Delta wing car concept

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Pierce89
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Joined: 21 Oct 2009, 18:38

Re: Delta wing car concept

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machin wrote:What we need is someone who can do some cfd on the two simple shapes... I've given my reasons why I think a rectangular car is better... but some cfd would lay the matter to rest.

The biggest downside to the Delta wing is of course the inherent disadvantages of a delta shaped car compared to a rectangular shaped car in terms of cornering capability. I believe that the only way a Delta wing can be competitive is if the rectangular cars are hampered by, for example, a much higher weight.... oooo, like the case will be at Le Mans this year!

If the Deltawing is so good I implore the team behind it to compete in the british sprint championship where both types of cars could compete without unfair advantages given one way or the other, just a nice open rule book.....
No one has stated something quite so obvious, but I think a traditional car has much more aero potential because it will have ALOT more plan area for a given frontal area.
“To be able to actually make something is awfully nice”
Bruce McLaren on building his first McLaren racecars, 1970

“I've got to be careful what I say, but possibly to probably Juan would have had a bigger go”
Sir Frank Williams after the 2003 Canadian GP, where Ralf hesitated to pass brother M. Schumacher

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andylaurence
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Re: Delta wing car concept

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machin wrote:If the Deltawing is so good I implore the team behind it to compete in the british sprint championship where both types of cars could compete without unfair advantages given one way or the other, just a nice open rule book.....
The Delta Wing is based on a low drag concept so it's fast (for the power) down the straights at Le Mans. The BSC rounds are not at fast circuits. Castle Combe is the quickest track, I think, although there are a couple of decent straights at Anglesey. I'm not quite sure whether it could compete against Jim in his Juno, which is ~400bhp and weighs ~600kg. I'd like to find out though!

Scania
Scania
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Re: Delta wing car concept

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machin
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Re: Delta wing car concept

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The Delta Wing is based on a low drag concept so it's fast (for the power) down the straights at Le Mans.
The questions are:

1, Is the Deltawing shape actually better aerodynamically than a "conventional" car?
2, Is it advantageous enough (if at all) to overcome the inherent cornering disadvantages of the three wheeled layout (given equal rules, as opposed to the weight advantage that we'll see at Le Mans this year)?*

* -This reminds me very much of motorbikes vs. cars comparisons. Take a caterham superlight; 200bhp, 550kg ish (including driver) and compare it to a BSB championship Superbike; also 200bhp, but only 270kg with rider and a really small frontal area... which is faster around the track? Actually the lap times are basically the same at whichever track you look at, even high speed tracks; so despite the extra weight, and much bigger frontal area the inherent advantages of a rectangular wheel layout are so great that it makes up for the huge weight and aero advantages of the superbikes...

....and that's the problem with the Delta-wing -it doesn't have the inherent advantages of the rectangular wheel layout (granted it should be better than the 2 wheel layout above).... personally I believe the only way for it to be competitive is to artificially skew the rules in its favour (like the AcO have done by allowing the Deltawing to run at a much lower weight than the rectangular cars)....

The good news is that we'll be able to make some rough calculations of the Delta wing drag coefficient after Le Mans qualiying -assuming that we can believe the power output figures quoted (I wouldn't be surprised if the Deltawing ends up turning up the boost on its engine above the officially quoted figure... or am I just too skeptical?!), so that should help us answer Question 1....
Last edited by machin on 02 Mar 2012, 23:48, edited 2 times in total.
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wesley123
wesley123
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Joined: 23 Feb 2008, 17:55

Re: Delta wing car concept

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On the 17 sec vind Scania posted it looked like it was understeering a lot.
"Bite my shiny metal ass" - Bender

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Tim.Wright
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Joined: 13 Feb 2009, 06:29

Re: Delta wing car concept

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are you serious?
Not the engineer at Force India

wesley123
wesley123
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Re: Delta wing car concept

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Nah I am just joking, nothing serious to talk about
"Bite my shiny metal ass" - Bender

Scania
Scania
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Re: Delta wing car concept

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Image

Scania
Scania
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Re: Delta wing car concept

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FW17
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Joined: 06 Jan 2010, 10:56

Re: Delta wing car concept

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wesley123 wrote:On the 17 sec vind Scania posted it looked like it was understeering a lot.

Car must be difficult to drive with the driver not allowed to hit the apex with the front wheels

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Pierce89
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Joined: 21 Oct 2009, 18:38

Re: Delta wing car concept

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and it sounds like a wet fart :wtf:
low revving turbo fours might sound good in a rally car, but in a circuit racer...I've already given a description.
“To be able to actually make something is awfully nice”
Bruce McLaren on building his first McLaren racecars, 1970

“I've got to be careful what I say, but possibly to probably Juan would have had a bigger go”
Sir Frank Williams after the 2003 Canadian GP, where Ralf hesitated to pass brother M. Schumacher

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Pierce89
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Joined: 21 Oct 2009, 18:38

Re: Delta wing car concept

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I love how this article makes out that simply not tumping over on it's side is a huge win.
“To be able to actually make something is awfully nice”
Bruce McLaren on building his first McLaren racecars, 1970

“I've got to be careful what I say, but possibly to probably Juan would have had a bigger go”
Sir Frank Williams after the 2003 Canadian GP, where Ralf hesitated to pass brother M. Schumacher

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FW17
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Joined: 06 Jan 2010, 10:56

Re: Delta wing car concept

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I think they should put in a few more horses under the hood if they need to make a serious attempt at le mans

Scania
Scania
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Re: Delta wing car concept

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machin wrote:
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could I say they referenced your rear wing design? :lol:

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P.S.
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Joined: 23 Oct 2011, 17:09
Location: Germany

Re: Delta wing car concept

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When I saw the deltawing the first time I was absolutely amazed! Obviously the Idea of three wheels is not new, but to go with this design to get more efficiency was new to me.

I tried to understand the concept by using rFactor. Deltawing claim to prove the feasibility with rFactor and lots of F1 teams take rFactorPro for there simulations.

I took a Porsche and started to change wheel positions, centre of gravity, inertia etc. Then suspension, brake balance, aero, tires. At last I had to change almost everything...

Now I hope that Ben Bowlby will be a name in racing history books! To me his idea is brilliant!
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