Pitot tube?

[CyleB]

i kind of fell stupid asking, but what is the large fine on top of the camera mount for? If that's all ready been discussed please refer to page #

[747heavy]

i kind of fell stupid asking, but what is the large fine on top of the camera mount for? If that's all ready been discussed please refer to page #

Pitot tube for aero testing, you will not see it during the races.
(I hope thats what you mean, the black fin on top of the engine cover/roll hoop)

[CyleB]

i kind of fell stupid asking, but what is the large fine on top of the camera mount for? If that's all ready been discussed please refer to page #

Pitot tube for aero testing, you will not see it during the races.
(I hope thats what you mean, the black fin on top of the engine cover/roll hoop)

that's exactly what i was talking about thanks

[aral]

i kind of fell stupid asking, but what is the large fine on top of the camera mount for? If that's all ready been discussed please refer to page #

Pitot tube for aero testing, you will not see it during the races.
(I hope thats what you mean, the black fin on top of the engine cover/roll hoop)

It is NOT a pitot tube, although there may possibly be one as well. It is a sensor for measuring yaw in the car.

[PlatinumZealot]

If you watched the flying lap episode 9; where William Toet was a guest, he said on top of that large sail-like fin is a free-stream pitot tube that is used to calibrate all the other pitot tubes near the surfaces of the car.

[747heavy]

It is NOT a pitot tube, although there may possibly be one as well. It is a sensor for measuring yaw in the car.

Interesting, could you explain how this would work?

[aral]

It is NOT a pitot tube, although there may possibly be one as well. It is a sensor for measuring yaw in the car.

Interesting, could you explain how this would work?

There are inertia sensors inside the fin. A pitot tube only requires a tiny tube, which can be placed anywhere on the surface of the car, for example, on the camera housing.
If you are a pilot, flying a 747 heavy, you will know how small a pitot tube is.

[volarchico]

There are inertia sensors inside the fin. A pitot tube only requires a tiny tube, which can be placed anywhere on the surface of the car, for example, on the camera housing.
If you are a pilot, flying a 747 heavy, you will know how small a pitot tube is.

The shark-like fin is obviously not a pitot-tube. It is the low-drag support structure necessary to get the pitot tube high enough out of the influence of the car to have freestream velocity measurements.

[aral]

There are inertia sensors inside the fin. A pitot tube only requires a tiny tube, which can be placed anywhere on the surface of the car, for example, on the camera housing.
If you are a pilot, flying a 747 heavy, you will know how small a pitot tube is.

The shark-like fin is obviously not a pitot-tube. It is the low-drag support structure necessary to get the pitot tube high enough out of the influence of the car to have freestream velocity measurements.

OK, have it your way! The pitot tubes are normally on the top of the nose. But if you want to believe that it is only a support for a pitot tube, then just believe what you want. But i suggest you dial back a year, on Ferrari thread, where this precise subject came up, and was fully explained.

[jakeconway]

I think you are both right (and wrong )

I do not think that there is any benefit in having inertial sensors that high up on the car...so the sensors mounted up there are aerodynamic. A Pitot Tube for measuring the air speed in clean air....and also a Yaw Tube, for measuring the yaw in that same clean air. Both of these sensors work from measuring air pressure differences. Dynamic to static for the Pitot tube, and the difference between the left side and right side (and middle) of the tube to measure yaw.

[Tim.Wright]

You definately wouldnt put inertial sensors that far away from the CG

Tim

[ringo]

It is NOT a pitot tube, although there may possibly be one as well. It is a sensor for measuring yaw in the car.

Interesting, could you explain how this would work?

There are inertia sensors inside the fin. A pitot tube only requires a tiny tube, which can be placed anywhere on the surface of the car, for example, on the camera housing.
If you are a pilot, flying a 747 heavy, you will know how small a pitot tube is.

You don't want you pitot tube to be virbating all over the place and moving relative to the car. So you will need a sturdy tower to hold it steady.
You wouldn't just use the bare tube all the way up there would you?

[747heavy]

I think others have commented extensive the pro and cons, so no need to carry on.
Another high res photo of said device, everyone can make up their own mind, what it is good for.



Champcar with a more conventional pitot tube at an similar position



IMHO-jakeconway has sumed it up best in his post.
something along the lines of this


so in a way Gilgen has a point (is correct) with it´s yaw sensor (more correctly flow/air direction sensor), but I doubt that it is based on an inertial sensor in this position.
A multi port pitot tube seems more likely - at least for me.
for the ones interested in the details of an 3 hole wedge pitot tube
http://www-diva.eng.cam.ac.uk/whittle/pressure.html

[PlatinumZealot]

Wilem Toet says it's a pitot tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot08f0bXf4c

go to 29:25

And you can clearly see them here.

http://motorsport.nextgen-auto.com/gall ... ev/121.jpg

[bot6]

It's clearly a useful tool to correlate wind tunnel results with on-track testing. Measuring the speed of the flow away from the car will give you a more accurate reading of the general speed of the flow relative to the car. Couple that with telemetry data and you've got speed of the car relative to the ground.

This gives you the two big wind tunnel test parameters: speed of the flow in the tunnel and speed of the rolling road under the model.