BrawnGP

[scarbs]

What an excellent as well as enlightning pic, Alejandro! That hub-thing at least looks like being made from an Aluminium-alloy of sorts, where the wheel is mounted on a cone and torque apparently conveyed through large-diameter teeth.
And look at that steep wheel-nut thread, looks almost as if it could be a double-thread?

Gaawd, I love people with attention to detail, this one goes to my engineers tomorrow, perhaps they learn something.

This might help clarify the points you outlined.

The hub is machined from titanium (using a mixture of turning, wire and spark erosion and some drilling\milling). The hub is hollow and teams use the hub to route cooling airflow to the brake disc. Air passes through the open inboard end of the hub and exits through radial slots in the mid section (just inboard of the large pitch teeth). To improve capacity for internal airflow and stiffness the wheel bearings are some 100-150mm (the inboard ones being narrower) in diameter, cost a few thousand pounds and last just two races! Those large pitch teeth are used to mount the brake disc via a machined bell. The wheel is actually driven using drive-pegs inserting into the hub. Good point about the double thread, I’m not so sure about that.
The upright around the hub is commonly machined MMC, although cast Ti is also used. On the Brawn the low mounted steering rack (inline with the lower wishbone) makes the toe link mounting difficult as the teams with a conventionally placed rack, have the upper wishbone and link connected to the sae plate, which allows camber changes to be made without affect toe. Brawn have a separate mounting for the lower wishbone and toe link, adjusting camber will require 2 shims, each placed between the mounting and upright. You will see the pushrod mounts direct to the upright and this is offset from the steering axis, to alter lateral weight transfer when the wheels are steered.

[xpensive]

Thanks scarbs, most informative as usual.
Is it one of those "drive-pegs" I can see on the right of the teethed driver for the brake-disc, at 12 a clock?

[scarbs]

No, i think they are on the wheel itself.

[mx_tifoso]

malaysia

[vasia]

Has anyone got a picture of Rubens broken diffuser?

Hello!

Rubens was not being entirely truthful. The crash structure is definitely damaged quite a bit, but the diffuser itself is mostly in-tact. If the diffuser actually had significant damage, I can guarantee Rubens would not have had the pace he did in the race.

[Spencifer_Murphy]

I dunno vasia,

I mean the whole "double decker diffuser" thing is allowed because of some sort of "extention of the crash structure" or sumsuch techno/legal babble. If the crash structure is damaged as such would it not have an effect on the flow of air leaving the diffuser and thus downforce?

I'm not saying it'll have a huge effect, just a little maybe at most a tenth per lap?

[vasia]

I dunno vasia,

I mean the whole "double decker diffuser" thing is allowed because of some sort of "extention of the crash structure" or sumsuch techno/legal babble. If the crash structure is damaged as such would it not have an effect on the flow of air leaving the diffuser and thus downforce?

I'm not saying it'll have a huge effect, just a little maybe at most a tenth per lap?

Certainly the damaged crash structure had a small effect on the performance and efficiency of the diffuser. Looking at the picture, the center tunnel of the diffuser under the crash structure looks to be mostly clear and unobstructed. The left and right sections of the diffuser are certainly in-tact.

It's definitely damaged to some extent, but it doesn't look as bad as Rubens described or implied.

[xpensive]

Seems that Richard Branson was perhaps not just a philantropist-turned-F1-fan after all?

Apr.2 (GMM) Brawn GP has now agreed a major sponsorship deal with the Virgin Group for 2010, SportsPro magazine reported on Thursday.

The arrangement for 2009 is set to stay the same, at $250,000 per race. In Malaysia, the BGP001 cars are featuring the same Virgin branding as in Melbourne a week ago, while team clothing and driver overalls remain unbranded. In 2010, however, the sponsorship will ramp up to $30 million for the one-year contract, giving Virgin the right to sell space on the cars to additional sponsors. The deal resembles Ferrari's Marlboro backing, where the brand has exclusive rights to the livery and the right to offset the contract price by selling space to additional sponsors. An insider said: "If it (Virgin) gets $80 million, which it might, Virgin will keep $50 million, it's a good deal."

[kilcoo316]

Certainly the damaged crash structure had a small effect on the performance and efficiency of the diffuser.

How on earth can you say that?

[blobslosak]

Rubens has had a gearbox change so -5 places for him.

[Spencifer_Murphy]

Certainly the damaged crash structure had a small effect on the performance and efficiency of the diffuser.

How on earth can you say that?

I would have assumed its because any damage to the crash structure will cause some sort of disruption to the airflow leaving the diffuser and this its effectiveness.

[timbo]

I would have assumed its because any damage to the crash structure will cause some sort of disruption to the airflow leaving the diffuser and this its effectiveness.

I think kilcoo316's comment was about "small" thing. And if that's the case I agree. How can you quantify this? And what is "small", sure, say, 5% reduction of downforce is not too much, but how that would affect car stability and tyre use?

[ben_watkins]

BrawnGP have a YouTube channel for ya'll to enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/officialbrawngp

[Giblet]

Here is an obvious seeming question.

If the crash structure was destroyed, why was he allowed to continue?

Isn't it like crumple zones in a car? Good once?

A bad shunt backward into a wall or another driver hitting him square on the back would be far more dangerous.

PS - I finally found my new avatar. Bubbles sucking on a hose makes me laugh but not much good on a forum about car cars. Thats what my ex gf calls F1. Car cars.

I figure Pole Position says me. I love computers, racing, and video games. I still play Pole Position ( or at least the modern equivalent).

[vasia]

Certainly the damaged crash structure had a small effect on the performance and efficiency of the diffuser.

How on earth can you say that?

I say this based on what Rubens described about the car's pace. Rubens said despite the damaged diffuser and rear end the car still had strong pace, so logically in this specific case it had only a small effect.