Renault – Front Exit Exhaust Details

Copyright Sutton Images via Formula1.com

Although we almost didn’t believe it when the rumours emerged at the launch of the Renault R31, The car does indeed have exhausts that exit at the front of the sidepods. We (@f1fanatic.co.uk and I) managed to see, understand and get the first pictures of the unique set up (https://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/renault-r31-front-exit-exhausts-fee-explained/). Now the car can be seen stripped in the pit garage, we can see exactly how the Renault packages the exhaust.

The exhaust system routes the four pipes into a collector which then continues to point forwards and direct the secondary pipe low underneath the radiator to the front of the sidepods. As the exhaust routes gasses at up to 1000-degrees C, it needs insulating to protect the other equipment housed in the sidepods. Renault appear to have fitted an insulated jacket around the main length of pipe in the sidepods. What is clear from the set up is that Renault had to raise the radiators to allow the pipe to ass underneath. The R31 has unusually large sidepod inlets and this might to cope with the ducting of the cooling airflow to the laid down radiator.

Copyright: Andrew Robertson (@JarZ)

From these pictures via Andrew Robertson (@Jarz) we can see the front detail around the sidepods. Although the exhaust outlets are not seen here, the problem of the final routing is apparent. Teams need to fit beams to the side of the monocoque for side impact protection. Known as Side Impact Tubes (SITs) there are two pairs to share the load, with one upper pair and a lower pair. As these SITs are heavy, the majority of the work is down by the lower pair, to keep the weight low in the car. Correspondingly the lower SITs are larger and the exhaust needs to pass over these and down to exit sideways.

Copyright: Andrew Robertson (@JarZ)

Renault has packaged these lower SITs into a narrow front and wider rear Tube. The exhaust will angle down along the front tube to blow still pointing downwards across the lower leading edge of the floor. We can see the metallic heat protection on the SITs.

Copyright: Andrew Robertson (@JarZ)

More info on Front Exit Exhausts and how they work – https://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/trends-2011-exhausts-and-diffusers/

Williams – Lowline gearbox in detail

Copyright Andrew Robertson (@JarZ)

Having been obvious at its launch the Williams FW33 has a radical shrunken gearbox case. Now we can see how the case is actually configured, which is close to the diagram I posted back in February (https://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/williams-fw33-lowline-gearbox/). As I explained Williams sought to remove as much blockage ahead of the beam wing as possible, to do this they lowered the top of the gearbox, switched to a Pull-Rod set up and repositioned the differential much lower. The revised layout has lead to a very neat gearcase.

Nico / Slideways @ Autosport.com

Copyright Andrew Robertson (@JarZ)

To get a reference point for what we see in this picture, it’s the lower wishbone that’s fitted. This is usually mounted halfway down the gearcase and the top wishbone mounts above it. So what we are seeing is the casing dropping downwards from its front face to create a low flat top. It’s this front face that also gives an idea of how high a conventional gearcase is. So clearly Williams have lowered the case dramatically (see below).

Copyright: Andrew Robertson (@JarZ)

Copyright: Andrew Robertson (@JarZ)

Equally the differential (the diff’ circled above) is very low too, normally its several centimeters above the lower wishbone, now the diff’ is below the wishbone. This is why when we see the car from behind; we can see the driveshaft’s angle upwards from the gearbox at an extreme angle. Above the diff’ is the bolt on wing mount, as explained in my previous article, this metal structure supports both the rear wing and the top wishbone. One curiosity of the diff’ and wing mount set up is how the diff’ is removed. Normally the gearcase is split to allow the differential to be removed from the back of the case. Perhaps with the new Williams set up, the case has a cover over the left hand side of the differential and the diff’ is removed sideways. This set up would create a slightly stiffer case, critical for its complex waisted shape.

Copyright: Andrew Robertson (@JarZ)

Not seen in this picture is the top wishbone, it mounts to the top of the bolt-on metal pylon and also to the pick up on the front of the casing (circled above)

Copyright: Andrew Robertson (@JarZ)

Williams have also switched to a pullrod suspension, this places the rocker linkage and the dampers low down at the front of the gearbox. The dampers heave spring and inerter have to pass horizontally across the front of the gearbox; they enter the gear case via the aperture seen at its lower front side.

More info on Pull Rod Suspension
https://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2010/10/10/red-bull-pull-rod-suspension-what-is-looks-like-how-it-benefits-aerodynamics/

McLaren rear end: Exhaust, cooling and suspension

 

A ScarbsF1 follower in the Melbourne pit lane sent me these exclusive pics. We can see the McLaren stripped in the garage. There’s a huge amount of detail to take in, The key details are the missing exhaust\ heat shielding, cooling ducts and suspension detail.

We can see the exhaust system is missing in the picture. However there’s a lot of grey heat shielding around the floor giving us some clue to where the flow is going. Notably at the side of the engine where the main exhausts will sit and beyond exit to the sidepod. I can also see heat shielding above the starter motor hole, which is a rounded profile further suggesting this will be subject to fast exhaust gas flow. There’s a curious bulge in the tail of the coke bottle shape. This would be next to the exhaust collector and unlikely to be a good place for sensors, so it’s a mystery why this shape is there.  So we can see potentially an exhaust route blowing out of the back of the sidepods, some of this flow passing under the gearbox to the starter motor hole.  This seems innocuous enough, as long as the gas finds its own way to these areas.  Continued rumours around the pitlane suggest bodywork is used to duct flow to these areas, which would be a contraversial solution.  Only when the car is fully built and scrutineered will we fully know what the solution is.

As already explained in this blog (https://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/mclaren-roll-hoop-and-cooling-arrangement/) the roll hoop fulfils several function for engine air feed and cooling. We can see the main airbox, beneath it the KERS cooler and its exit duct wrapping around the airbox. At the rear of the airbox is the gearbox oil cooler. The oval exit duct for this cooler isn’t fitted in this picture.

Lastly the pullrod suspension can be seen, the rocker and some of the spring\damping set up is down low on the gearbox. A small detail is the shaft and rocker merging vertically from the gearbox, (beneath the silver pipe with blue connector). This might either be the heave damper or inerter, placed higher up for better access, or it might be the pre-load adjuster for the torsion bar (if torsion bars are fitted).

Ferrari rear end – Exhaust and DRS Mechanism

A ScarbsF1 follower in the Melbourne pit lane sent me these exclusive pics. We can see the Ferrari stripped in the garage. There’s a huge amount of detail to take, but the key things are the exhaust routing for the EBD, the rear suspension and Rear Wing mechanism.

The exhaust loops forwards before turning back on itself to route towards the diffuser. This set up is used as it keep the exhaust well forwards within the sidepod, which helps to keep the sidepods tight and slim. We cant see the final section of floor, this might need to be removed in order to take the floor off.

Ferrari retained the pushrod rear suspension set up for the F150. To keep it competitive in aero packaging in comparison to the recently favoured pullrod, they have pushed the entire rocker and damper assembly to the front of the gearbox. In doing so they have placed the rockers nearly flat with their pivots pointing down. This keeps the assembly in the aerodynamic shadow of the engine and airbox, so effectively they don’t add any volume to the rear ends aerodynamics.

Lastly the “Drag Reduction System” mechanism can be seen sticking out of the gearbox. This is a hydraulic system and needs to be powerful in order to move the rear wing flap at quickly at speed. As both the flap will be heavily loaded by airflow and designers want the switch from closed to open to be in a matter of milliseconds.