Red Bull RB7 Renault

[Just_a_fan]

hmm looks like a titanium adjuster. It seems like it adjusts how much air they want to bleed off the end of the wing and around the tire. Its a very complicated aero adjustment and im not sure why you would adjust it one way or the other yet.

It's just their way of adjusting the fore/aft aero balance. If you play with the flap just in front of the front tyre it may have less detrimental effect on the rest of the car's airflow than moving the whole flap (which also affects the air going to the rear by way of the inboard bit of the front flap).

It just looks like another of Newey's team's clever little details that all add up to the best aero package in years...

[-Tifosi_dude-]

First time poster, long time lurker. I don't know if this has been posted already but I remember some of you talking about the golf ball dimples on an f1 car, well I think this picture shows that the RB7 has the dimples on the engine cover. Could this also be the explanation of Ferrari's bad looking paint job near the exhaust?
http://yfrog.com/z/h8jeglbp

[shelly]

hmm looks like a titanium adjuster. It seems like it adjusts how much air they want to bleed off the end of the wing and around the tire. Its a very complicated aero adjustment and im not sure why you would adjust it one way or the other yet.

I think that it could be a pitot tube. Is it a small tube exiting from it? There is a metallic sting (we do not see the end of it because it is unde the flap) and a fuse shape to minimize interfernce effect.
If it is a pitot tube, the information that could be gathered is that they expect the flow to be aligned like that in that point of the wing.
I am not 100% sure about the tube exiting: maybe it is a line spearating two different pieces of the flap. Maybe new pictures will clarify.

[Rikhart]

First time poster, long time lurker. I don't know if this has been posted already but I remember some of you talking about the golf ball dimples on an f1 car, well I think this picture shows that the RB7 has the dimples on the engine cover. Could this also be the explanation of Ferrari's bad looking paint job near the exhaust?
http://yfrog.com/z/h8jeglbp

That´s extremely interesting, thanks for the link!

[ringo]

No that cannot be the case.
There shall be no radii smaller than 75mm in that region. Dimples would suggest smaller radii.

[rayden]

No that cannot be the case.
There shall be no radii smaller than 75mm in that region. Dimples would suggest smaller radii.

radii of what? and which region exactly? the effect is present on the whole car.

just very thin paint with cf weave showing through depending on light angle imo

[Robbobnob]

that looks similar to the Hull of a rowing skiff, the idea for a rowing boat however is to trap air bubbles along the surface reducing friction drag, not sure how that would benefit a formula 1 car.

[timbo]

I don't think it's dimples. I think it is a texture of carbon-fibre covered by a very thin paint layer.

[CyleB]

agreed^^^^ its a very uniform pattern

[bjpower]

they have been experimenting with a rough skin design on planes.
( not sure if this is why there are dimples on the red bull car or not)
the theory is...

air gets "trapped" by the dimples bascally giving a thing cote of air around the car.
the friction generated by air passing over your car is now air passing over air. so less drag.

the theory is the same for shark skin and Olympic swim suits, they trap water around them so it is water over water.

but i have not heard of anyone getting it to work at high speeds.

god im crap at explaining things
google shark skin

[gridwalker]

The way that the "dimples" appear almost rectangular and laid out in a chequerboard fashion makes me agree with the "weave" camp : I've seen CF weave show through on many racecars, but you need to get close enough to see it.

[BreezyRacer]

they have been experimenting with a rough skin design on planes.
( not sure if this is why there are dimples on the red bull car or not)
the theory is...

air gets "trapped" by the dimples bascally giving a thing cote of air around the car.
the friction generated by air passing over your car is now air passing over air. so less drag.

the theory is the same for shark skin and Olympic swim suits, they trap water around them so it is water over water.

but i have not heard of anyone getting it to work at high speeds.

god im crap at explaining things
google shark skin

FYI ..
http://www.businessinsider.com/modified ... ord-2011-6

[flynfrog]

First time poster, long time lurker. I don't know if this has been posted already but I remember some of you talking about the golf ball dimples on an f1 car, well I think this picture shows that the RB7 has the dimples on the engine cover. Could this also be the explanation of Ferrari's bad looking paint job near the exhaust?
http://yfrog.com/z/h8jeglbp

your are just seeing the carbon weave through the paint. Paints and fillers shrink over time and you tend to get that look on carbon parts. It could also be a lack of body filler when painting.

[hardingfv32]

The teams know all the issues of surface finish with their laminates. Could we assume that this type of finish (show through?) is on purpose in this case. If so, does it have any benefit at the air speeds the cars see?

Brian

[McG]

I inquired about the dimples thing a few years ago, I thought I was onto something, but it had already been tried by Williams on their suspension. The dimples are only useful for such things like golf balls. So unless there is something completely bulbous on an F1 car it's probably just the weave.