There was this extraordinary moment in Friday practice for the German GP at the Nürburgring... don't think for a moment it wasn't intentional, guess Grumpy grandpa Schumi wanted to make sure he would come out of Castrol and into the esses named after...well after himself, ahead of the Ferrari...
Anyway. Practice confirmed that Ferrari's pace in England was no fluke or FIA assisted progress. Alonos is right there with the Red Bulls once again despite the re-instatement of the hot blown diffusers and all. Pretty amazing the difference finally understanding where the problem with the 150 was (stalling diffuser among others) and how well Ferrari and obviously, Pat Fry, have responded.
Red Bull knows it and that also explains why they made the decision they did at Silverstone: Vettel has a huge lead but he's not mathematical champion and in the end,every single point matters. Of course they still look silly for dumping on Ferrari for having come to precisely the same conclusion but, there it is.
With regards to the "Hot blowing" there is still so much confusion about how it works, perhaps this graphic will help. It's from Italy's Autosprint and I took the liberty to translate it. Hope it helps a bit.
While it is clever and very cool, it clearly is against regulations which as far as I know want the engine used only for propulsion not as a aerodynamic aid...
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m31.711s 34
2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m31.879s + 0.168 38
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m32.084s + 0.373 28
4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m32.354s + 0.643 36
5. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m32.411s + 0.700 31
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m32.557s + 0.846 32
7. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m32.724s + 1.013 28
8. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m33.098s + 1.387 17
9. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m33.138s + 1.427 22
10. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m33.211s + 1.500 34
11. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m33.225s + 1.514 17
12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m33.299s + 1.588 34
13. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m34.113s + 2.402 34
14. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m34.344s + 2.633 34
15. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m34.487s + 2.776 37
16. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m34.491s + 2.780 35
17. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m34.996s + 3.285 35
18. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m35.753s + 4.042 42
19. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m36.940s + 5.229 32
20. Karun Chandhok Lotus-Renault 1m37.248s + 5.537 33
21. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m37.313s + 5.602 33
22. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m38.145s + 6.434 31
23. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1m40.737s + 9.026 5
24. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari No time 3
All Timing Unofficial
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Wow, what's the deal with Schumi? Let me guess... "I didn't see him."
ReplyDeleteI'm not clear on the advantage of the thrust (panel 3 of "release with hot blowing"). Why do you want thrust if you're off-throttle? Does it aid braking?
ReplyDelete@ Jerry
ReplyDeleteIt provides thrust in the way a jet engine would. The uncombusted gasses enter the hot exhaust header where they combust, and the rapid expansion of that combustion process forces the air out of the exhaust like in a jet engine (of any variant, some it would be sent through a turbine to spin a compressor) at a velocity similar to if you were to be on the throttle, the only difference being the engine doesn't spin any faster.
This is used on (hot) blown diffusers because the high velocity hot exhaust gasses flow over the diffuser and the gasses beneath the rear of the car and the pressure beneath the car lowers and creates downforce.
This allows the downforce to be created when the engine isn't exhausting at a high velocity like when you are at full throttle. The same principle can be used in turbo charged cars to keep the turbo spooled when you let off the throttle.
That's the popping sound you hear on rally cars when they decelerate, the detonation of the air-fuel mixture entering the hot manifold.
Thanks AC for the translation. Pretty cool tech. I wonder how it impacts fuel economy?
ReplyDelete@Mike Well clearly that's an issue and one of the main reason that, once someone pointed it out, the FIA tried to intervene. you can't do all the KERS stuff but then allow gasoline to be used for aero rather than propulsion
ReplyDeletethe other of course is what I mentioned in the article, the engine essentially becomes a sort of moving aero device.
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How was that an "extraordinary moment"..? All I see is Schumi taking his normal racing line and Alonso not being in position yet to make a pass. And don't think for a second I'm a MS fan, quite the contrary.
ReplyDeleteHeh, Fernando "The Ever-Whining" Alonso.
ReplyDeleteActually neither of then mentioned much that I saw . If it had been Hamilton instead of Alonso he probably would have claimed that Schumi was racist. :)
ReplyDelete@Theo, the way I see it, MS is facing constant questions about his performance so he obviously relishes any chance to show he's still badass.... either that or he forgot his gertitol :)
Consider this the first step towards the tubro F1 engines of the future. This is very much like the anit-lag systems employed by WRC cars. Under closed throttle conditions they delay ignition timing so that raw fuel is sent to the exhaust manifold where it detonates and powers the tubro, creating boost where it normally would create little to no boost. I'm looking forward to hearing the "bang, bang" of F1 anti-lag systems when the tubro engines arrive.
ReplyDelete