The invisible F1 car?

[Holm86]

Not really. But i stumbled on an article about something called a "fluid cloak" which scientists are working on for submarines.
Its a "cloak" thats supposed to make the sub more invisible to radar detection by creating a perfect flow over the body of the sub so that it doesnt create a wake.

And when it dosent create a wake it should produce allmost no drag either right?

Hence it could be interesting in aerodynamics as well ... So perhaps it could be used in formula one in the future??

As i understand it works by having a mesh lying around the body of the sub that channels the water efficiently around the body.

Source:
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/07/fluid- ... ubmarines/

[Jersey Tom]

Making a F1 car low drag is no big deal..

.. just means you have crap all downforce too! Submarines seek very neutral buoyancy, ergo fluid lift is not a good thing.

[MIKEY_!]

Sounds interesting, bit above me though.

[Holm86]

Making a F1 car low drag is no big deal..

.. just means you have crap all downforce too! Submarines seek very neutral buoyancy, ergo fluid lift is not a good thing.

But this mesh thing they are talking about is to channel the fluid over the body as efficient as posible. That could be applied to the body of an f1 car. AFAIK the body it self does not create downforce.

But couldnt it be applied to the underside of a wing to help the flow stay attached???

Theres more on it here :
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... -wake.html

[MIKEY_!]

Yes I think this is exactly what Holm86 was getting at.

[N12ck]

what your talking about is eliminating surface drag

[Holm86]

what your talking about is eliminating surface drag

But wouldnt it be worth pursuing in F1 as well?? If it becomes possible.

[N12ck]

Even if you eliminate surface drag (not 100% though) drag is still present due to vorticies being created by the aerodynamic devices on an f1 car.

[hecti]

This is a great topic! And I can help a lot actually.
As a swimmer i have done lots of research on submarines, as it turns out that the 300$ swim suits I wear at swim competitions have the same type of coating that subs use!
Basically what is happening is that the coatings on subs, and on my swim suits (speedo LZR Elite). What this coating does is replicate the "Lotus flower" effect on the surface it is sprayed on, making that surface "hydrophobic". The Lotus effect is caused by a very fine layer of very pointy nano particles that help trap a layer of air, so the surface of the sub, or swim suit in my case, is covered in a layer of air. And as we can prove, water flows faster through air than it does on the human skin (for swimmers) of the steel hull of a sub.
One of the fastest swim suits that used to be produced was even called the "submarine" because of its shared technology with sub marine hydrophobic liner technology.
Thus this drag-less technology cannot be applied to formula one cars as it is applied to subs and high tech swim suits