Working on an F1 Aerodynamics Report for Class- Need help

[MrDomino]

I am working on a report for my Applied Aerodynamics course which is required to receive graduate credit for the class. Anyways, the report I'm doing focuses on four major eras in F1 and the corresponding rule changes by the FIA. First I start with the introduction of aero on the Lotus followed by the change in rules requiring them to be mounted to a sprung part of the car. Then I move onto the ground effect era and talk about how they caused the cars to be really sensitive to changes in track surface and then the rule changes that banned them. Then I move onto the complex aerodynamics of the 2000's and their ban and finish with the double diffuser.

Overall the structure of the report is already established but I am having a heck of a time finding information on the early aero cars (downforce numbers, etc.) and information about FIA investigations/rule changes. Later on (after the FIA learned about the internet) it's really easy to find information with a little digging on the internet but I'm really not sure where to look for earlier information.

Also, can anyone point me towards some of the recommendations made by the Overtaking Working Group? I know they had a big part in the aero changes for 2009 but I can't find anything on them other than a few news articles.

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

[Sumflow]

Can you post the report please?

[mep]

Overall the structure of the report is already established but I am having a heck of a time finding information on the early aero cars (downforce numbers, etc.) and information about FIA investigations/rule changes. Later on (after the FIA learned about the internet) it's really easy to find information with a little digging on the internet but I'm really not sure where to look for earlier information.

One suggestion I can give you is to take a old video or something else. Figure out the speed a certain car had trough a certain bend. Then figure out the corner radius and the mass of the vehicle. Now you will be able to make a rough calculation what amount of downforce was necesarry to make the car travel trough that specific corner.
It is expected from a student to be creative in solving problems. Getting data can be such a problem.

[Tim.Wright]

Don't think it matters now since the original post was 2 years ago.

But, I'm interested to know, how could you deduce downforce from cornering speed?

Tim

[Sumflow]

how could you deduce downforce from cornering speed?

To many other variables. But the "Technique of motor racing," had formulas relating radius to cornering speeds.

[Tim.Wright]

Yea, for sure you can use velocity and corner radius to calculate lateral acceleration but it gives you no clues about downforce.

Tim

[Robbobnob]

v^2/r = (friction coeff)*(downforce in m/s^2)

Roughly

[Tim.Wright]

Almost, there is also the static weight force but still...

You have two unknowns in one equation being the friction coeff and the downforce.

You can assume something for the friction but like you said, it will be rough. I think too rough to use for anything meaningful.

Tim

[mep]

You have two unknowns in one equation being the friction coeff and the downforce.

Exactly like this.
With 2 unknowns left we have already reduced the problem to something we can handle. Well there is another unknown which is the car weight.
So we need to find ways to get a good guess for the 2 unknowns left(friction coeff, car weight).
For car weight it is rather easy because we know the minimum weight. So we just have to figure how much fuel was in the car. In case we are talking about a qualy lap we can be sure the car was almost empty. Also the fuel usage per lap is known for every track so we can get a really close estimation of car weight. It doesn't matter if it was a kilo more or less in real life because we will still be close.

Friction coeff. is much more difficult to figure out. You are right Tim that this causes some problem because it can bring a big failure tolerance to the result.
However we can do some research about friction coeff. figures. By this we might find out that they are located in a special area. As far as I know is 1.4 a good figure but lets say we want to but some focus on the fact we don't actually know it and give the figure a tolerance rate of +-0.2. Notice that the range of 0.4 can be the difference between dry and wet road so it is a lot and we should be safe with it.

So ok lets assume we have a 700kg car going trough a 4g corner.
700*(4-1,4)=1820
This will mean we have a downforce of around 1820kg with a tolerance of +-140kg.
By this we got a idea in which area the downforce is located including a error tolerance. For me it is better to make a rough estimation but having something in my hands than saying there are to many unknowns to say anything at all about the issue.
The more time is investigated into the topic the closer the input figures will come to reality. The next thing we can do is taking acceleration or braking datas of the car and check if it’s possible to get such accelerations with the chosen friction coeff.
You realize now why I give the recently published telemetry sheet such a high value. It is because we have a complete lap on one paper even more important because this year we have a mandatory weight distribution. Now we know lots of the frame data like weight distribution, engine power, and wheelbase. The ones we don’t know like friction coeff, coeff of downforce and drag can be calculated more exactly by the driving characteristics now.