Defensive Aerodynamics

[Callum]

I was wondering if any teams have ever officially stated that particular items on their car have a main purpose of increasing the loss of downforce for a following car?

Has anyone ever worked for a team where this was brought up?

[Shrieker]

I read this on F1 racing some 8 or 9 years ago when Sauber's then new wind tunnel was under construction. Someone from the Sauber team mentioned it. Needs digging up.

[SiLo]

I reckon there might be one or two guys in each team that do things like that. Probably won't be their full time job though...

[strad]

I have mentioned this many times. As much as looking to help their own car they definitely look at disturbing the air and hurting those that follow.

[Lycoming]

This question has come up more times than I can count now.

Nobody does this. Disturbing the cars following you by putting out a big, turbulent wake only works if you can get in front first, which is kind of hard to do when hauling said wake around with you.

[hollus]

The best way to defend against the car behind is to put another car in between you and him.

[Callum]

This question has come up more times than I can count now.

Nobody does this. Disturbing the cars following you by putting out a big, turbulent wake only works if you can get in front first, which is kind of hard to do when hauling said wake around with you.

Yes, but, if you can control this wake in a way that is more detrimental to others than a natural wake then it is advantageous.

[wesley123]

This question has come up more times than I can count now.

Nobody does this. Disturbing the cars following you by putting out a big, turbulent wake only works if you can get in front first, which is kind of hard to do when hauling said wake around with you.

Yes, but, if you can control this wake in a way that is more detrimental to others than a natural wake then it is advantageous.

If it's detrimental to others, then so will it to you. Because this turbulence will also affect airflow in front of it. And this is why nobody does it. Because this turbulence created, is also turbulence for you.

[PhillipM]

Not much need when the rear wing and diffuser are already throwing hot air into their engine intakes...

[gridwalker]

The first time I heard of this concept was back in 1993, when one of the BBC commentators stated that the Ferrari was deliberately designed that way (not that it was doing them much good at the time). I can't confirm that this information came from an official source, but he seemed fairly confident that it was the case.

[Lycoming]

This question has come up more times than I can count now.

Nobody does this. Disturbing the cars following you by putting out a big, turbulent wake only works if you can get in front first, which is kind of hard to do when hauling said wake around with you.

Yes, but, if you can control this wake in a way that is more detrimental to others than a natural wake then it is advantageous.

You're better off spending your time trying to reduce the size of the wake so as to have less drag. The result is that then, you can pull away from the car behind you even when he isn't close enough to be eating your dirty air.