2008 Barcelona Testing - April

[Tom]

Seems odd they use paint to show the airflow, paint (being a liquid) cannot be compressed, unlike air, so their measuring would not be accurate.

besides they'll have windtunnels and CFD to work it out for them.

[axle]

I think an engineer was having a laugh with the tipex trying to make it harder to see the actual shape of it :p

[flynfrog]

Seems odd they use paint to show the airflow, paint (being a liquid) cannot be compressed, unlike air, so their measuring would not be accurate.

besides they'll have windtunnels and CFD to work it out for them.

It's a very common method of showing airflow

its basically kerosene with some dye mixed in the kerosene evaporates away leaving the dye behind showing the airflow path

at the speeds f1 cars travel the air dosent really compress anyway

[taku]

Seems odd they use paint to show the airflow, paint (being a liquid) cannot be compressed, unlike air, so their measuring would not be accurate.

besides they'll have windtunnels and CFD to work it out for them.

For the velocity range of an F1 car, air can be considered incompressible.

The paint shows the path of the air over the car and is a technique also used in wind tunnels. Particularly important in F1 where devices are generally designed on the limit of stall.
I guess the reason for doing this at the track is because these wheel shrouds/covers are pretty complicated in terms of flow coming around the tyre etc. Also no matter how good you wind tunnel/CFD is you can't beat track testing.

[modbaraban]

Maccas are fiddling with their bridge wing

[ginsu]

Good catch on the Macca Bridge wing. I thought they had done almost nothing as far as upgrades during this test. Maybe they feel they only need to do some minor tweaking rather than any radical redesign.

Well, if they really think they can get away with what they've done so far, but I think they should've been topping the testing times. Especially when BMW are getting Pole Positions.

[chasefreak]

i think macca dont have any scope to make the car faster or they have lost the creative skills... they will see everyone's update and then come up with a radical one

[teecof1fan]

Interesting to see the different wing while testing for '09; aside from the missing bridge element, it's very swoopy (for lack of a better term) compared to the wing used on the other days. I recall seeing a swoopy wing on the McLaren before, but I'm not sure, maybe it was over winter testing? I'd appreciate any enlightenment regarding that, thanks!

swoopy wing: http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/photolarge.ph ... 5&catID=10

[allan]

thats just their old front wing from last year's mp4-22... notice they even used the same nosecone.

[teecof1fan]

Thanks, Allen. I've done some (but not complete) research and actually the only time I found that swoopy wing on the McLaren was during winter testing and the 'Debut' car...I looked at pictures from about 10 Grands Prix during '07, varying from the first few rounds to the middle of the year and on through to the end, and I didn't see the 'swoopy' wing in any of the pictures...I'm not denying that they used it, but I'm still curious why they broke out the swoopy wing for the '09 simulation...Just cause it produces less downforce? Still looking for info!

[bhallg2k]

Why would Renault run different tires like this?

[allan]

Thanks, Allen. I've done some (but not complete) research and actually the only time I found that swoopy wing on the McLaren was during winter testing and the 'Debut' car...I looked at pictures from about 10 Grands Prix during '07, varying from the first few rounds to the middle of the year and on through to the end, and I didn't see the 'swoopy' wing in any of the pictures...I'm not denying that they used it, but I'm still curious why they broke out the swoopy wing for the '09 simulation...Just cause it produces less downforce? Still looking for info!

here u go, Moza 2007:

[megz]

Same reason as why they couldn't work out how to work a J Damper. The engineers are silly.

[allan]

Why would Renault run different tires like this?

i think this pic was probably taken right after a pit stop practice, where the mechanics used just random tyres.. notice there is a wheel in the lower left corner of the pic.

[rkn]

Why would Renault run different tires like this?

Probably just for an installation lap, several teams also mismatch tyres on fridays in race-weekends... I think it's because they are only allowed a certain amount of sets in a year and they save those who are not fully worn out.