Renault R31

[humble sabot]

I noticed that little piece in the center of the rear wing, has someone gone over that?

Not that i know of. It took me a bit to see it clearly as well. probably just a flow straightener.

the exhaust problem has me puzzled now. i'm just not seeing enough exit area on the car for cooling and exhaust. maybe they really are doing something clever.

[raymondu999]

THe thing on the wing is the ARW actuator I believe. Maybe some flow-vis would help us spot those exhausts during the testing over the next few days

[Michiba]

Perhaps they use exhaust(s) positioned at the front as virtual skirts?

I mean, since volume and speed and exhaust gasses is mush faster than speed of car, perhaps the gasses could prevent spilling of airstream sideways? Having them spilled sideways would be no loss since they need to go somewhere anyway, and if they could at least partially seal the space between stepped floor and the longitudinal outline of the floor (at least at the beginning of the floor), than the air traveling below the floor would be less spilled, right?

I mean like these small vertical fins on top of airplane wing that serve for same purpose, only "virtual" since floor must be skirt-less, flat that is.

that would seem reasonable. Wasn't that one of the functions of the wheel fairings anyway? This would be a new way to do it.

[mike]

maybe just running abit of EGR???
it saves fuel and have better part load efficiency, they will need direction injection to maximize stratified burning, which is not that unlikely?

[Formula None]

There does seem to be something going on at the front corners of the floor.





Seems a bit thick through this section:




Hmmm... Zoom. Rotate. Enhance...







Well, well, well, what have we here?

I was thinking along the same lines as manchild, create a separation between low and high pressure zones w/ a vortex initiated by the exhaust exiting the front of the floor. If not that, I don't suppose there's any benefit to funneling it along the radius where the top of the floor and the sidepod join together, is there?

[Metal]

You guys are all over technical here and im very ignorant in that field.

I would like to do a slight OT, just a question, i read that Renault declared that the R31 has already more downforce than R30, at this stage of development, even without the double diffuser and the f-duct. I read also that Mclaren stated they want to reach at the end of the season the same amount of downforce as they had at the end of last year's.

Does that mean we have a winner here? The difference would be pretty big in downforce levels.

[FrukostScones]

yes, I m sure it is a winner!

But this year will be extreme, predictions are so difficult.

[Formula None]

I'm not sure how they could be getting more downforce without the DDD, but I too would like to hear ideas for how to do so. Witchcraft is not specifically outlawed this year, so maybe Max held a seance with the team back during winter solstice.

[kilcoo316]

It is accurate enough, I've done it Granted, the simulation may not have been perfect, but the work ensured that no bodywork nor rubber overheated.

You did numerical simulations?

How did you validate them?

[creedbratton]

There does seem to be something going on at the front corners of the floor.
[

Isn't that part of the side impact structure?

[Formula None]

You are probably right, the upper side crash structure is inline with the side blade and the lower one, it follows, would be directly below somewhere.



However I'm more interested in what that gap in the bodywork is for, inboard of the blade and hidden by the turning vane in most of the photos. I'm betting its this rumored front exhaust exit. If not, I'll change my name to Formula Nun, if the mods will let me. High stakes!

[manchild]

EDIT: delete

[mx_tifoso]

Just imagining the exhaust plumbing all the way up there gives me a headache. It would be very interesting but for some reason I doubt it. Renault made a huge deal about their "W" wing a few years back and it was pretty lame, so all of this 'brave' design talk is probably on the same plane as well. If not then I'll just be another one of the non-believes who will get laughed at.

But whether we see temperature stickers in that area or not during testing will say it all.

[Formula None]

Well, I guess ejecting caterpillars at a sufficiently high velocity would create a bit of extra downforce. I don't think PETA would approve, though, as you well know manchild, and the caterpillar holding tank would have to be huge to last an entire race.

[Formula None]

But whether we see temperature stickers in that area or not during testing will say it all.

Maybe there's an IR sensor there for that purpose, in this little bulge on the floor: