the main sidepod volume. The vane points the airflow downwards, to drive greater flow over the exhaust exit. In isolation this vane actually creates lift, as is common with F1 aero this counter intuitive solution creates more global downforce because of its downstream effect, than the small loss in downforce its creates on its own.
In practice for subsequent races Sauber tried a third iteration of the exhaust, still with a top exit, but the exhaust faired-in and blow out through scalloped slot, presumably to better direct the airflow. Using similar interpretations of the exhaust\bodywork rules as McLaren exploited with their side exiting exhaust. This V3 set up wasn’t raced and will probably never race, with this fourth version now seen in testing.

The V4 sidepod discards the philosophy of the firth three completely, instead the sidepod is shorter and the coke bottle area forms a much tighter waist. Protruding from the flank of the sidepod the exhaust sits inside a small bulged fairing. This fairing mimics the McLaren with the open topped channel cut in to it, to allow the downwash to redirect the exhaust flow. The channel probably also provides a small degree of coanda effect in bending the exhaust flow downwards, but far less than with the earlier sidepod designs.

Exhaust flow exiting the duct now passes openly towards the tyre\diffuser intersection. With the coke bottle area now free of the ramped section, the undercut sidepod flow can pass towards the centre of the diffuser to use the energy in the flow to drive some downforce from the trailing edge gurney and starter motor slot.
With the change in sidepod profile and the exhaust exiting more sideways the through the top, the downwash vane has also been altered. Rather than a horizontal vane, the vanes curved around the frontal of the sidepod, to create the depression over the revised exhaust outlet position.

Force India: New Front End Aero

Sahara Force India ran a new front end in testing, with some of the distinctive features from the launch car dropped. The new set up is aimed redirecting the flow along the edges of the nose towards the floors lower leading edge. The new package consists of; a revised nose tip, front wing pylons and different turning vanes.
The team also ran a revised sidepod package with McLaren style exhaust outlets. I will cover this development in a separate post.

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From the cars launch and through the first four races, the nose tip sported a hammer-head style twin camera set up. Now the cameras have relocated to further back along the nose and the nose tip now forms a more aesthetically pleasing rounded shape. Although neutral in aero section, the camera pods are placed in a position where their shape will interact with the airflow to create some aero benefit downstream on the car.
Below this the pylons mounting the front wing have been extended and form a linger vane like shape. This was something FIF1 have worked with a lot over the past few seasons. Using this shape as part of the cars aero set up for different speed\downforce circuits. Typically longer pylons for higher downforce tracks and smaller pylons for places like Monza. Although the vanes may well create some low pressure behind the neutral front wing centre section to create load at the front axle, I expect they are more for directing the airflow along the y250 axis. This is a longitudinal line along the edge of the chassis, 250mm from the cars centre line. This is effectively as far outboard aero devices are allowed and hence where teams tend to focus on vane development. Creating different flow structures along this axis, helps creates the airflow distribution at the floors lower leading edge which is critical to diffuser efficiency.

Along similar line are the new turning vanes, on the launch car these were the popular “L” shaped hanging vanes (pictured above), mounted beneath the nose cone. Now they are a pair of curved vanes under the front suspension, a similar solution to Sauber\Renault and adopted by Red Bull last year. Again similar to these teams there is a small split in the vane to induce a stronger vortex effect along the y250 axis.

The Flying Lap Webcast: Mugello Test Review

I joined Peter windsor via phone to review the changes to the cars at the end of the second day of testing.  My section commences at 49 minutes, although I suggest you enjoy watching the entire episode.

Summary

As Formula 1 runs its first in-season test in the Pirelli era, we are delighted to be joined live on-line by Paul Hembery, Director of Motorsport for Pirelli. No stranger to The Flying Lap – or to New Media – Paul is respected up and down the pit lane not only for his knowledge and managerial skill but also for his obvious passion for the sport. We’ll be talking to Paul about the season so far and about one of the key characteristics of the first four races – the relatively small “operating window” of the Pirelli compound combinations; and we’ll be looking at all the latest trends from the Mugello test, where most of the F1 teams and top drivers are running. We also spoke to Sahara Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg shortly before he left home for Day Three in Mugello. Nico reflects on his first four races with the team, the current standing of the VJM05-Mercedes and his prospects in the upcoming Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix. Our third guest, also joining us on-line, is Davide Valsecchi, the talented young Italian driver who has just made history by winning three GP2 races in a row.

Nissan and PlayStation GT Academy: virtual-to-reality racing competition

Nissan and PlayStation have once again joined forces to run a fourth instalment of the innovative GT Academy virtual-to-reality racing competition. While the four previous GT Academy graduates line up in top-level race series in 2012, the programme that set them on their path to motor sport fame has once again opened to competitors, starting on 1st May 2012.

