Rake, Roll Hoop Air intake, Halo is there a connection ?

[Bisonas]

I saw the Mclaren car which has quite small roll hoop air intake compared to Ferrari and Mercedes Powered cars and one thinks that it may be because of power unit cooling requirements .
But even within Renault power cars, we saw Renault having a larger Air intake than RBR and MCL.
So Ferrari-Mercedes Powered cars > renault > red bull > Mclaren (regarding roll hoop air intake size).

Is it possible Rake has something to do with it ??
Logic sais Higher rake, will bring the actual Air intake slightly higher , and will slightly change the angle that air hits the halo.
So rake may influence the actual turbulence that the halo creates and the way that turbulence effects the Air intake size.
Red bull and Mclaren are known for running with High Rake and have the smallest Air intake.

Is that possible ?? I am not an Aerodynamicist.
I just had that thought and it got me thinking.

[jjn9128]

The airbox size is a compromise between engine airflow, cooling, COG, drag and minimizing disturbance to the rest of the car. The McLaren overhead airbox looks like a single inlet (it probably splits downstream - with 1/2 going to the turbo and 1/2 to the intercooler), whereas most of the teams are now splitting their intakes into 4 separate ducts - only one of which goes to the engine. The compromise is that putting all that ducting high up in the car increases the height of the COG, while also increasing the blockage ahead of the rear wing. The problem (if you want to call it that) of the McLaren layout is the sidepod inlets have to be bigger to accommodate the cooling flow, which means the sidepods end up draggier.

I think it's less to do with the halo or rake than just a discussion of the various compromises within each team - as the halo can be faired, the wake is diverted to suit the team's rake philosophy. Currently the favoured design seems to a bigger overhead inlet, with smaller sidepods, and the McLaren seem to be a bit of an outlier. Just as the trend on sidepod design seems to be converging on the Ferrari low impact spar (only 1 team last year, at least 5 this year).

[Richard]

- as the halo can be faired, the wake is diverted to suit the team's rake philosophy.

I'd expected that it would use a neutral profile like the central portion of the front wing. How much variation is allowed?

[jjn9128]

I'd expected that it would use a neutral profile like the central portion of the front wing. How much variation is allowed?

Anything the teams like within 20mm of the titanium surfaces. We've seen simple designs as you describe and multi-stacked wing designs. I would have put a minimum thickness/radius rule in there to deter the winged approach and make it simpler for the driver to pull themselves in and out of the car.
SIMPLE:

COMPLEX:

[JonoNic]

If only the halo could redirect air to the intercooler within its tubing... I guess an intake hole in the leading edge of the halo would compromise its strength.

[Zynerji]

If only the halo could redirect air to the intercooler within its tubing... I guess an intake hole in the leading edge of the halo would compromise its strength.

Could be built into the fairing itself as a duct.

[Jolle]

If only the halo could redirect air to the intercooler within its tubing... I guess an intake hole in the leading edge of the halo would compromise its strength.

I thought the Halo is around 13 kg of titanium, so i guess it's pretty solid.

[jjn9128]

I thought the Halo is around 13 kg of titanium, so i guess it's pretty solid.

6kg. Teams can't make holes in halo - I think any fairing has to be bonded to halo surface so I don't know if a hole/cavity is possible...

[Vyssion]