- 25 Apr 10, 18:53#197502
I had an inkling that the technique could be applied in more ways than just gaining straight line speed, and there's a small article in F1 Racing where Gary Anderson and Mike Gascoyne further allude to it's potential. Anderson had this to say:
"Theoretically, you could use a duct to improve the handling of the car - not just the speed. For example, you could feed air into the diffuser to stop it stalling as it gets near the ground so braking stability would be improved."
An interesting theory, and one that the teams must surely already be looking into, certainly McLaren as they would have a 'head start' on the others here. However, the uses would be somewhat limited, obviously there is no feasible way to use such a system on the front wing, and the rear wing is limited by that 15cm space in the centre (which has already been exploited as we all know) so that only really leaves the diffuser. Perhaps on the old style cars with aero appendages on the sidepods could have used it there in some capacity, but that is a moot point.
To expand on what Anderson says above, there is a myriad of potential effects to be seen with the ability to affect the diffuser - you could stall it down the straights for extra speed as with the rear wing, for example, and i'm sure it could be manipulated to improve traction via rear downforce, as the cars squat back under acceleration (as many cars do in general) - clearly it does not happen to such a great degree in F1 where the suspension is so hard, but i reckon there could be a small gain to be found. And you know what it's like in F1, every 10th matters!
"Theoretically, you could use a duct to improve the handling of the car - not just the speed. For example, you could feed air into the diffuser to stop it stalling as it gets near the ground so braking stability would be improved."
An interesting theory, and one that the teams must surely already be looking into, certainly McLaren as they would have a 'head start' on the others here. However, the uses would be somewhat limited, obviously there is no feasible way to use such a system on the front wing, and the rear wing is limited by that 15cm space in the centre (which has already been exploited as we all know) so that only really leaves the diffuser. Perhaps on the old style cars with aero appendages on the sidepods could have used it there in some capacity, but that is a moot point.
To expand on what Anderson says above, there is a myriad of potential effects to be seen with the ability to affect the diffuser - you could stall it down the straights for extra speed as with the rear wing, for example, and i'm sure it could be manipulated to improve traction via rear downforce, as the cars squat back under acceleration (as many cars do in general) - clearly it does not happen to such a great degree in F1 where the suspension is so hard, but i reckon there could be a small gain to be found. And you know what it's like in F1, every 10th matters!
Rising number one of Formula 1, Juan - Juan, one wonders should Juan only win one Formula 1 one year, would Juan have won that one in round one, Juan??