The Ultimate Racing Car

[MIKEY_!]

Time to revive this thread since i thought of this: Attach two turbines to the chassis, with the exhaust exiting vertically near the middle of the car to produce constant downforce. Air to feed the turbines could be drawn through the radiators so they could be smaller. It would use a lot of fuel of course...

[DaveKillens]

I would start with a powerplant, and my personal preference would be a gas turbine generating somewhere around three thousand HP. Since gas turbines take time to spool up and down, a complex CVT transmission and KERS system would have to be developed to deliver optimum four wheel drive. Or maybe eight wheel drive, don't let existing rules limit our imaginations.

The body would be fully enclosed, with maximum ground effects. Additionally, large variable pitch wings would be mounted front and rear, to add extra downforce, or set at zero incidence to allow maximum velocity. I was also thinking of clamshell doors on the engine exhaust to direct forward, rearward, or sideways.

Imagine accelerating, jet exhaust pointed straight back, maybe some afterburner thrown in for extra, wings set neutral, and all four wheels digging hard. On braking, wings set at maximum angle for downforce and drag, jet exhaust pointed forward, and brakes glowing.

Hey, if it works on the Eurofighter, why not a car?

[Learning_F1]

I can only think of Group B Rally Cars type but with more modernized drivetrain/transmission, aerodynamics, and other technology (as long as it doesn't hinder too much driver's skill). On the other hand, I want the ultimate cornering ability, and that post before me, which is an aircraft, reminded me to get something from aircraft as well -- thrust vectoring. Perhaps you can add some sort of other propulsion source, such as the exhaust gases that should have enough pressure with nozzles that turn in accordance to steering input... as well as make the wings that have vanes that also assist in cornering.

By the way, Group B Rally Cars were described as Formula One cars for Forest back then. So, if it can drive extremely fast in not the smoothest of roads, imagine what it can do on a paved surface together with all modern technology available.

[krisfx]

In regards to the typhoon post. I've always wondered whether canards would work on a racecar, it's still true that the cleanest air is at the front, and a canard provides best response because it is out of turbulence. Interesting theory

[flynfrog]

Time to revive this thread since i thought of this: Attach two turbines to the chassis, with the exhaust exiting vertically near the middle of the car to produce constant downforce. Air to feed the turbines could be drawn through the radiators so they could be smaller. It would use a lot of fuel of course...

it really doesn't make much sense to add a turbine only to pull in from the radiators. Turbines work off of Delta T if your air is already hot there isn't much you can do with it. You could get much more Df by pulling the air from under the car. You would get the added Low pressure area from under the car rather than strait thrust.

[flynfrog]

Also if you are going to drag around a turbine why not just power the car with it.

[Slife]

Yes it has turbines and an internal combustion engine.

[andylaurence]

Yes it has turbines and an internal combustion engine.

Designed by Homer Simpson? Mmmm, wheels. We need six. Wings uh, how many do the others have? Two? We'll take three of them.

[Sombrero]

I would go for a very free formula, very light, very short wheelbase, with small engine capacity. Example : BMW Monti or Porsche Bergspider, both were group 7 EHC cars...

The group C were very attractive racing car, but the group B were the craziest and ultimate rallying car, may be also the ultimate racing car. Of course actual WRC car have higher cornering speed but they lack of everythink else compare to the old group B. Actual racing WEC, WRC, WTTC is pasteurized and F-1 is pirellized...

[MadMatt]

For me it would be this :

Body
Of course very light carbon fiber body, with active aerodynamic devices : front wing, rear wing, diffuser, brake flaps (like on a plane). Closed wheels and canopy (a bit like the Red Bull X1) with ejecting seat automatically controlled.

Chassis
Carbon monocoque chassis (obviously), active suspension. Tires would be slicks of course, with carbon/carbon brakes (nothing spectacular there). Ground effect would be a possibility too, but I will keep this on the side so the car still be used on the road (there are FXX which were not designed to be road driven, which ARE actually road driven, so).

Engine
Engine would be a 2 strokes engine, v6, turbocharged with the system my school had started to develop 40 years ago (adding a turbine to create an external combustion chamber, for immediate boost and pressure). There would be a thermal energy recovery system (TERS) and also a KERS to give more boost if needed.

Transmission
No gearbox, but a CVT system with advanced mapping, giving power to the 4 wheels through active diffs. With the 2 strokes turbo/turbine charged, there would be a continuous push up to very high speeds, and with the additional TERS/KERS systems, power would still be enough to accelerate the car even from 300kph onward.

Misc
Due to the high potential of the car, the driver would be in an anti-G suit and in the case of a fire or crash, would be automatically ejected out of the car (assuming the conditions for a safe ejection are there). Otherwise, the whole cockpit could be removed by the surrounding marshals with 2 levers to get the driver out of the scene quickly.

Ok these are just few examples of what I can think now about what would be my ultimate racing car ! But that would not be fun at all. The human brain would be pushed way beyond what's possible. You can always adapt, but you can never reduce to 0 the reaction time that you have in a special situation. And travelling faster mean longer distance covered during the reaction time, leading to less time/space to react.

I don't want to see wipeout races so there would have to be specially designed track for these machines, much much more longer than the 5km we know regularly have, with bigger radius corners, wider road. All this to accommodate the speed the cars could achieve. If the tracks are modified like this, then it would be nice to watch for the spectators. But "ultimate" racing cars on normal tracks -> NO.

[MIKEY_!]

[quote="flynfrog"it really doesn't make much sense to add a turbine only to pull in from the radiators. Turbines work off of Delta T if your air is already hot there isn't much you can do with it. You could get much more Df by pulling the air from under the car. You would get the added Low pressure area from under the car rather than strait thrust.[/quote]

didn't think of the delta T problem but radiator air is still going to be much colder than turbine exhaust, even when using highly concentrated salts in the radiator water or even gallium alloy or similar. avoided taking air from under the floor since there would be a lot of debris to damage the turbine, I think the ultimate racing car should at least be able to handle gravel roads, which rules out fans as well.

Also if you are going to drag around a turbine why not just power the car with it.

because turbines are too slow to respond to throttle input (yes CVT i know, but i hate the noise)

[passat]

Drag racer who can turn left and right and have better breaks.

[Wuestenmaus]

I like the Homer Simpson design;)

[machin]

Someone built my "ultimate racecar"

well, sort of......



But seriously.... more info here:

http://www.topspeed.com/cars/others/201 ... 31184.html

[machin]

There's an interesting article in the current Racecar Engineering magazine which gives the advantages in downforce and aero efficiency that could be had from shrouding the wheels of a single seater....

My latest take on the concept (with cleaner air to the rear wing courtesy of a canopy over the driver):-