BMW Vertical Fins Banned

[mini696]

There are plenty more dangerous things in F1 than those.

[kilcoo316]

That is the biggest amount of bollox I have ever heard (ok maybe not)... still they drivers said they hardly noticed them after they got used to them. And those things are less of a danger to the driver compared to something like the wing mirrors..... they are closer to the driver, much heavier and break off alot more often...

Yeah, like they are gonna come out and say: "I can't see nothing, the team has really wasted the last month or so developing these, despite the improvements they give us aerodynamically, they should be banned as it cuts our vision dramatically"

[Saribro]

There are plenty more dangerous things in F1 than those.

Usually though, perception takes precedent over reality.

[zac510]

If one of those things went through the visor of a driver you'd have exact same cause of death as Ayrton Senna. Nobody wants to see that.

[Tom]

Those visors can withstand shotgun blasts from point blank, the helmets can survive tanks running over the! Since Senna's death a lot has been improved on these crucial safety devices, much of it gone unnoticed.

I honestly don't believe they could even dent the helmet, they are carbon fibre after all and there would never be enough weight behind them to do any seriouse damage, even if they managed to hit the drivers body.

Coulthard was hit by his own front wing in Spa last year, not even a scratch, are you telling me these things are heavier than a meaty (in comparison) wing?

The vision thing, I can see their point, but neither driver crashed so they could obviously see the road ahead.

I reakon if they did come loose they would be forced over the driver by the turbulent air, or at least to his helmet, and his body would be safe.
In a crash they would be the least of the drivers worries, and seeing as they're on top they are unlikely to be broken off.

But they're banned and I can only assume the FIA know better than I do so thats that.

[i70q7m7ghw]

If the drivers had a problem with vision of course they would have stated it, they would have just asked them team to remove them...... The drivers have one of the biggest influences over what goes on the car.

[Reca]

That’s my CAD model of a F1 car, most of you already know it although it changed a bit since last time I posted it :
[IMG:150:128]http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/5554 ... el4.th.jpg[/img]

I added a pair of BMW-like horns, NACA 0006 airfoil 15 cm chord, 30 cm span, just to get a vague idea of how much they impede driver’s vision.

Then I put the model in this scene :
[IMG:150:111]http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/3711 ... zg7.th.jpg[/img]

Height of the cylinders is 1m (red) 2m (orange) and 3m (green). For the first group the distance from front wheels axle is 3 m, for second is 10 m, third is 20 m.
Here is roughly what the driver sees :
[IMG:150:139]http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/4772 ... ih9.th.jpg[/img]

Upper image with driver looking straight in front.
Lower with head rotated 20° left and tilted 10° same direction, as in a left turn.

Notice that the manikin isn’t wearing an helmet so you have to consider that peripheral vision should be worse than that.

[Tom]

Looks OK to me. Whats wrong with that?

Thats the 3rd computer image I've seen in 4 topics, everyone is inspired today

[slimjim8201]

Long time browser, first time poster here

Reca, I would just about kill to get that F1 model from you. I work for a CFD company and would spend every free minute of my day playing with it. I'd be eternally grateful if you could send me the CAD geometry!!!

Here is some inspiration of my own for you guys...

Top Up / Top Down Study

Underbody Study

My current project

[DaveKillens]

Hi slimjim, glad to meet you. In the German GP JV complaind about how much oversteer he had, blamed at as one of the causes of his meeting the wall.
It makes sense, removal of those towers would allow more turbulent air over the rear of the car, leading to less rear end aero downforce.
The interimn solution for the german GP should see a lot of revisions, to balance the car. But I fear it will probably lead to less overall downforce than they enjoyed with the twin towers.

[zac510]

They were slow in France too - the problem can't be just those wings.

[Tom]

It looked like more than just oversteer that pitched JV off, but only the team really know I suppose.

I think the fins might have had some effect but it was a very unbalanced car to do what the Saulber did, shame we didn't get to see Heidfield at all so we could know how his car was.

[G-Rock]

I think that the only thing that those fins did is distract the scrutineers from other questionable technologies that BMW might be tossing around.

[Steven]

Well I disagree with all of you who claim that this was unjustified banning of something innovative. I imagine the trailing edge of these fins was really sharp and could really kill a driver in case it breaks off (for any reason).

However, I would not be myself if I did not have any critics, and therefore I really think the FIA should have banned it straight away like they did with the Arrows wing at Monaco a few years ago (this sounds suspiciously identical to that Renault mass damper).

As for Jacques Hockenheim race though, the problem might have been this new front wing, as he did not complain of oversteer in earlier sessions during the weekend.

@slimjim: welcome to this forum!
@reca: why does your car have a Honda airbox wing?

[tomislavp4]

We all know FIA...
They can´t kill the driver and the drivers can still see as usual with them on. That´s my opinion.