- Login or Register
No account yet? Sign up
During the Le Mans 24 Hours, Toyota Racing’s Anthony Davidson suffered a heavy accident at the wheel of the #8 TS030 HYBRID when he was hit by a lapped car. Things could have been worse still, but the Englishman will remain in hospital until Wednesday to begin the recovery process after suffering two broken vertebrae in the impact.
Ground effect, i.e. jamming air under a car, is a very powerful aero force. Tapering the bottom from the side to the center could cut either way depending on the roll atitude. Blow-out panels in the car bottom could help.gato azul wrote:I thought, one of main ideas about the shark fin, apart from helping with directional stability (yaw), to prevent a spin,
was that in case of an spin and a car going sideways at high speed, it will create a high pressure area on top of the whole
area of the bodywork in front of the shark fin, thereby making it more difficult for the car to "lift off".
In a similar fashion like a "air dam" or "rear deck spoiler" would work.
One could argue, that in this case, and other similar accidents, the new floor rules, demanding the floor to rise from the
centre towards the outside, are detrimental, by allowing more air to pass under the floor from the sides.
Please see previous page.gato azul wrote:I thought, one of main ideas about the shark fin, apart from helping with directional stability (yaw), to prevent a spin, was that in case of an spin and a car going sideways at high speed, it will create a high pressure area on top of the whole area of the bodywork in front of the shark fin, thereby making it more difficult for the car to "lift off".
Yes,olefud wrote:Blow-out panels in the car bottom could help.
That was the point the car went into a sharp left turn ,was unable to put load on the front wheels due to the loss of the left rear and that was enough to flip it due to the speed .The fin is just too small in reference to the size of the car and its speed to have a major impact on what wa shappening .I tmay well have had an influence how the flight enrolled but that´s really academic...good grief ...that was a close call..LeMans is very close to fatalities for some years running now..So unfortunatelly we can expect something major happening soon.RacingManiac wrote:The Toyota also lost its rear wheel after the initial hit from the Ferrari, so the car is already sitting with its nose up on the right side as it starts to spin, probably letting more air underneath the car than it otherwise would have...
Yes, it might have, might have not.bhallg2k wrote:Instead, the shark fin might have actually accelerated the yaw. That's the issue here.
You just can't cater for all possible combination of scenarios, like you said wheel lost, riding over a kerb etc. all contributed to the final result.At 90° yaw the fin has a big effect on the rolling moment that starts the roll.
Thank you for your inattention.skgoa wrote:No matter what speed, a fin that low would not have flipped a car that wide on its own. Even if that notion weren't idiotic, we would have to wonder why none of the spins that weren't induced by a Ferrari have led to flips. At that speed even a little air under the floor can make an LMP car tumble through the air.
saaanapbhallg2k wrote:Thank you for your inattention.skgoa wrote:No matter what speed, a fin that low would not have flipped a car that wide on its own. Even if that notion weren't idiotic, we would have to wonder why none of the spins that weren't induced by a Ferrari have led to flips. At that speed even a little air under the floor can make an LMP car tumble through the air.
No matter how often you repeat your fantasy, the fin still wasn't a factor.bhallg2k wrote:Thank you for your inattention.skgoa wrote:No matter what speed, a fin that low would not have flipped a car that wide on its own. Even if that notion weren't idiotic, we would have to wonder why none of the spins that weren't induced by a Ferrari have led to flips. At that speed even a little air under the floor can make an LMP car tumble through the air.