Fun With MRW

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Was reading more of the PR crap on the movable rear wing.

So they say that it will make a car 15kmh faster. Let's grab hold of that:

15kph is 4 metres/second. The cars rattle down the straights these days at around 300kph; that's 83ms. Most main straights are around 1,000 metres. Take out say 20% for speeding up and slowing down, that's 800 metres. At 300kmh, it will take 9.6 seconds of terminal speed to get to the braking bit. In 9.6 seconds, the car that is 15kph faster will go 38 metres further.

Cool; 38 metres is probably enough if one car is right on the hammer of the other. But they are saying that the car only has to be within one second. In one second the car travels 83 metres, which aint enough.

I know that the F-Duct kind of disproved this last year, but only really on the Mclaren. We don't really know how little effective downforce that car had compared to others (some couldn't make it work)or the new system. Let's also not foget that Clewis was best at it, and we know he is more heart than brains, so he may have had the thing on half way through the corner.

QED I suppose, but I know that I would not like to be at the apex of a slow corner with a fired-up Kobayashi late on the brakes (from 315) trying to get someone on the inside.

viges

Yes, its just more faffing about. I look forward to seeing if the demise of the double diffuser makes any difference but I fear we'll have to wait for the 2013 regs; far smaller wings and a return to ground effect.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9307861.stm

A 1.6litre four pot turbo doesn't fill me with joy.

[Edited on 4-2-11 by viges]

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What was it that Brabham said: "You can never call those 1.5 litre cars Formula One". Of course, that was the early sixties, and they were atmos, but still...............