Laurent wrote:
I had a question about de Cd and Cl values of F1 cars. It's maybe not simple to find them, but it would help me if anyone could give them.....
If it’s for school do an approximate calculation, it would be less accurate but surely more useful than just showing some data.
Power 900 hp, 3-4% lost in the transmission... say 875 hp... 100-120 in rolling resistance... say 750 hp at the wheels... top speed in Monza... 365 km/h, rho = 1.2 kg/m3 =>
750 hp = about 550 kW
365 km/h = about 101 m/s... say 100.
Drag = 0.5 rho * v^2 SCd
Power = drag * v = 0.5 rho * v^3 SCd
SCd = 2 * Power / (rho v^3) = 1100000 / (1.2 * 100^3) = 0.92 m2
Efficiency (Cl / Cd) is probably between 3 and 3.5, say 3.4 => SCl = SCd * 3.4 = 3.1 m2
Now Monaco... peak speed 295 km/h (82 m/s), same power at the wheels (given the level of our approximation etc etc...), same calculation :
SCd = 1100000 / (1.2 * 82^3) = 1.66 m2
Efficiency is probably a bit lower in Monaco, say 3.2 => SCl = 5.3 m2
They aren’t accurate but at least show that... you... know something about physics...
That’s it sonny. But remember, that’s the last time I make your own homework
(I knew I would have said something like that one day, I just hoped to be a bit older than 27 at the time...)