Lotus E20 Renault

[RobertPthe3rd]

It looks to be the inside of a side pod end where the exhaust exits. Hence the discoloration on the heat shield. I think

[tikavi]

Grey part is exhaust firing, black is a package.

[Blackout]

I know that. that's not the point.

[MarkedOne8]

It's temporary, not part of chassis.It's maybe some kind of cooling device.


A well-earned break now after tough back to back races; what have we got planned in terms of developments for the next race in China and beyond?

I don’t know if break is the right word! We’ll still be working flat out, and we’ve got plenty of upgrades on the way for China to help extract some more pace from the car. When you look at how tight the field is, the sort of developments we will bring would gain us quite a few places on the grid if nobody else were doing the same thing; unfortunately for us of course they all are all working just as furiously as we are! We’ll just have to hope our development slope is steeper theirs’ to allow us to inch forward in China. This year more than ever, mounting a sustained development programme will be the key to success.

[MarkedOne8]

source:http://www.lotusf1team.com/Shear-Power- ... turns.html
As the most seasoned of this year’s Lotus F1 Team chassis arrived back at its birthplace on Wednesday evening, Race Team Manager Paul Seaby talks us through what’s in store for the first of Enstone’s 2012 creations over the next few weeks

The E20-01 took a fair bruising at the Sepang International Circuit last weekend, courtesy of both the gravel trap at turn five and a certain seven-time World Champion. For this reason, Romain’s weapon of choice over the first two rounds was selected to be the subject of a series of tests over the coming weeks, as Race Team Manager Paul Seaby explains:

"We always planned to send a chassis back after the last race as we have a seven post rig test to do in the Research & Development centre, in addition to a wind shear test in America. The chassis we have back here now is Romain’s car from Malaysia, chassis E20-01. We didn’t originally intend to bring this car back, but after the events of Sepang and the damage incurred it made sense bring it back for repairs as well as getting everything else we need done.”
it’s still a good chassis, it just needs a bit of TLC

“We will still have three cars to work with at the coming races, as chassis four will replace chassis one as Romain’s race car for China and beyond. Because the seven post rig test is going to be done over the weekend, with the wind shear build directly afterwards, E20-01 will now be out of action until roughly the end of April when it will be ready to fly to the Spanish or Canadian Grand Prix if we need it. It’s not out of the system completely, it’s still a good chassis, it just needs a bit of TLC.”

Although a three week gap before round three of the championship may seem like a significant time bracket, with the chassis having only just returned to the UK and freight due to be shipped to China at the end of next week, the team must complete a rapid turnaround before heading back to Asia:

“The car will first be going to the seven post rig to simulate the upcoming races. After the issues we had during pre-season testing, this will be the first time R&D have had a chance to get their hands on it and work on setup. We’re confident we have a good idea of a solid baseline already, but you never know what you’re going to find.”

“The car arrived on Wednesday and has to be finished by Friday. It will then be on the rig until Monday, so overall we have a couple of days to get it ready. It will then be taken straight from the rig to be stripped down for the wind shear build, which we have nine working days to complete.”

Once again, while nine days may sound like a lot to rebuild a single car, preparations for the wind shear test are far from straightforward:

“The wind shear test is an aerodynamic simulation carried out at a facility in North Carolina, USA. Here we use a full scale wind tunnel, which allows us to replicate airflow over a real car to see how it behaves. It’s a very useful, controlled way of analysing the car in its current configuration to compare data with our 60% wind tunnel and CFD facility. It also provides a good opportunity to try new upgrades on the car and predict how they will perform.”

“Preparing the car for this test is quite a big task. Firstly, we have to fit hydraulic front suspension which automatically alters ride height, removing the need to constantly make manual adjustments. This is a new system and will have to be pre-fitted. The car will also have a special gearbox installed which doesn’t have a diff in it, allowing us to spin the wheels freely. Finally, it will be covered in electronic sensors to pick up all the data so overall it’s a lot of work, and a significant transformation from the standard car.”

