Ferrari brake duct\wheel fairings (silverstone)

[deluge]

The question that I asked above has not been addressed, but only been followed by questions that complicate my understanding. Can anyone here answers my questions, or is the point just to find more complicated detailed issues that ignore the general premise.

Sorry guys, I'm new here, but questions to questions leave a void in basic understanding.

So, to re-address my basic question, are these wheel covers meant to provide better brake cooling, or are they there to improve the aero exit profile of the front wheels?

The fact that they don't spin, but are fixed, addresses the point of the "no moving aero devices," but I'm not sure of their intended purpose. Plus, why don't the other teams have them, or do they?

[Carlos]

@deluge - To improve the aero exit profile by ducting the airstream under the chassis while providing a more coherent path dispersing a heated air column - the ducts may even be designed to produce a venturi effect - although not enough details have been provided anywhere on the net ( that I have seen) - There is a description on the f1technical Technology & Developement section that addresses your question quite specifically - it does improves brake cooling and aero - written by our [technical/site] moderator (Tomba) & revised with [the/his] first item of commentary - followed by input from our of forum members - the article answers your question - an aero device that also assists brake efficency - an engineering solution that solves 2 problems with one feature. Very good intuition/analysis deluge; I look forward to your future postings. I have noted the exacting focus of your past posts. Welcome to the Forum - Here's the link:

http://www.f1technical.net/development/95

[zac510]

There certainly must be a drag decreasing component otherwise there would be no need for the fairing to cover the wheel on the outside. The fairing could be contained within the rim otherwise.

[RH1300S]

A few weeks back in Autosport, they reported that these ducts let the air out in a much more controlled way in the wake of the front wheel and are beneficial to the efficiency of the underbody as the air is directed to where it is needed rather than just spilling out of the sides.

I'm sure that the fact the wheel becomes fully faired doesn't hurt drag at all

[ginsu]

Aerodynamics
The ES3's raised floor height and smoothed underfloor surfaces raise the amount of airflow under the car and increase airflow speed, contributing to the ES3's outstanding aerodynamics and stability at high speeds. Narrow tyres and careful attention to wheel fairings also contribute to a considerable aerodynamic improvement. These attentions to detail have resulted in an ultra-low coefficient of drag (0.23), less than any car in production today.

Should provide no doubt as to the reduction of drag by use of the wheel fairings.

Now, providing downforce with the hot air, that's going to require some serious CFD work to simulate. I can see how the air that is expelled from the front wheel fairing is probably getting sucked under the car due to the low pressure there, but as to why it increases downforce i'm a bit uncertain. I know the hot air is going to be less dense than the cooler air around it, maybe this effect ends up 'sucking' additional airflow with it, thus increasing the overall air velocity underneath the car. It seems to me that Ferrari have really worked on how the effects of hot airflow can help contribute to downforce.

[manchild]

I think it only reduces the turbulence behind front wheels without having much influence on what goes on under the car.

[Keitho]

That front "ducting" is a two part system consisting from inner CF ring glued to rim while rim cover is attached to wheel nut. When replacing tyres rim cover goes off the wheel together with the nut and than gets back on wheel when nut is screwed.

Am I right? Has anyone seen tyre change detail? I guess that rim cover stays still on an additional bearing over the wheel nut while the only mystery remains what keeps rim cover in one position. The logic tells us that it is the weight but could it also be the aero shape from the inside (the thing we don't see?).

Im sure I saw the wheelman rotate the cover after the nut was tightened, it seemed to click into place when in the right position.

[wowf1]

Yep Keitho I agree, I saw that too. Although whether it locked, or simply stopped spinning I'm not sure? I don't know whether I'm missing something but if it does in fact remain fixed, how do they achieve that?

One way would be to allow it to freely rotate and weight the bottom (as someone has already pointed out) but that's a bit primitive in my opinion, and wouldn't work predictably. The other way (as someone has also said) would be to have a hollow stub axle and run a fixed concentric shaft through the middle of it, and somehow attach the wheel cover mechanism to this fixed shaft. Seems a bit complicated to me though? I guess the only other option is to have a one-way bearing in the device that fixes the wheel cover on (in the wheel nut?). Love the invention, just want to know how it works!

[antrock]

this is a sketch i made in 2minutes - i believe it is actually a very simple device



red color shows a static axle which goes thru the whole wheel and keeps the new rims (blue) in place, green shows a bearing that makes the actual wheel turn around

[pyry]

this is an indigenious concept 2 cool d red hot carbon fibre disks after heavy breakin.the 27 degree aperture in d lower part of d rim allows d hot air 4m d brakes 2 fly underneath d car and in dat way increasin d aero balance of car.

2 know how it works refer 2 d link below
http://www.f1technical.net/development/95

we still havnt seen its use in live racin.lets wait 4 d british gp 2 catch up wid d pit stop.

can you please speak english

[RH1300S]

Reporting back from Autosport again............

A bit more detail from this week's magazine.

It is about reducing drag (sorry to mislead you all earlier) - Mainly to do with efficiency of the front brake duct. Letting the air out at this particular point is the lowest pressure area around the front wheel - this allows the INTAKE to be smaller, which reduces drag caused by the front brake ducts.

I don't doubt that fairing the front wheel helps more than a little in reducing drag around the wheel too.

Hat's off to Ferrari for thinking outside the box with this one.

I don't want to start a big flame war here; but faired wheels are specifically banned. This system effectively creates a faired wheel within the regulations. How come the FIA didn't pipe in and say - this goes against the spirit of the regulations - we won't allow it. It's all very clever, but sooner or later I expect to see several other cars with these systems - they may as well free up the faired wheel regs OR dissallow this particular interpretation of the rules.

[dumrick]

I don't want to start a big flame war here; but faired wheels are specifically banned. This system effectively creates a faired wheel within the regulations. How come the FIA didn't pipe in and say - this goes against the spirit of the regulations - we won't allow it. It's all very clever, but sooner or later I expect to see several other cars with these systems - they may as well free up the faired wheel regs OR dissallow this particular interpretation of the rules.

After approving rear faired wheels as "brake ducts", there's no way these front ones can be deemed illegal.
Is not thinking outside the box, it's thinking outside the rules.

[deluge]

Thanks Guys for your responses to my questions about the wheel covers. I live in the States but have been in England for the past few weeks taking care of a little business. I haven't been able to reply in a timely fashion.

However, the variety of responses when digested have explained the various advantages and purposes of these wheel coverings. As I discussed with my friends in England, I still do not understand why others have not used this application.

But, the BMW solution may be as effective as Ferrari's and so are some of the other solutions that have been subjected to wind tunnel analysis but not yet seen on track. I probably do not need to elaborate.

How do you guys rate the alternative solutions to the Ferrari design? My initial impressions are that none provide an appreciable advantage.

[Carbon]

Did I see things correctly? In the first practice this morning, Ferrari's wheel fairings evolving into vent-less disks? They look the same as Silverstone's fairings, without the cutout (vent) in the lower quadrant.

Am I correct? Did anyone else notice this?

[FLC]

Looks like they are exactly the same:

[IMG:1038:667]http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/1199 ... rldda7.jpg[/img]