I enjoy the visual of watching the F-1s in the rain, making the air movement
visible.
If you get a chance to study any one of the cars, you'll see extremely complex
methods of applying ductwork, wings, vents etc., plenty of opportunities to
apply to LSR vehicles. Their efforts to move air around the front tires alone
is impressive. Also the stress that these cars endure underway is startling.
During the Hungary race, a couple of weeks ago, one of the cars lost its carbon
fibre rear wing while flying down a straight. It just blew apart, apparently
from stress. The loss of downforce and control was immediate.
Plenty of inspiration, also, plenty of $$$
Dale Krumheuer
Cleveland Oh
John Beckett <saltracer@servusa.com> wrote:
... running in the rain. Now we don't generally run cars at 180
MPH in the rain here in the US. Most interesting was how the air and water
moved over and around the car in those conditions. I tried to watch very
closely to see as much as possible. Water off the front tires was running
upwards 30 to maybe 40 degrees from the tire almost half again as much
frontal area as the tires original size. And a huge rooster tail of water
perhaps three times the size of the car in the back. Also noticed a haze 2" to
4" off the sides of the rear tires, adding considerably to their frontal as
well. Hard to tell if a Moon Disc would have helped this situation.
Just part of the inefficiencies the Lakester and Roadster guys have to
overcome.
JB
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