Ferrari F138

[turbof1]

Craig Scarborough ‏@ScarbsF1
@forza_scuderia it uses the excuse of driver cooling but it is for improving airflow under the nose

and

Craig Scarborough ‏@ScarbsF1
Ferrari: Having a slot here cleans up the boundary layer airflow under the nose and keeps the nose a few cm shallower

[aral]

He is atleast trying; I find it more useful then the 2 posts above me.

I suggest that you read the rules about disposable ballast! And also explain how on a hot dry day, or even a wet day, you would want to, or even be able to extract moisture from the air, without some form of refrigeration unit.

And its not even April 1st!

[Spankyham]

What if this hole is used for taking humidity from air! Is it possible to use water as balast in car ? So after the race start you evaporate water from balast tanks and during last 15 laps you collect it back from air? It could work in Malaysia! Please don't give me negative votes !

i think that is the dumbest explination i have ever heard...

Well, in fact, teams have (in the past) used way oversized brake cooling reservoirs which were mostly empty at the start and then filled before official weighing to make the min limit. I pretty sure Brabham did it.

[ziggy]

What if this hole is used for taking humidity from air! Is it possible to use water as balast in car ? So after the race start you evaporate water from balast tanks and during last 15 laps you collect it back from air? It could work in Malaysia! Please don't give me negative votes !

i think that is the dumbest explination i have ever heard...

The statement is not so dumb as it looks like. Few days ago i've read this:
http://www.tue.nl/en/university/news-an ... in-desert/

It could work, but the weight would be a huge problem. There are several other ways to collect water from the air, some of them very "primitive", but it could work.

[turbof1]

He is atleast trying; I find it more useful then the 2 posts above me.

I suggest that you read the rules about disposable ballast! And also explain how on a hot dry day, or even a wet day, you would want to, or even be able to extract moisture from the air, without some form of refrigeration unit.

And its not even April 1st!

You are missing the point. He tried for a serious post, while you 2 actually were not; whether or not it is something realistic, was not the point.

Anyway, based on Scarbs post I think it is like this:
The hole is not a duct, but the same principle Red Bull used last year on their stepped nose, upside down:
http://scarbsf1.com/blog1/2012/02/24/la ... -bull-rb8/

The letterbox back then was for creating a circulating airflow cylindre. It smoothened out the abrupt rise for the airflow so that it keeps attached.
What does that have to do with Ferrari? Well, they basicilly sought a way to get more space underneath the nose so a higher volume air could pass underneath. The problem was that last year they were already at the maximum: the top of the bulkhead was at 625mm, the top of the nose at 550mm. Further raising it is not possible. However, as the nose has no regulated dimensions, they could remove volume from the underside of it. This though left them with the same problem as with Red Bull: due the abrupt change in height the airflow gets dettached. Because this is at the underside of the nose, a critical area to condition the air to the floor, they had to find a way to smoothen the airflow back out. Hence the Red Bull solution.

I made a sketch (please forgive that it is highly rudimentary):

Orange is the part they removed compared to last year and the area they have won for more air volume, green is the vanity panel they added this year, and red is the letterbox with the circulating flow. Dark blue represents the flow when the hole would be closed, light blue the flow when it is open and doing what it is designed to do.

If we look at a comparison between last year's car and the current, it looks like that that is the case:
http://img1.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Fer ... 658325.jpg

[f1316]

I think that's probably the most plausible explanation.

Interesting that Scarb's explanation of the RB8 also refers to the small duct on the bottom of the nose as possibly aiding KERS cooling. You could argue that this adds validity to the theory since Ferrari may be using this hole for a triple purpose - driver cooling, airflow attachment and KERS cooling (of which driver cooling is, of course, the primary... )

[donskar]

turbof1, rudimentary, but VERY effective in explaining what "that hole" might be doing there.
Thanks.

[ringo]

The boundary layer under that nose in not very visible in fact. Maybe not even taller than the hole at that distance from the nose tip.
The idea that the hole is to "cleanup boundary layer" is not well supported.
The lower surface is converging, and not diverging, the air flow is being directed by the surface, the flow is not following the surface as in the case of the top side of a side pod. you could say the air is being forced by the surface.
Boundary layer energy is not really much of a concern if the flow is being forced, the flow will stay attached since the underside of the cockpit has a convergence, especially when gravitational effects are considered.
Think of the high pressure side of a rear wing. Attachment of flow is not a big concern. It's quite difficult to detach on the top surface. It's the underside with the divergence against gravity that is a problem.
There are separations issues ofcourse with the nose of the car, but this is further upstream near the wing pylons or by the tip.
The flatter top surface of the car also should be area of concern for separation because of skin friction.
Redbull's nose design and the vanity panel shapes actually help with keeping the flow attached, in terms of the flow energy.

[bhall]

Would it make sense to "peel" off the boundary layer at that point before it separates (and increases drag) due to an adverse pressure gradient caused by the combination of the Venturi effect associated with the wing pylons, which are angled inward for just such an effect, and the increased angle, relative to the nose, of the underside of the chassis?

The F2012 appeared to have a hell of a time getting air flow around the sidepods - the team trialed a half-dozen or more vortex generators around the barge boards - which could be a symptom of choked flow at the nose. The F138's sidepods are largely the same as those on the F2012, so it seems something else would have to change to fix that problem.

[raymondu999]

Trackside impressions by Gary Anderson, from the latest edition of Autosport:

It appears the rear of the Ferrari gives up a little on corner exit as the drivers feed in the throttle. It also seemed to struggle over the bump before the chicane, snapping at the rear. This suggests the rear end has a problem. But, in general, the car looks OK.

[Chuckjr]

Definitely an improvement from last year at this time! =D>

[stefan_]

Craig Scarborough ‏@ScarbsF1
Nose slots: Ferrari have a simple slot that feeds into the cockpit, this improves flow under the nose

[turbof1]

So yes, a small correction on my part: it is a duct that leads into the cockpit (and perhaps further down to the kers), but the duct's main function is to improve flow under the nose, as I explained.

[Spankyham]

Was thinking about the slot, and remembered that our DRS is foot activated. Its pretty narrow down there and moving your foot (as in activating the DRS) could have a significant effect on that flow.

[turbof1]

Was thinking about the slot, and remembered that our DRS is foot activated. Its pretty narrow down there and moving your foot (as in activating the DRS) could have a significant effect on that flow.

That would be against the regulations. After 2010 the fia outlawed driver's influence on the airflow.