Lotus T127 Cosworth

[raymondu999]

Really? My mistake then... I seem to remember that those sidepods had 0 undercut

[mith]

That's not the very best angle possible, but I wanted to use presentation photo. You can see that the sidepods are undercut a bit.

[raymondu999]

I think that's where I got caught out. I didn't quite catch that slight undercut towards the front

[conni]

I don't know my self but the way Ken Anderson of USF1 makes it sound, the engine cover seems to be one of the more difficult parts to make. I guess that is why the Lotus' has such a simple shape.

in all honesty ,the engine cover is difficult ? in what ? perhaps in getting into the small autoclave they have ..
If you can make a tub , nosecone ,wings and suspension you should not have a problem with a big panel ...
but wait, we have only seen pieces of the tub yet, maybe he forgot that those items need to be done as well before may15 ,2010...

the engine cover is actually quite a difficult part to manufacture. It needs to be shaped over a wooden plug much like a racing yachts hull.
the complex shapes and size makes this quite a difficult part plus it has to be pretty light hence the skin is thin.
When removing it from the plug extreme care has to be taken or you could end up breaking it and then you have to start from scratch.

The tub is easier in that its made from two halves that are then joined together and co cured in the clave.

As gran would say WHAT a load of old --- lol
an engine cover is basically a fairing it only has to deflect the wind, the plug is made from tooling block that is machined to shape then you layup the LTM onto this usualy a 1 8 1 layup then the actual part is just 2 layers of prepreg honeycomb and 2 layers of prepreg 2 days tops where as a tub takes about 6 weeks work it is made in 2 halves and is then cold bonded

conni

[marcush.]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81930

in the interview Gascoyne states lotus had no information about cooling figures when designing the cars layout for the sidepods..

How did the other teams using cosworth handle this situation? I can´t believe they had no info either ,and does this hint at lotus originally planning with a generic engine,maybe toyota?
The story does not really make sense to me as something like the cooling needs is a
must have for the design of a lot of parts...looking at the williams ...could it be they also had some data not matching up with reality?

[marcush.]

As gran would say WHAT a load of old --- lol
an engine cover is basically a fairing it only has to deflect the wind, the plug is made from tooling block that is machined to shape then you layup the LTM onto this usualy a 1 8 1 layup then the actual part is just 2 layers of prepreg honeycomb and 2 layers of prepreg 2 days tops where as a tub takes about 6 weeks work it is made in 2 halves and is then cold bonded

conni[/quote]
lol ,conny it is exactly what I wrote a few pages back ,I only made allowance for a part with lots of backdrops and so you´d need some parting of the mold itself to be able to get the finished bits out of the mold..but still this shows as well that Anderson is not really the hero he wants to make us believe he is...I´m not sure how he could review a layup plan for prepregs...

[nacho]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81930

in the interview Gascoyne states lotus had no information about cooling figures when designing the cars layout for the sidepods..

How did the other teams using cosworth handle this situation? I can´t believe they had no info either ,and does this hint at lotus originally planning with a generic engine,maybe toyota?
The story does not really make sense to me as something like the cooling needs is a
must have for the design of a lot of parts...looking at the williams ...could it be they also had some data not matching up with reality?

The current Lotus was designed with not knowing what engine it will run with.

Maybe Williams took the Cosworth figures with a bit of a tolerance so they can get running immediately and don't have to fight with overheating, then made the inlets down as much as they could.

BTW a great interview! It also says they had to finish the crash structures a month before going to the wind tunnel.

I think they are doing just fine with a car that nothing has been optimized and most of the stuff has hat to come off MG's hat without actually knowing many necessary details. I'll be following their progress with much enthusiasm.

[marcush.]

the current range of F1 engines all have a common bank angle ,cylinder count ,weight ,lots of specified things coming with them with rpm as well...
so to even think the cooling demands could vary a big deal is making me ask myself ,how this could possibly be ?
We have the same output or nearly so with all the powerplants ,so lets assume this is in a ten percent range so it is 70 horses we speak about.

In general a IC engine does not use the fuel very efficiently and so the question is
would it be possible to improve on the 32% of heat you put into the water and oil system by a big margin ,or would it be possible someone build an engine that is
up to the task in terms of power but not in terms of heat put into the coolant?
so this would need to use more fuel to produce all that heat ..
I doubt the the cooling demands vary a great deal between engines as they all share a common set of constarainst and knowledge.We are not seing a lot in terms of powerdifference so we see as much in terms of heat then.

but of course one thing remains .They did deliver ,where others struggled and failed ,so credit to them! i just feel this blabla is not necessary as they deserve respect anyways.

[zgred]

[conni]

the current range of F1 engines all have a common bank angle ,cylinder count ,weight ,lots of specified things coming with them with rpm as well...
so to even think the cooling demands could vary a big deal is making me ask myself ,how this could possibly be ?
We have the same output or nearly so with all the powerplants ,so lets assume this is in a ten percent range so it is 70 horses we speak about.

In general a IC engine does not use the fuel very efficiently and so the question is
would it be possible to improve on the 32% of heat you put into the water and oil system by a big margin ,or would it be possible someone build an engine that is
up to the task in terms of power but not in terms of heat put into the coolant?
so this would need to use more fuel to produce all that heat ..
I doubt the the cooling demands vary a great deal between engines as they all share a common set of constarainst and knowledge.We are not seing a lot in terms of powerdifference so we see as much in terms of heat then.

but of course one thing remains .They did deliver ,where others struggled and failed ,so credit to them! i just feel this blabla is not necessary as they deserve respect anyways.

F1 engines are more fuel efficient than a toyota hybrid prius its the downforce that kills the mpg
but you need to remember that lotus didnt know who the fuel supplier would be so they didnt know how much help they would get as it turns out cosworth have 40 blends of fuel to choose between to get the most at any given circuit and conditions

conni

[nacho]

New element on the rear wing:

http://tweetphoto.com/14097561


Heikki says the balance of the car is pretty good. They just need more downforce and grip.

[Just_a_fan]

Heikki says the balance of the car is pretty good. They just need more downforce and grip.

Almost a repeat of last year for him then...

[wesley123]

i believe they are lacking downforce, else there is no reason to put on such an element lol

[zgred]

[autogyro]

Now that is interesting.
I think we will see some major changes to the rear wing on the Lotus if this is anything to go by.
Reshaped side elements would not go amiss for a start.