With regulations dictating the amount of time and resource the team can put into car development, every second of testing time is vital. This means that not only must the car be ready as soon as it touches down in America, but so must any development packages:

“The wind shear test falls under the designated amount of testing we’re allowed to do during the course of a year. The rules allow four days of on-track aero testing restricted to 100km per day, which can be exchanged for wind tunnel testing. We chose to swap all of our allotted on-track aero testing for one big hit of wind tunnel testing. We did this last year and found it to be of significant benefit”

“With so few days allocated to testing, development time is a valuable resource. To get the maximum from it we pre-fit every new part we’re looking to test to make sure it can be changed over quickly. We left a certain amount of kit at the facility in America last year, so the crew has already been out there this week to make sure everything still works, our software is compatible with their software, and so on. This is important to make sure that when we arrive we can hit the ground running straight away.”

[Crucial_Xtreme]

“With so few days allocated to testing, development time is a valuable resource. To get the maximum from it we pre-fit every new part we’re looking to test to make sure it can be changed over quickly. We left a certain amount of kit at the facility in America last year, so the crew has already been out there this week to make sure everything still works, our software is compatible with their software, and so on. This is important to make sure that when we arrive we can hit the ground running straight away.”

I saw two guys in Subway today with Lotus gear on & figured they might be down the road at Windshear Inc. Seems I was right.
Question is what four days worth of testing are they referring to?

[MarkedOne8]

Today is big so far season review in Enstone factory.

[GrizzleBoy]

“With so few days allocated to testing, development time is a valuable resource. To get the maximum from it we pre-fit every new part we’re looking to test to make sure it can be changed over quickly. We left a certain amount of kit at the facility in America last year, so the crew has already been out there this week to make sure everything still works, our software is compatible with their software, and so on. This is important to make sure that when we arrive we can hit the ground running straight away.”

I saw two guys in Subway today with Lotus gear on & figured they might be down the road at Windshear Inc. Seems I was right.
Question is what four days worth of testing are they referring to?

I saw a dude in Lotus gear in Asda/Park Royal during testing, but I'm not sure it was as significant as your sighting

[bhall]

Question is what four days worth of testing are they referring to?

I believe that refers to the straight-line tests teams are allowed throughout the season.

[scuderiafan]

I found an interesting quote. It's James Allison on the Lotus steering issues. "We’re making progress in this area, but the way Kimi drives the car is to find the limit on the front axle and then adjust the car very delicately around that limit; he can only do that if the steering is giving him exquisite feedback"

[ell66]

i think its intresting that the car visually looks very similar to last years ( aside from thr step nose) and yet its extremely competitive, i honestly believe there about as fast as the mercs in qually and red bulls equal on race pace, not far behind the mclarens on either.

[Giblet]

Please keep the fanyboy driver talk at the door, especially in the car threads. Some posts were disintegrated.

[Jersey Tom]

i think its intresting that the car visually looks very similar to last years ( aside from thr step nose) and yet its extremely competitive, i honestly believe there about as fast as the mercs in qually and red bulls equal on race pace, not far behind the mclarens on either.

A good example of how you can't "eyeball" performance or aerodynamics.

[Giblet]

i think its intresting that the car visually looks very similar to last years ( aside from thr step nose) and yet its extremely competitive, i honestly believe there about as fast as the mercs in qually and red bulls equal on race pace, not far behind the mclarens on either.

They said straight up that the FFE was a developmental dead end and had nowhere near the potential gains as the Red Bull EBD. Since the car was designed around the FFE there was no point in reverting.

The stopped working on the 2011 car around Monaco.

[hardingfv32]

The stopped working on the 2011 car around Monaco.

Assuming you are correct, it is interesting that they could not play/test/race with this years exhaust layout during the last few races of 2011. The new layouts must be very bad in performance compared to 2011. Last years car with this years exhaust too embarrassingly slow to use in an actual race.

Brian