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Renault introduce new device to heat tires

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Renault are on the winning path again, and it quickly shows in the way their development goes. During the season, the team concentrated on improving tire management to allow for a more consisent pace during the race. Recently they also made 'reliability' progress on their engine, but now there's more.
An interesting idea that Renault now came up with is to actually use part of the hot air exhaust gases to heat up the rear tires. The R28 now features a modified rear wheel shield with an aerodynamic tunnel in it. This catches air from the inside of the shield and churns it out again just above the rear tire. Such device prevents the tire from being cooled by airflow, but allows a more constant temperate, hence improving its grip.
In the image, the device is seen from different angles, with the yellow lines marking the airflow through it.

Comments

By freedom_honda on 18-10-2008 at 13:48

wow this is actually a very smart design

By fenix4life on 18-10-2008 at 17:44

idd. Even Darth Vader would say: 'Most impressive'

By EAKMotorsports on 18-10-2008 at 17:53

great idea.

By Steven on 19-10-2008 at 17:12

Thanks to mx_tifosi for the tip!
More spots are welcome obviously ;)

By crbassassin on 20-10-2008 at 06:46

using the heat from the tires would be far more efficient

By dumbdave on 21-10-2008 at 18:40

cbrassasin, I think the point is to provide the tyres with heat in the first place?

Wonder how this affects tyre wear as well as grip?

By Steven on 21-10-2008 at 19:06

When a tire is in contact with the ground, it is constantly under stress, either by acceleration, braking or turning. This stress causes the tyre to heat up, but as soon as it comes loose because of the rotation, the thread is cooling down slightly, until it reaches the track again after a full turn.
Obviously, the tyre works best in a very small temperate range, and in order to keep it in the optimum range, the exhaust gases either heat up or reduce the cooling of the thread, so that by the time the part comes in contact with the track, it's at a better temperature, and hence will provide better grip.
As a result, the grip of the tyre will (marginally) increase, while the tire itself may also like the more constant temperatures - read, it might provide a more constant performance over its lifetime.

By mx_tifoso on 22-10-2008 at 21:03

But doesn't the shape of the exhaust have an affect on the engine in one way or another? As we've seen the length of the exhausts change back and forth from long to short in a single car throughout the season (engine related reasons), surely adding the extra curvature at the end might have an affect as well. Or so I'm led to believe.

By crbassassin on 23-10-2008 at 07:06

dumbdave, I meant to type brakes i apologize for the mistake.

By Steven on 23-10-2008 at 12:47

Here is an extra clarification on the device, by Gary Anderson (former Jordan designer): http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... f=1#p85580
Thanks to RH1300S for posting that.

By nowheelspin on 24-10-2008 at 00:42

what happens if the car is standing still and engine running? would n`t it be better to direct the heat on to the rims instead.

By wesley123 on 24-10-2008 at 14:24

nowheelspin that would be bad, those rims are probably carbon and carbon shatters at too much heat. Carbon loses strength at higher temperatures so the rims could break

By Steven on 24-10-2008 at 16:07

wesley has a point really as the rims are on the inside completely shielded by a carbon fibre element in order to reduce the drag created from the wheel.

The rims themselves though are all made out of magnesium alloy.

By wesley123 on 24-10-2008 at 17:50

I thought that mclaren uses carbon rims, dunno what other teams use

By nowheelspin on 25-10-2008 at 00:02

ah yes indeed i thought the rims were magnesium. i`m always 1 step behind damn!

By Steven on 25-10-2008 at 13:29

As far as I know, McLaren use enkei magnesium rims

By nowheelspin on 25-10-2008 at 19:20

Does anybody have an idea of how the front wings will work for 09. All the work the teams did to improve aero efficiency of the cars will be scraped for 09 to me this is wasted 08 or money . I wish v10` came back,Or turbo v8`.

By pitlaneimmigrant on 25-10-2008 at 20:02

Tomba, by 'clarification' I assume you mean 'completely different explanation'?

By Steven on 26-10-2008 at 02:15

@pitlaneimmigrant: Yes that is basically what it is. I'm don't know his sources, but I am sure it involves tire management. Renault has been working on this aspect all the way through the year.

By Jinesh JK on 01-11-2008 at 04:50

All these factors are true in theory... but it may also increase the rate of tyre failure in small and more heated tracks... I think so.......

By docron on 03-11-2008 at 07:10

Wow - actually I'm really surprised they weren't doing this a long time ago - even Formula SAE cars have been doing this for years now - either exhaust gas or heat from the radiator (or both).

On particularly bumpy tracks they need to pay attention though, because with the suspension's scrub radius and the added heat from the exhaust it's quite possible they might over-heat the tyres and do nothing but increase wear.

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