DarkAlman wrote: ↑13 Mar 2021, 07:39
Can't wait to see under the hood to see what's going on with that airbox
Anyone check yet if the sidepods are narrower?
Or maybe they're just adding more cooling for the new engine spec?
Cooling is the likely answer, there's extra strakes in the intake so at least one other radiator has likely been moved into the center line.
Maybe they re-located the entire Turbo inter-cooler up there?
Was Renault running a water-air intercooler last year? I forget
No. An air to air intercooler in each sidepod.
Regarding sidepods:
Sidepod 'hip' look larger on A521 at first glance in this Imola 2020/Sakhir 2021 camparison
https://i.imgur.com/kpiCKn3.jpg
But it's not true
Hip width comparison (pink arrow - angle is not the same but it should make the A521 hip look wider):
https://i.imgur.com/VCPGWn2.jpg
Intake:
Coclusion:
The A521 has more sculpted sidepods at the bottom/more undercut, are bit more sculpted at the top/overcut, and have smaller air intakes
If the purpose of the larger rollhoop is to reduce the sidepods, then the mission is partly accomplished... but that doesn't explain everything and several questions remain:
-why are the air intakes of the roll hoop the same, despite the doubling of its width?
-why did Enstone abandon the RB-style downwashy sidepods (that almost every other team adopted) after one season, and went back to classic and undercut sidepods?
-why is the Alpine coke bottle/waist area fatter? even the RS.17-18-19-20 had a much deeper waist