sauber chassis updates

[bernard]

Sauber has made some changes to their chassis in the back of the car and on airbox. These changes come on the heels of the news of them getting the updated version of ferraris engine. I read that they have more efficient cooling devices that allow them to make the airbox lower and the sidepods narrover. Are these new parts a part of the engine? Do they belong to the same package?
Also read that that lower airbox allows more air to flow to the rearwing(obviously) so why did mclaren go for a longer airbox on 19B? More robust cooling devices to face their beginning of the season unreliability?

[Monstrobolaxa]

Don't forget that the airbox is essentially used to creat (increase) the air pressure on the inlet trumpets....not for cooling.

[Monstrobolaxa]

This is the arrangement of the engine:



like you see here in the BMW P23 engine:


in Scarbs F1 site

The idea of the airbox is to create the maximum (optimum) pressure for the air/fuel mixture that enters the cylinder!
The higher the pressure is (for the same temperature) the more energentic the explosion/expansion is....which means more power.

[Monstrobolaxa]

About the airflow yes a lower airbox gives a cleaner airflow to the rear wing.

And the Ferrari cooling device might be the angled radiatores (horizontal) that help to lower the CofG and can maintain the refrigeration area if not increase it. (we talked about it in another thread...but I can't seem to find it...it was about Sauber)

[Monstrobolaxa]

Here it is:

viewtopic.php?t=508

[bernard]

yeah, stupid me, obviously it meant that the improved radiators(?) allow smaller sidepods and the airbox is lover because of other improvements in the engine; Most likely improved air intake system.

[-shr3d-]

would be interesting to see what the shape of the airboxes would be by the end of the season if they hadnt introduced the minimum size they are permitted to be so we can all read the sponsors names hey....
good to see Mclaren back and challenging...

[Ciwai]

I thought that the minimum airbox size reg appeared to be a response to ferrari's reduction of the airbox which I think began as a mid year development on the f2002. It was getting so the sponsor was turning into "arlboro" and other teams were following suit.

At the time it was thought that the profile reduction was to increase airflow to the rear wing in lateral conditions, into a turn.

So it was a surprise to see the renault R 24 debut with an airbox profile that was larger than the minimum specs, and now the mclaren mid-year development following this pattern. I didn't think this was related to the internal components being larger since the extension appears to be thin in section. More likely it is to do with maintaining air flow to the rear wing. If that is the case is it related to the rear wings being of 2 elements? And secondly doesn't this then contradict the original thinking behind ferrari's reduction?

On a related note, kudos to renault for pasting large driver numbers on the airboxes.....not that it matters anymore since most fans don't know whose numbers are who's anyway.

[Monstrobolaxa]

Humm....it seems to me it has to do with the air flow over the rear wing.

I'm thinking of 2 things that contradict each other....first the smaller the engine cover is the more air the rear wing gets. and secondly the larger the engine cover is....it might help to stabilize the turbulent air flow that comes from around the airbox.

but in any case the engine cover was increased in order to increase sponsor placings.

[JBH]

Five things have changed on the Sauber for the British Grand Prix.

1- Lower sidepods towards the rear. Not engine cover The engine cover is identical to what it has been all season.

2- New airbox wing behind the roll bar structure, placed on the engine cover. More like the unit Ferrari have been using all season long.

3- New conditioner wing between the rear wheels. As opposed to tyhe one they used earlier this season, this updated version has a 3D design, which helps maximise the flow of air to the rear wing, better than what the previous version did.

4- New sidepod mounted winglets. These are taller, as a bi-product of the lower sidepods. They also take on a double wing flap look, like Williams, as opposed to the single flap, like Ferrari.

5- Updated engine.Same spec as Ferrari`s latest unit, sans the electronics and lubrications. The difference in electronics and lubrication, could be one of the reasons for Sauber's reliability woes.