Jann Mardenborough, the 2011 GT Academy winner, has got his career off to a flying start. He achieved a podium finish in the Dubai 24h race in January and is now competing in the Blancpain Endurance Series in a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3. We have been following Jann during his preparations for the 2012 season and in his first race in the Blancpain Endurance Series at Monza. The link below is a film of Jann competing at Monza. I hope you agree it demonstrates the emotional side of the sport, highlighted when the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 was in 14th place overall and slowed to an agonising crawl at the final corner of the three-hour Blancpain Endurance race. The GT Academy RJN team managed to bring the car across the finish line in 34th position overall. Jann and his team mates will be competing in the next round of the Blancpain Endurance Series, at Silverstone on 3rd June.

First sight: Ferrari Revised Mugello Exhaust

Picture Via Russell Batchelor

On Day3 of today’s Mugello test, Ferrari appeared with a major update to their sidepod\exhaust configuration.  Although at this stage it’s not clear if this set up is Ferraris definitive exhaust solution going forwards, or merely another interim set up.

What’s clear is Ferrari continue to follow their own path for exhaust and cooling flow.  With the main cooling outlets being via chimneys exiting from the flank of the sidepod, a solution popularly termed the “Acer ducts”, due to the presence of the sponsor’s logo on the launch spec bodywork.  With the launch car the exhaust exited through the rear exit of the ducts, and latterly the exhaust was moved to prevent overheating rear tyres and the duct cut away to allow more inboard location of the exhausts tailpipe.

Now the “Acer” ducts are brought more inwards and the exhaust exits over the top of the duct, periscope style.  This suggests the exhaust is not being aimed at the floor at all, simply along the centre of the top bodywork towards the beam wing and the winglet mounted atop it.  This would be less effective at creating downforce, but would be less sensitive to throttle position and have less of an effect on the rear tyre temperatures.

The floor and top body mouldings appear to new and quite large sections.  This also suggests that the bodywork is going to change. Often with interim bodywork the panels are smaller to allow different shaped sections to be added.  However the black heat shield panel around the exhaust is removable and may allow a switch to a McLaren style open-topped duct exit.

The continued presence of the vortex generator near the mirrors suggests some downwash effect is still being created, although the current spec is not really making use of it.

I will update this post as the test develops

The Flying Lap Webcast: Chinese GP Review

Last week I appeared with Peter Windsor on his Flying Lap Show.  We discussed Mercedes DRS, Red Bull’s nose & exhaust, Lotus front wing and Ferrari’s aero changes.

Smibs.tv/TFL

McLaren: Front End Aero Development

McLaren have long since followed their own path in aero development. Certainly since 2009 the car has increasingly diverged from other team’s aero concepts and the 2012 MP4-27 is no different. However the current car has a clear lineage in some of the design solutions and the whole front end is an evolution of recent cars.

Development Chronology

2009

Their first car to the current aero regulations in 2009 sported a conventional nose, front wing and cascades.

2010

The car that was launched in 2010 had a very different front end. The drooped nosed of the MP4-24 was gone replaced by a more horizontal and shallower nose cone. Beneath this was fitted large aero device, I term a “snow plough”, Williams had run a similar solution in 2009.

From a horizontal leading edge positioned between the front wing mounting pylons, the snow ploughs surface splits into left and right sections and eventually forms a pair vertical vanes protruding below the nose. This creates a “V” section mid way along its length and the twist of the airflow along with the pressure differential between the upper\lower surfaces creates vortices trailing from the rear of the vanes. This is an aggressive solution compared to the simpler turning vanes other teams use. This device probably creates some downforce in its own right, but I suspect the primary purpose is to direct the strong vortices along the Y250 axis, to drive a better airflow towards the floors lower leading edge.

Later in 2010 after a series of different iterations of endplate and cascade design, the wing substantially changed for Singapore GP.  The main plane was effectively split into two; a section ahead of the front tyres and a section inboard of that. The intersection between the sections formed an upright for the main cascade winglet. While the less aggressive inboard wing span gains a simple “r” shaped vane.

2011

McLaren continued the 2010 design of snowplough nosecone and split front wing into 2011 with the MP4-26. Again later in the year, the wing was simplified for the Indian GP with similar endplates and cascades, but the complex split shape wing profile was changed to be straight across its width.

2012

Again this format was brought forward to the launch and initial test version of the 2012 MP4-27. Only in the last days of Barcelona testing did the revised front end appear. Gone was the snowplough and the straight wing profile. In their place was a simpler nose cone and a pair of vanes dropping vertically from the nose. While the more complex split wing profile was reintroduced. With EBDs less powerful this year, teams are finding downforce levels are lower. We could conclude that the snowplough and straighter wing arrangement were better for downforce, so the new simpler arrangement may be a more efficient way of producing less downforce.

The other change in China was the deletion of the slots in the small cascade winglet. The slots would have reduced the strength of the vortex produced by the winglet, removing the slots will have increased them. This change will be made in order to direct a stronger airflow around the inside face of the front wheel.
As the team get to grips with the new exhaust regulations and start to develop more downforce, potentially some of these solutions could return. So any reappearance will tell us a story of development and aero load figures in 2012.