Lotus E23 Mercedes

SRK · Post 02 Mar 2015, 13:04

Lotus is in cooling it safe
Dieter Rencken & Markus Lüttgens 01 March 2015 - 17:37 clock

2015 Lotus in Formula 1, a much better position than a year ago, even if the team in some areas, a conservative approach selected

(Motorsport-Total.com) - Judging by the impressions of the winter tests Lotus is next to Clean succeeded in this season the biggest leap forward, which also was not difficult, however, after both teams in the past year were to be found in the back of the field of Formula 1. For Lotus progress is closely related to the change of the drive of Renault Mercedes together, but the hybrid engine from Brixworth is not the only cause of the present excellent team spirit.

"The power unit was a step forward,but the chassis too," says Nick Chester, Technical Director of Lotus. "The ride is much more predictable, drivers can easily go to the limit." Compared to its predecessor, the new E23 is better in some areas, as well as the brake-by-wire system, which is developed in-house and is not acquired from Mercedes. "We had to start last season, a lot of problems, but the system could significantly improve," said Chester. "Now we are happy with it".

This also applies to the new drive unit after it had contributed in the previous year and the unreliable and weak Renault-drive crash Lotus. "The power unit is installed in a very nice, what brings us some advantages. He is also very reliable," says Chester. "We drove the entire winter testing with only one power unit. There is an advantage in many areas."

Conservative approach to cooling

These benefits used Lotus but not in all areas to the limit from. "When installing the drive and cooling, we received no risk, because we may be somewhat conservative," said Chester. The motto "reliability before performance" was in force. Therefore joined Lotus in the intercooler from a water-to-air cooler.

This was, according to Chester advantages during installation. "The decision to switch to Mercedes fell, quite late," said the chief technology officer. "Since we had already begun with the first drafts and have settled on this simpler solution." The conservative approach is also seen in the airbox, the clumsy acts with its lateral cooling vents than some other cars.

"It depends on the design of the cooling system. There are oil and water cooler the engine, the charge air cooler, ERS, transmission and hydraulic cooler," said Chester. "We decided to cool some of these coolers with the air intakes on the roll bar. Other teams do things differently." When drag this interpretation, however, would make no difference.

New front suspension improves handling

Drive and cooling, however, were not the only starting points during winter testing. This week, proven Lotus in Barcelona, a new front suspension. "The geometry that we have tried, has a major impact on the balance of the car slower at the apex of corners," says Chester. And this influence was clearly positive. "We have tested this geometry with both drivers and have let go so to confirm pastor again, so we know that we are going in the right direction."

After the positive-going winter testing Lotus hopes to be able to follow the example of Williams and jump through the exchange of Renault Mercedes from the back of the field of Formula 1 in the top group. "That's our goal," said Chester. Currently, Williams is still ahead, but Lotus is already planning to for the races in Malaysia and China, major updates. "We can hopefully close this gap," said Chester.

Tim.Wright · Post 02 Mar 2015, 13:26

From that it sounds like they are using the push-connection to the upright to change the balance as a function of steering angle.

PlatinumZealot · Post 02 Mar 2015, 19:10

So the air to air inter-cooler was done for reliability purposes (they changed from air to water).

PlatinumZealot · Post 04 Mar 2015, 15:34

Some nice news. Lotus did the entire test using one engine. http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2015/03/04/l ... t-testing/

Chester admitted Lotus has taken a “conservative” route on cooling its Mercedes package ahead of the first race of the season.

“The area where we didn’t take too many risks was the engine installation,” he explained. “We wanted to be reasonably comfortable with cooling and we’ve been quite conservative ahead of Melbourne.”

“It’s been a challenge to fit the engine as the rear surface of the chassis is quite different and we had to do a lot of work to have a neat installation,” he added. “We’ve gone back to air to air charge air cooling because the packaging switch to Mercedes power on a short timeline meant we had to find a simple solution.”

Neno · Post 04 Mar 2015, 16:28

I wonder will Lotus change their "conservative" approach throught the season on cooling issue. Probably those big updates in 2nd and 3rd race will give us definitive answer.

FrukostScones · Post 04 Mar 2015, 18:02

AMUS on E23:

http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 99999.html

they don't think to challenge Williams, Ferrari or RB at the first race

OO7 · Post 04 Mar 2015, 18:20

Neno wrote:I wonder will Lotus change their "conservative" approach throught the season on cooling issue. Probably those big updates in 2nd and 3rd race will give us definitive answer.

I wonder in what way their approach is conservative. The cooling exits at the rear of the E23 are the smallest in the field.

ringo · Post 05 Mar 2015, 16:29

Water to air requires a water pump, which may be electronically controlled, and also a control valve which may also be electronically controlled. So you have an additional cooling system to design and control. That's more engineering resources and time to develop. Not to mention more packaging issues.

BlackSwan · Post 06 Mar 2015, 01:05

ringo wrote:Water to air requires a water pump, which may be electronically controlled, and also a control valve which may also be electronically controlled. So you have an additional cooling system to design and control. That's more engineering resources and time to develop. Not to mention more packaging issues.

Not to mention how many things can fail.

OO7 · Post 06 Mar 2015, 10:20

ringo wrote:Water to air requires a water pump, which may be electronically controlled, and also a control valve which may also be electronically controlled. So you have an additional cooling system to design and control. That's more engineering resources and time to develop. Not to mention more packaging issues.

I don't see how that makes it conservative.

FrukostScones · Post 06 Mar 2015, 12:33

Blaze1 wrote:
Neno wrote:I wonder will Lotus change their "conservative" approach throught the season on cooling issue. Probably those big updates in 2nd and 3rd race will give us definitive answer.
I wonder in what way their approach is conservative. The cooling exits at the rear of the E23 are the smallest in the field.

but their radiators (and so are their side pods) are huuuuge and also those massive ducts around the roll hoop, cooling cooling cooling

I bet they will slim down their side ods during the season if the can afford it

OO7 · Post 06 Mar 2015, 14:32

FrukostScones wrote:
Blaze1 wrote:
Neno wrote:I wonder will Lotus change their "conservative" approach throught the season on cooling issue. Probably those big updates in 2nd and 3rd race will give us definitive answer.
I wonder in what way their approach is conservative. The cooling exits at the rear of the E23 are the smallest in the field.
but their radiators (and so are their side pods) are huuuuge and also those massive ducts around the roll hoop, cooling cooling cooling

I bet they will slim down their side ods during the season if the can afford it

That's one of the things I don't get. I would have expected larger exits, to accommodate the larger flow of air that the larger rads require.

FrukostScones · Post 06 Mar 2015, 16:28

Blaze1 wrote:...........

That's one of the things I don't get. I would have expected larger exits, to accommodate the larger flow of air that the larger rads require.

they where alot bigger 1 spec but where closed already, comparison pics are in this thread

OO7 · Post 06 Mar 2015, 17:52

FrukostScones wrote:
Blaze1 wrote:...........

That's one of the things I don't get. I would have expected larger exits, to accommodate the larger flow of air that the larger rads require.
they where alot bigger 1 spec but where closed already, comparison pics are in this thread

So in theory they could use small rads as well to match the smaller 2nd gen exits?

GM7 · Post 06 Mar 2015, 21:01

Lotus uses a longer nose than her paint

Do you think they can make a shorter nose like this during the season ?

Lotus E23 Mercedes

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