Aerodynamic Stagger

We all know how Indy and CART cars have a steering stagger used for Ovals.

But have they ever thought about using an aerodynamic stagger. Simply put, the sidepods would be shaped like a wing on its side so as to create an area of low pressure on one side of the car. This would really improve lap times.

THis could also be used in F1. SOme circuits are predominantly fixed with either right or left turns.

Take Monza for example. Most are right corners. A aero stagger which would favour turning right would really help here.

Does anyone know of anything in the rule book agains't this sort of tinkering.

Niall

Aero stagger has been used forever.

Unfortunately, for the most part the rules require symmetry in the beginning shapes of almost everything. That does not, however, mean that components cannot be adjusted asymmetrical. It's very common to adjust the front wings to get more downforce on the left side on ovals, and to put wickers on the back edges of the rear wing endplates.

As for your shaping of the sidepod - Vertically oriented wings are not allowed, as far as I know in CART. But they have been used a lot in smaller ovals by the "run what ya brung" crowd. The giant sideplates on winged sprinters also accomplish the same thing.

Ah. I always wondered what thaose big things on top of those dirt racers were.

Do you know if there is any ban on vertical wings in F1 ?

Niall

Reynard and Lola both used vertical side planes along the spine of the car just a fewyears ago but the rules have been amended to remove them. They used them mostly on ovals as a side plate to catch air just like the winged sprint cars do. A lot of bodywork on various types of cars are used the same ways. When you see a slab-sided or flat-sided body on a car it too can be used as a vertical wing section to generate lateral force.

KC: Any pics of these CART cars.

They should look interesting enough.

Niall

Do you know if there is any ban on vertical wings in F1 ?

No, as far as I know there isn't. All bodywork including downforce generating bodywork as wings is only reffered to as 'bodywork' in the technical regulations and only restricted by means of regulating the space in which bodywork is allowed or not. That's why there are wings sprouting from the cars at the most weirded places like we've seen in Monaco. So vertical aerodynamic devices are allowed. Wingendplates, sidepods, bargeboards etc are examples used already and although there not using wingprofiles as such to make a difference, they use their angle of attack or shape to divert airstreams in the way they want, mostly by making clever use of generated vortices.

On most formula cars set up for ovals, the front wings (left and right) may be adjusted. The faster set up (perhaps for qualifying) would be to set the left wing at positive angles, and the right a little less, even zero to negative angles. However, this would not be good for a race set up. One would need to dial in more positive right wing angle mainly because in race conditions, airflow in "dirty air" over both front wings is essential. If taking a higher line than the car in front, you need air over the right front wing to assist the car to "stick" because the left front wing is not getting as much air to help as much. And vice versa, taking a front car in low. Keep in mind there is also weight transfer to help the car turn. It is possible to shift weight to the left of the car to help it turn left.

It is true that there has been aerodynamic stagger used for quite some time. If one takes a look underneath the chassis of an Indy type car, right side diffusers are slanted slightly left as compared to left side tunnels.

Many years ago Smokey Yunica used about a 3x3ft vertical air foil between the inside wheels of his car. It worked great but blocked the drivers view of the track and was banned.


Gwen

Is there a rule requiring fixed vertical panels? I am thinking of the upright sides of the front and rear wings being hinged and used as computer controlled rudders to assist cornering.

Sorry - those would be banned as a 'moveable aerodynamic device', which have been illegal for 30 years.

Correct, ma, but still in very frequent use today.
Particularly in F1 it has become some sort of unknown science.

Intruiging statement, Dino. Can you give more detail?

DITTO....

How wrote gwen about using airfoil, I have question, can you for this - helping turning on ovals - use barge boards? Is it useable?

It's the same old song like with any of the regulations. Something as advantageous and desirable as adaptable aerodynamics are banned and every team will try to find a way around it. Untill the 'we'll put some weight on to see how much things flex' countermeasure of the FIA, the only time they'd notice something in this area was when something too flexy would hang down or bend noticably on the straights.

But still their measures are of no avail. Why? Quite simple actually. They actually write down in the regulations exactly at which spots they will place a weigth or pull and with exactly what force. For instance the front wing bending check is carried out by placing (iirc) 50 kg close to the front as well as the sides of the frontwing. So they'll engineer just enough strength in it so it won't bend down too much during that particular test. That's enough to pass the 'non-movable aero'-regs. But that doesn't exclude it at all of course. Imstead it becomes even more challenging to accomplish. ;)

The beam that takes care of strengthening the front wing provides for stiffness in the vertical plane when the car's not in motion. But when aeroforces are applied it starts to unwind backwards in the horizontal plane. And behind that strengthened beam all areas are really flexible. The aft half of the chords is really sloppy, the flaps are flexing and flexibly mounted etc all in calculated amounts to get the desired effects. That's why it's a bit of a science to get it all right.

The last GP had a lot of super-slomo's at the Veedol chicane where you might have noticed the sloppy parts of the front wing really shaking around. Even the front part of the undertray was visible in some shots, flexing apart from the chassis. It's applicable to every area.

A vertical airfoil would definetely work to reduce the cornering loads on the tires & allow faster corner speeds. The monster sideplates on sprint car wings are a good example.

In years past, we used to use large endplates on the rear wings on Indy cars on the superspeedways, & put wickers on the back edges. They helped a lot, as the cars had something to 'lean' against besides just tire traction. Rules changes now prevent most of this.

On many classes of stock cars, mainly the "Modified" types, large slab sides are used to produce side thrust when the car is sideways in the corners. On a few enterprising souls cars on the "run what ya brung" nites, they will put a 4 x 8 foot sheet of lexan vertically on the right side of the car. It may be the proverbial "barn door" approach, but it works ! The all out track record at the local 5/8ths mile paved oval is less than 14 seconds, set by a car that would normally run 21 - 22 seconds.

The flexible wings that Ferrari had a couple of years ago are nothing new - it's been done for years in everything from FF2000 to Indy cars. My favorite was to spring load the adjusters so that when the loads got high enough ( high speed straights), the adjuster springs would collapse & flatten out the wing. Thin sheet metal rear deck spoilers are/were common on sedan cars. I first saw one about 25 years ago on a Trans Am Camaro - it flattened very nicely at high speeds, thank you.

What is currently being experimented with are materials that contract when an electrical current is put to them. I saw a variable section diffuser on a car last year - you could vary the exit height by 2 inches with a 12 volt charge. The only problem was battery life - the damned thing sucked power like a Hoover vaccume cleaner. I would imagine that the same thing could be used to reshape barge boards & wing endplates, but it might be tough to keep from the inspectors.