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Setting up an F1 car
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2002.08.19
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It's all about
compromise. The compromise between grip, downforce and drag has to
be finely balanced so that the car's performance isn't, err,
compromised... Geoffrey Willis explains
It is the difference between a podium
and back-of-the-grid purgatory. It is also one of the most
passionately debated features of a grand prix weekend, a subject
that commentators, drivers and team bosses will obsess over right up
to - and often well beyond - the finality of the chequered flag.
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Geoff Willis looks on attentively at Imola.
Photo: ITV-F1.
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It is the 'set up', the
unbelievably complex art of preparing an F1 car to go as fast as it
can on the appointed day.
That means choosing the
right mix of tyres, suspension and damper settings. And even more
crucially, the right amount of 'wing'.
"F1 is now
fundamentally a tyre and power formula," explains BAR technical
director Geoffrey Willis.
"But as far as the
chassis teams are concerned, the engine partner supplies the engines
and the tyre partner, the tyres. So the biggest single contribution
left to the formula is aerodynamics. In its simplest form, what you
are doing is adding downforce to the overall weight of the car to
enable higher cornering forces."
Helping the racing car
stick to the tarmac as speeds rise, in other words.
To understand the forces
at work, consider that a BAR004 car at speed generates an incredible
650kg of downforce on each of its front and rear wings.
In fact, a BAR004
travelling at just 120mph would happily drive along your ceiling.
Assuming you have a very long ceiling.
"It really is a
misconception that low gear, slow corners don't benefit from
aerodynamic forces. Almost any speed will be affected and even if
you are you are down to a 40mph corner there is probably still an
extra 60 or 70kg of grip available."
But wings set more
upright for maximum downforce carry a big penalty - namely drag.
In an ideal world wings
would be adjustable on the move. The FIA rules don't allow it but
Willis' engineering curiosity is plainly intrigued at the notion.
"If we were allowed
to do that, you would see simply enormous improvements in lap times,
on average 6 or 7 seconds a lap, with very high speeds on the
straights of around 210mph."
So it's a compromise
between high downforce and low drag for a given circuit.
"At circuits such
as Hockenheim, which is quite fast, we would be prepared to have max
downforce and low drag."
Willis explains that
cars running in wet conditions will need more downforce regardless
of the circuit, just to cope with the reduced amount of grip
available. There is even an intermediate set-up.
Setting up the car with
more 'wing' can also be integral to race strategy and carrying lots
of fuel you might have problems with brake wear, because you are
stopping a heavier car. Running more downforce will help stop the
car and also minimise brake wear."
And once again, the
forces deployed in F1 amaze: "With a lot of wing on the car,
just taking you foot off the throttle at 150mph would be like
braking as hard as you could in say, a Porsche road car…"
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