Barge vs Axe boards...

[j4kwan]

How does the Barge board differ from the...I guess Axe board (eg BAR)?
I understand that both help flow air into, and around the intakes, and both help flow air out from under the car. However, how do they both accomplish the same task while both are shaped completely different?

[Guest]

I might be wrong about this, but if you look at teams that use the axe boards, (such as Williams and BAR), they also incorporate turning vanes at or near the front wheels. I think those essentially function as barge boards, dividing and smoothing out the turbulent air. I think the axe boards such smooths out and distribute the air into the intakes and the diffusers underneath.

[West]

Geoff Willis said there really isn't a difference to them; just depends how u set it up. The axes smooth the air going underneath the car, as well as limit the amount of air going underneath (so that some of it can go into the radiator, at the least). Also, the axe outboard edges create a rolling vortex down the side of the car.