The F1 thread

skullfunkerry

boogieman said:

skullfunkerry said:

boogieman said:

You guys that do these Lego kits, do you put them together once and keep them or build and take them apart over and over? 

I tend to keep them out on display for a while, then take them apart and build one of my others - I don't have space for everything to be out at once. At the moment I've got the Space Shuttle out. At some point soon I'll rebuild the Saturn rocket I expect, and then at some point further on again they'll go back into boxes and the Star Wars stuff will come back out.

Interesting, ta. I would’ve thought most of the fun is in doing the build, so not sure why people would just do it once and then leave it assembled forever after. 

I think some people just like to look at it and think "I built that". For me though you're right: most of the fun is definitely in the build, so I'm more than happy to break them down and redo them

TimmyO

Some interesting articles on the formula1 website about what the first looks at the Haas, AM and McLaren reveal about their design choices. 

stickyfiddle

I quite like the look of the McLaren car but I don't like the new livery as much as the previous 2 or 3 years' ones.

I do bloody hope it's quick though:) 

Cols

stickyfiddle said:

I quite like the look of the McLaren car but I don't like the new livery as much as the previous 2 or 3 years' ones.

I do bloody hope it's quick though:) 

Looks like they’ve swapped their E-cig branding from British American Tobacco for nicotine pouches.

stickyfiddle

Cols said:

stickyfiddle said:

I quite like the look of the McLaren car but I don't like the new livery as much as the previous 2 or 3 years' ones.

I do bloody hope it's quick though:) 

Looks like they’ve swapped their E-cig branding from British American Tobacco for nicotine pouches.

Looks like A Better Tomorrow (lol) is still a team partner, but not on the car, at least at launch. Zak has been pretty canny about bringing in single-race sponsors and shuffling around logo sizes for specific locations so I'm guessing we'll still see it on the car at some point. 

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/partners/

In other news, Alpha Tauri's livery has been leaked and looks fairly similar to before. Williams launching tomorrow, then Ferrari and Merc later in the week. I do hope they all show us a real car. 

TimmyO

My shower thought today is this: with following closely easier in these cars, Max will crash in to more people
this season 

stickyfiddle

He was already saying visibility is harder with the bigger wheels and over-wheel fin thingies. Getting the excuses in early...!

stickyfiddle

Well AT have given renderings but it's not the FIA model - funky sidepod sculpting and square inlets. Is this a new way some teams are looking at to generate vortices to manipulate air flow? 

TimmyO

stickyfiddle said:

Well AT have given renderings but it's not the FIA model - funky sidepod sculpting and square inlets. Is this a new way some teams are looking at to generate vortices to manipulate air flow? 

not sure about vortices but how the flow goes down the sides has a big part to play with how the flow goes under the floor - due to interaction of those areas of flow - McLaren seem to be looking for pretty extreme coke-bottling into the rear half - which itself isn't going to add much but may help the interaction with the flow under and around the floor 

stickyfiddle

Yeah, I understand that it's all about getting flows to work together and attach to certain surfaces etc (not that I understand how...!). Something I read somewhere (probably either F1 Technical or reddit) was suggesting that at least one new team looked like they were using oversized-but-aerodynamic brackets on the main sections of the front wing to potentially generate vortices. 

Stuff like that makes me kinda wish all of the paddock's collective aero knowledge could just be deleted but maybe I'm just grumpy!

TimmyO

stickyfiddle said:

Yeah, I understand that it's all about getting flows to work together and attach to certain surfaces etc (not that I understand how...!). Something I read somewhere (probably either F1 Technical or reddit) was suggesting that at least one new team looked like they were using oversized-but-aerodynamic brackets on the main sections of the front wing to potentially generate vortices. 

Stuff like that makes me kinda wish all of the paddock's collective aero knowledge could just be deleted but maybe I'm just grumpy!

my final year project at uni was about getting airflows around airliner wings, pylons and engines to constructively interfere. It makes your brain melt this stuff. 

chillidoggy

I confess to having not a clue about aerodynamics beyond knowing what an aeroplane wing does, but over the years it hasn’t always been the swoopiest-looking car that turned out the fastest. And the absence of any circuit testing results makes it doubly difficult to tell. The smart money must surely be on the Mercs once again in that respect.

markr76

Some of the vortex creators you see on cars are designed to form “air curtains” that run along the sides of the cars. This increases the pressure under the car, sucking the car to the track in affect. In conjunction with the diffuser at the back. All designed to accelerate the air moving under the car. Also the diffuser needs to clean up the flow of air, lowering the amount of drag. 

The most obvious vortex creators you can see are on the bottom of the barge boards on the cars. The bottom edge is in a zig zag pattern. 

The main reason for the teams wanting a coke bottle shape at the back is to get as much air across the rear wing as possible. Also to get air flow to the rear brakes. 

fretmeister

markr76 said:

Some of the vortex creators you see on cars are designed to form “air curtains” that run along the sides of the cars. This increases the pressure under the car, sucking the car to the track in affect. In conjunction with the diffuser at the back. All designed to accelerate the air moving under the car. Also the diffuser needs to clean up the flow of air, lowering the amount of drag. 

The most obvious vortex creators you can see are on the bottom of the barge boards on the cars. The bottom edge is in a zig zag pattern. 

The main reason for the teams wanting a coke bottle shape at the back is to get as much air across the rear wing as possible. Also to get air flow to the rear brakes. 

Typo there chap. Faster air underneath causes a decrease in pressure under the car. Not an increase.

Daniel Bernoulli would be spinning in his grave!!

markr76

fretmeister said:

markr76 said:

Some of the vortex creators you see on cars are designed to form “air curtains” that run along the sides of the cars. This increases the pressure under the car, sucking the car to the track in affect. In conjunction with the diffuser at the back. All designed to accelerate the air moving under the car. Also the diffuser needs to clean up the flow of air, lowering the amount of drag. 

The most obvious vortex creators you can see are on the bottom of the barge boards on the cars. The bottom edge is in a zig zag pattern. 

The main reason for the teams wanting a coke bottle shape at the back is to get as much air across the rear wing as possible. Also to get air flow to the rear brakes. 

Typo there chap. Faster air underneath causes a decrease in pressure under the car. Not an increase.

Daniel Bernoulli would be spinning in his grave!!

Yes. My bad. I meant increase the air flow under the car, which increases the pressure on top. Will teach me not to read back what I’ve typed out. 

stickyfiddle

New Williams. Livery launched on an FOM model because the real car was out for a shakedown about an hour later. 

I'm ambivalent on the livery but I really hope its quick. I also hope they get some good results so Duracell bung them more money to put some copper into the colour scheme

Overall I'm liking the high front wing/low nose combo. Looks early-90s-y 



 

goldtop

Are we there yet?

fretmeister

So far the top of the side pods and the bottle shaping of the rears seems to be the biggest differences between the car designs.

sinbaadi

I think the 22 cars look good.  After the finale of last season things really need a fresh start and a good shake up would go a long way to print that unpleasantness behind us all.

My hope is that the balance of power shifts away from Mercedes and RBR, at least for a while.  Anything could happen, McLaren might the next "double diffuser" up their sleeve.

fretmeister

I want Lewis to get No8.

If for no other reason that I enjoy Whinger Spice and Marko having infantile meltdowns.

And I'd love it if WDC No8 was dominant to the point it was wrapped up 2/3 of the way into the season.