Can downforce be reduced?

[Ciro Pabón]

A question for the CFD experts and "aficionados":

I was reading about car design in the 24 hours of Le Mans and I thought that downforce reduction has a limit. This is what I read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hours_o ... Car_design

Unlike many other races where the speed in corners and acceleration is more important, top speed was a critical parameter for being competitive in Le Mans. This led to special body designs like the "Long Tail" bodies pioneered by Charles Deutsch and Robert Choulet.

(here is a cool photo of the 917...)

Cars were reaching impressive speed on the Mulsanne: in 1971, during night practice, a Porsche 917LH (Langheck - long tail), driven by young Mexican talent Pedro Rodriguez (1968 Le Mans winner), clocked at a top speed of 398 km/h, or about 249 mph, which is the fastest speed recorded at Le Mans.

If you diminish downforce by regulation, as FIA proposes, I imagine you end with a more efficient aerodynamic design. The cars can be designed for top speed, to compensate the slower curves.

If you keep the engine freeze, how much would top speed increase under proposed FIA regulations that limit downforce? A lot? A bit?

Can some CFD fan guess how low would the drag coefficient be if downforce is limited to, I don't know, 12.000 Newtons or whatever was proposed?

I suppose this means that the passionate proposals about "no-wing" Formula One cars are impossible: the cars would become bullets on wheels or straights would have to be shortened again.

I don't know if this also means that the new rear wings, that may improve overtaking, increase at least a little the speeds in the track. From my track-centric point of view, this makes the long straight and tight hairpin combinations less desirable.

Another thing that makes me think about problems with reduced downforce is the possibility of the car flipping in the air. The Le Mans article mentions that this became fairly frequent in the 90's. Are those two things related? I mean, downforce reduction and higher possibility of car flipping?

[RH1300S]

If you had far less downforce, which in turn reduced drag and raised the potential top speed. I'm not so sure that the top speed would be fully exploited at many tracks.

Same mass, same engine, same tyre I assume?

The cars would corner slower, have less corner exit speed and be able to put down less power (traction limited) to accelerate onto the next straight. The braking points would arrive earlier at the other end (takes longer to stop AND they need a lower corner entry speed).

In your scenario I would imagine that the cars would need higher levels of driver skill to get the power to the road.

Monza would be fun to watch - so too Indy