Red Bull RB8 Renault

[MIKEY_!]

They are just drawing air from above the sidepod rather than from the splitter. That air will be just as clean I think. The downside is that it creates lift at the sidepod and possibly air won't flow between the rear wheels as well as it did causing more drag. Actually this design makes having a high nose less important, maybe an advantage when the new rules arrive.

[NonNewtonic]

Did anyone realise that the brake ducts of the Red Bulls are just huge! I wonder it's because they are concerning about their brake overheating issues in Malaysia given that the demand on brakes in Bahrain in much more greater than in Malaysia?

[raymondu999]

They've been huge since Monaco 2010; because of Vettel's brake problems in Melbourne 2010 and Barcelona 2010.

[NonNewtonic]

But now it is much more significant

[raymondu999]

Why would you say that? I'd think it was more significant in 2010 and 2011; because you could brake harder with the increased downforce. You have to brake less because you can carry more speed, but the energy spike would have been bigger in 2010/2011

New swivel jack for Red Bull? I think they were still using a "traditional" front jack in previous races?

[Lycoming]

I can't remember whether it was Mclaren or RB that I saw using those at Melbourne... probably both now that I think of it.

[raymondu999]

McLaren IIRC has used a traditional jack, at least until now. Merc were the first to this jack design in 2010, then Ferrari followed suit. Not sure about teams other than those 4.

[RB7ate9]

They are just drawing air from above the sidepod rather than from the splitter. That air will be just as clean I think. The downside is that it creates lift at the sidepod and possibly air won't flow between the rear wheels as well as it did causing more drag. Actually this design makes having a high nose less important, maybe an advantage when the new rules arrive.

I see what you're talking about. If only I could peek ahead a few years and see if what you're saying pans out.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

The tunnels on the RB8 are gone. Coincidence they're faster/more competitive? I don't believe so.

[raymondu999]

The tunnels on the RB8 are gone. Coincidence they're faster/more competitive? I don't believe so.

Yes - and it's confusing the f*ck out of me

But I guess that's why I'm not in engineering. Any takers as to why?

[siskue2005]

From Vettel's results with the tight coke bottle in China (considering he is no slouch), there needs to be an additional aspect to gain back downforce and speed.

What is peculiar is that Lotus, who has a similarly tight coke bottle, has been doing well without the same coanda exhausts used in Sauber and Maclaren. Grosjean and Raikkonen have been doing very well .

and so does Merc cars

[Owen.C93]

The tunnels on the RB8 are gone. Coincidence they're faster/more competitive? I don't believe so.

Yes - and it's confusing the f*ck out of me

But I guess that's why I'm not in engineering. Any takers as to why?

Maybe you just didn't feel like studying it?

[raymondu999]

The tunnels on the RB8 are gone. Coincidence they're faster/more competitive? I don't believe so.

Yes - and it's confusing the f*ck out of me

But I guess that's why I'm not in engineering. Any takers as to why?

Maybe you just didn't feel like studying it?

I meant why the tunnels disappearing made them faster.

[Owen.C93]

Yes - and it's confusing the f*ck out of me

But I guess that's why I'm not in engineering. Any takers as to why?

Maybe you just didn't feel like studying it?

I meant why the tunnels disappearing made them faster.

Because the tunnels were introducing flow across the exhaust towards the inside of the car while the coanda effect pulled the exhaust down, this introduced a nice big swirly mess of a hurricane in front of the rear axle and wasn't efficient at all.

Maybe.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

I meant why the tunnels disappearing made them faster.

Yeah I'm pretty much with Owen on this one. I think the flows; exhaust, lateral flow & flow over sidepods were causing problems in the way Newey had them coming together. The new way is more straight forward and probably easier to manage.