2011 Diffusers - Rules and Innovations

[Tozza Mazza]

As I'm sure you all know, The Double Decker Diffuser is scrapped in 2011, as is the EBD, well sort of, I'll get to this later. For 2010 the Diffuser was predicted to be creating around 30% of the downforce, so it is a really important part of the car from an aerodynamics point of view. And as we all know, aerodynamics is the most important part of F1. So, what will a 2011 diffuser look like, and how can any (more! )loopholes in the rules be exploited relating to the diffuser area?

I Have one little innovation I thought of a few weeks back, although it may be ineffective as i know nothing about exhausts! The Exhausts from the engine are fused together at a point behind the fuel tank to become a single exhaust, one exhaust, a smaller one with a diameter the same size as the motor starter hole in the diffuser, moves downward to the hole. The second exhaust is then moved up slightly, and used to blow the beam wing, creating free downforce. i'm not sure if it will be perfectly legal, but hey, in principal it works, and I'm not sure if fusing the two exhausts to create two more exhaust is also a good idea. If someone could give me some insight into this working or not, it would be much appreciated.
I know exhaust gases are upwards of 800 degrees celsius so whether its a good idea to have that going through the car or not is unclear to me.

Tozza Mazza

[ajdavison2]

would it even be possible to blow the starter hole, with the case of the EBD, it was possible because of the opening in the diffuser, but the starter hole isn't really an opening is it as it has all of the.. well stater motor and stuff in haha, so would it work with issues such as packaging, and heat management?

[raymondu999]

Hey Tozza, welcome to the forums.

@ajdavidson, I think what Tozza means is point the exhausts at the beam wing, and so the exhaust gasses will blow directly to the beam wing, from which the beam wing can create downforce

[Tozza Mazza]

But couldn't you activate it from somewhere else, say the steering wheel? And then I'm not sure about factors like packaging and heat management, it works in theory, but practicality? not sure. Hopefully someone can enlighten me.

@Raymondu999, I meant blowing both, ambitious I know, fuse the exhausts, take one small one down to starter motor hole, the other up to beam wing, blowing both, creating much downforce lost by lack of an EBD.

[volarchico]

I think it was in the F150 thread that Raptor22 mentioned blowing the diffuser by creating cut-outs in the side-wall of the diffuser. If the exhausts were aimed there, I think those cutouts are still legal.

[Tozza Mazza]

Another interesting innovation, is it legal though, the rules aren't exactly watertight in this area!

3.12.7 No bodywork which is visible from beneath the car and which lies between the rear wheel centre line and a
point 350mm rearward of it may be more than 125mm above the reference plane. With the exception of the
aperture described below, any intersection of the surfaces in this area with a lateral or longitudinal vertical
plane should form one continuous line which is visible from beneath the car.
An aperture for the purpose of allowing access for the device referred to in Article 5.16 is permitted in this
surface. However, no such aperture may have an area greater than 3500mm2 when projected onto the
surface itself and no point on the aperture may be more than 100mm from any other point on the aperture.
Additionally, any bodywork in this area must produce uniform, solid, hard, continuous, rigid (no degree of
freedom in relation to the body/chassis unit), impervious surfaces under all circumstances).

I guess as it's not uniformly rigid it's illegal, but the rules are still open to interpretation.

[marcush.]

why not let the exhaust end as a fishtail lying flat over the full width of the underfloor ?
this way some exhaust gas could be used to blow into the difusser using the unrestrected 50 mm ruling .So 3 quarters would blow over the diffusser and the outer section underand into the difusser ...with a bit of endpipe fabrication it should be possible to not burn the tyresidewalls...of course you have to respect the two openings only rule there.I think you could even lay it out like a airfoil with the trailing edge slotted to direct the exhaust gases where you want them ...
end use the endplate to protect the tyre sidewall...there is NO ruling how a exhaust pipe has to look-right?

[Tozza Mazza]

Another good idea!
Is it legal though, and how would it be put into practice?
I'd like to see it in action, although do you mean just above the floor or below it?
If above Then I can see a way it could be done, although packaging it would be an incredible task.

[marcush.]

as mentioned above ,I would put it on top of the floor with a bit of airgap but bending down at the last 50 mm so as to blow into the difusser.

I´m not sure why protruding exhaust tips 8as seen on brawn at the beginning of 2009 were not legal..maybe someone can shed light on this.the regs as I understand them do only define bodywork minimum radii and maximum opening surface in certain area.

[allstaruk08]

hello just wondering if you think my design would work for blowing the diffuser viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9401 =]

[Tozza Mazza]

Find an image of my proposed exhaust blown diffuser at the link below, a second, larger exhaust exit will be sent to the beam wing, but I haven't had enough time to cad my 2011 cars body yet, still very early days! Plus the diffuser itself needs more work. Looking at the R31 and the F150, they have more slots coming downwards, and I need to sort out the sides of the diffuser, but for now, hey, the concept is there.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58992696@N04/5404476253/

[Tozza Mazza]

For any one who is interested, this looks very amazing and innovative from LRGP, that is if they have done it! Front exhaust exits blowing back down the car to the diffuser, improving engine efficiency and downforce. No one will be able to catch up in time for Bahrain if they have done so surely, real innovation!

Quote Scarbs F1 Blog: 'Amongst all of this detail no exhaust pipe is apparent, This is clearly one of LRGPs trump cards. I understand the exhaust does not exit at the rear of the car. This leaves few reasonable option for the pipes location. Either above the gearbox or increasingly rumoured the exhaust routes forward and exits in front of the sidepods. I presume the aim if this were the case, would be to pull airflow from under the nose to create some front downforce and speed the flow up back towards the diffuser. We are being told to expect new parts on the car for its first tests. These are apparently both the exhaust and some parts at the rear of the car.'