How are the mercedes gills legal?

[PlatinumZealot]

Can someone explain the loophole?

http://yfrog.com/h41vygcj

[Muulka]

Sssssssssssshhh! No-one's told the FIA about the regulations!

Anyway, I'd imagine that it would be something similar to what Ferrari had last year- they are connected to the exhausts. Or maybe the FIA gave them special permission because of their cooling issues...

[Princey]

[hardingfv32]

Could it be outside one of the control volumes listed in 3.8.4?

Brian

[ringo]

The vent is part of the permitted exhaust hole.

for example:

[she_spools_180]

To those of us that don't know the technical regulations off by heart, could you explain why you thought they were illegal?

[beelsebob]

To those of us that don't know the technical regulations off by heart, could you explain why you thought they were illegal?

I'm guessing he thinks they violate the more than one exhaust per bank rule... but they're not the exhausts.

[megz]

To those of us that don't know the technical regulations off by heart, could you explain why you thought they were illegal?

Potentially the minimum radius rule? Or like the above poster, the 2 exhausts only rule.

[Richard]

They need to fit within a 350mm circle. They've passed scrutineering, so I guess they comply.

single apertures either side of the car centre line for the purpose of exhaust exits. These apertures may have a combined area of no more than 50,000mm2 when projected onto the surface itself. No point on an aperture may be more than 350mm from any other point on the aperture.

They also look very large from the angle of that pic. That is because they are twisted, but the rule only limits the area projected onto the surface, ie when viewed perpendicular to the bodywork. You could have a huge hole as long as it only looked like a slit from the side.

It's like the loophole that allowed DDD. That only banned holes visible when viewed perpendicular to the floor ("directly below" was the actual wording).

The downside is that Merc are relying on them for cooling. So if they move the exhaust to the RB position they'll have to close those openings. Hence the air that currently exits through the gills will have to pass under the bodywork to the rear exit, hence a bulkier tail.

Looks like Merc will have some cooling difficulties if they want move the exhausts to create an EBD

[hardingfv32]

The rule clearly states: Single apertures either side of the car centre line for the purpose of exhaust exits. The next sentence: These apertures may have a combined area... means the two sides combined.

This is not a single aperture. It is multi-able apertures on one side. What am I missing?

I assume these gills are for cooling/venting and that no exhaust exits through them.

Brian

[Richard]

See ringo's sketch. A small slit links the gills to the exhaust hole so it is actually one aperture.

[ESPImperium]

Ferrari had them last year with the F60 arround their exaust exit for about 2-thirds of they year if i remember correctly, before they went to a EBD.

[Muulka]

Ferrari had them last year with the F60 arround their exaust exit for about 2-thirds of they year if i remember correctly, before they went to a EBD.

Yeah- I remember reading about it. It went away at Valencia. The rule about the maximum width of the exhaust was supposed to get rid of this loophole

[imightbewrong]

To illustrate the fact:


But if we take one of my earlier post where I questioned this, you can see that they don't have a slit:

How come this gill is allowed? It is not connected to the exhaust opening with a slit as far as I can see. Can anyone explain?

Code: Select all

3.8.5     Once the relevant bodywork surfaces are defined in accordance with Article 3.8.4, apertures, any of
           which may adjoin or overlap each other, may be added for the following purposes only : 
           - single apertures either side of the car centre line for the purpose of exhaust exits. These apertures 
             may have a combined area of no more than 50,000mm 2  when projected onto the surface itself. No 
             point on an aperture may be more than 350mm from any other point on the aperture. 
           - apertures either side of the car centre line for the purpose of allowing suspension members and 
             driveshafts to protrude through the bodywork. No such aperture may have an area greater than 
             12,000 mm 2 when projected onto the surface itself. No point on an aperture may be more than 
             200mm from any other point on the aperture. 

[hardingfv32]

Notice how these slits are really channels. They is material in back of them to strengthen the structure.

The lower photo is odd. Maybe the channel is too small to see. Carried to an extreme, a scratch mark could qualify as the channel.

Brian