2012 Testing - Jerez 7-10 February

[Shrieker]

Is it me, or does Vettel in the RB8 look noticably earlier on the throttle out of the last corner compared to Hamilton in the MP4-27 ?

Fantastic vid btw bonjon, many thanks for posting !

[timbo]

Is it me, or does Vettel in the RB8 look noticably earlier on the throttle out of the last corner compared to Hamilton in the MP4-27 ?

Seem like he is, but not knowing the fuel load and their programs it tells little.

[raymondu999]

Program I'd give. But I don't think that would be affected by fuel weight to be honest - how early a car goes on the throttle would surely be a function of the car's traction no? The car would be traction limited anyways - not power/acceleration limited

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

12m:06s

I swear thats a mighty long over run....

Why only (lotus)Renault and Red Bull, not Williams or Caterham making this sound?
The McLarens Merc unit is positively wailing in comaprison to the Renault.

[jenkF1]

what about the Mclaren? rumours in the Spanish press claim they have some trick exhaust system, with those weird sidepod bulges. possibly teams are looking to aim the exhaust gases somewhere to the rear to interact with the diffuser?

[Hail22]

Well its like the rumour that Ferrari are blowing hot gases in what seems to be a RBD or trying to recreate a double deck diffuser by blowing hot gases where the hole for the starter motor is thus in theory creating downforce however some people are trying to use the exhaust to kill off some of the drag created by the rear wing (blowing via fins around the brake ducts).

[ringo]

Both Red Bull and Mclaren looking lovely and planted in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEP4YUkd73U

Great shot of the Mclaren at 10.40, wing is very low to the ground.

Indeed, the RBR and McLaren seem to be doing very nicely there. It really rather gives some cause for concern about the Torro Rosso though – they seem to be really struggling for rear grip.

I was chalking that up to having rookie drivers. In other videos as well the car seems jittery on some occasions. It could may well be the drivers and not the car.

[CHT]

Over 13 minutes of Jerez footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sii0YwIVJqc

Judging by that, the RB8 and the E20 definitely retain some amount of off throttle (overrun ?) blowing, not as prominent as the W02, but still quite clear through the chicane. The F2012 -not so much- (if any), and the MP4-27 seems to retain NONE at all...

Nice vid and thanks for posting btw.

I think thats the characteristic of renault engine including Williams and Caterham.

[myurr]

I think thats the characteristic of renault engine including Williams and Caterham.

They still shouldn't be able to do it this year unless they are exploiting a loophole. Hopefully the FIA will crack down on this, if it is the case that they are still cold blowing.

[FrukostScones]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... Jx3Oaoii4c

watch 7:06 and then compare to 9:05...

[kiddser]

My understanding of the whole debacle was that Mercedes engines introduce fuel on overrun and retard the ignition which apparently is a design characteristic of the engine, this is why they were allowed to run with 50% throttle on overrun last season at Silverstone. The argument Red Bull then launched was that Renault engines open the throttle when the driver is off-throttle but do not ignite fuel therefore only allowing air through and out the exhausts.

If I remember rightly, Renault argued they use this as a method of keeping the engine cool and therefore they would be restricting performance if the amount of air was reduced.

That said, this year, if in fact these characteristics are for engine reliability then they can't be restricted too much because they can't develop the engines. With the exhausts being in their current positions it doesn't really matter if they blow hot or cold. Especially since Charlie has said he will ban any aero pieces that look to be diverting exhaust air anywhere for a performance benefit.

Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. It took a bit of effort to understand it all the first time it came about!

All in all, I'm delighted to here the roar of F1 machinery back on track and extremely glad to see Kimi seems to be on top of things already!!

[Gridlock]

I think thats the characteristic of renault engine including Williams and Caterham.

They still shouldn't be able to do it this year unless they are exploiting a loophole. Hopefully the FIA will crack down on this, if it is the case that they are still cold blowing.

They could simply be using exhaust accumulators, as per Scarbs wrt F150th. No extra openings, no engine maps, just a large capacity exhaust system that will continue to blow when you're off the throttle.

[Robbobnob]

I doubt that they would choose to run such a system that would IMO have a considerably higher back pressure

[jenkF1]

I doubt that they would choose to run such a system that would IMO have a considerably higher back pressure

I looked at scarbs very interesting post mentioning an exhaust 'chamber' where pressure is 'acumulated' and released when off throttle, thus providing flow when off throttle.

http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/category/ferrari-f150/

In fact more interesting pieces on the page pointing to teams wanting to blow exhaust gases under the rear wing to energise the flow and create downforce...



As for the affect on engine performance/resistance, no idea if there is a valve or something to alleviate this, also its stored in a seperate chamber and not the exhaust trumpets. I don't really know how the system works proper to be honest, f1 engine pressure what nots are beyond my small brain . And even if there is, aero is king remember. We've got silly suspension geometries and high angle driveshafts sprouting up just for aero performance so if the backpressure only costs a few horses then I suppose its worth it... hell if there was no limits on diffuser sizes we would probably have engines mounted 2ft in the air just so it could have massive venturi tunnels

[Robbobnob]

Yes i saw that system myself. I always thought it was to create some sort of resonance in the exhaust stream.

It looks similar to blowing over the mouth of a bottle and having the air inside resonate, in the bottle case producing a sound. I thought that it would go someway towards maintaining the ideal flow conditions through the EBD at the right frequency