Ferrari F2012

[ringo]

this?

they're blowing the beam wing simple. No fancy shmancy diffuser blowing; straight to the point beam wing blowing.

The gases wont reach the diffuser in any way that would be of benefit.

[bhall]

I agree that's likely the goal. I wonder if it's being accomplished, though.

(Of course, I come by skepticism naturally.)

[ringo]

why is the the crash structure ducted?
See that hole under the LED cluster at the back of it?

F ducting the starter hole maybe?
I haven't worked it out yet, just a knee jerk reaction.

[bhall]

I think it was hypothesized somewhere earlier in this thread that said vent is being fed by whatever this is.

(Click to enlarge.)

[MIKEY_!]

I had thought of stalling the starter motor hole too but then I thought that the diffuser is generating DF much more efficiently than the RW or beam wing so stalling it would be an incredibly small gain if that.

[Hail22]

Looks like the exhausts are pointed in order to diffuse/kill drag that would be created by the wing?

[bhall]

I think Ringo's got it right in that their trying to blow the beam wing. Look at all of the thermometer stickers* lining it, as well as its shallow AoA. If they can use exhaust gasses to get the equivalent downforce of a steeper wing, then that's indeed something.

Naturally, it's all speculation at this point. Ferrari may not even know yet what they're trying to do. Such is the nature of experimentation.

* What are those properly called?

EDIT: Look at the leading edge of the beam wing. Could that narrow slot be used for anything "tricky," or is it just a byproduct of the wing's construction?


(Click to enlarge.)

[shelly]

I think they are trying more than one thing.
In the last picture with a lot of stickers I agrre the aim is the blown wing. In other runs they have tried different configurations and maybe one of them is pointed towards the floor. the shape of the pipe in some picture especially seem to suggest that, with a curve ramp the plum is supposed to follow thanks to the notorius coanda effect.

In particualra also sauber configuration semm to suggest deflection downwards of the exhasts. Now curving the jet down gives lift, which can be compensated by advanages elsewhere.

Testing exhausts is very difficult. In cfd probably you tend to see a much mre "diligent" behauviour of the get, underestimating dissipation. I have read on scarbs twitter that some teams have used helium in the past to replicate the density difference in wt, by I do not know if they rely on that still (the fact they ised helium instead of argon is indeed a clue about the expected density ratio).

I agree with others in remarking how low the rear ride height is in the picture: coul it be just a transient effect under acceleration? Or maybe since it is aero testing thier are testing different aeromaps to comapre with wt values on the same point of the aeromap (frh-rrh)

[Gui59]

Like MCL, they tried/are trying to recreate the same effect as last year with the exhaust: isolate the side of the diffuser with hot gazes. The problem is that now they are far away from the diffuser and it's much more difficult to control, if they continue in that direction they might really well have the same problem as Renault last year, impossible to get same data on the track as in simulation because of the uncontrolled nature of the gazes.

[Hail22]

I think from this last minute testing they must of done it to run by the wind tunnel to give all options a go practically and theoretically.

Which would mean that "real" releases of all the 2012 top running cars may be at Catalunya (Ferrari, Mclaren, Red Bull and Mercedes) Yes what we saw last week were 2012 cars...but they were prototype A's not 2012 contenders.

[shelly]

yes hail these are launch spec as opposed to 1st race spec

@smikle: the floor is usually molded on both sides

[Crucial_Xtreme]

They tried multiple exhaust "blowing" configurations during the Jerez test. Here they are clearly blowing towards the rear brake ducts. They've obviously not figured out which is the best. Right click>view image.

[aral]

They tried multiple exhaust "blowing" configurations during the Jerez test. Here they are clearly blowing towards the rear brake ducts. They've obviously not figured out which is the best.

That is an early image of the exhaust, when some bodywork was cut away, as it was burning. Compare that to the Alonso Ferrari, and you will see the change, to inward blowing exhausts. Also, have a look at the heat shield on the inside of the endplates, with Alonso driving. It protects more of the endplate, and it is obvious that exhaust is now being blown to the beam wing and deflected upwards. Very major change in ideas.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

They tried multiple exhaust "blowing" configurations during the Jerez test. Here they are clearly blowing towards the rear brake ducts. They've obviously not figured out which is the best.

That is an early image of the exhaust, when some bodywork was cut away, as it was burning. Compare that to the Alonso Ferrari, and you will see the change, to inward blowing exhausts. Also, have a look at the heat shield on the inside of the endplates, with Alonso driving. It protects more of the endplate, and it is obvious that exhaust is now being blown to the beam wing and deflected upwards. Very major change in ideas.

Here is Alonso driving with the exhaust in the exact same position. As I said earlier they tried many different configs. Right click>view image

[bhall]

I agree with others in remarking how low the rear ride height is in the picture: coul it be just a transient effect under acceleration?

In every picture I've seen from Day 4, the car's ride height appears uniformly low.