Mikey's 2012 F1 concept

[MIKEY_!]

well said nick

[MIKEY_!]

wow, it has been a while but i thought I'd post a few pics of the 2013 car (basically a refined 2012 car), sorry for the poor image quality courtesy of my camera phone.





New coanda exhaust bulges and rear sidepods, slots are there to get air out of the sidepods as quickly as possible, the idea being to reduce internal drag, some of the radii in this area may be too small and thus illegal. I feel this design is cleaner than the previous one.



New nose: The RB8 style intake is gone, again I think this is cleaner and probably easier to work with aerodynamically. The 'snowplough' is gone also, the nose tip is at the same (nearly maximum) height but the curved underside of the nose should split air in a similar way to the snowplough but with less surface area and less vortices than before, in theory reducing drag.The upper side of the nose ('modesty' panel covering the step) is also designed to send some air to the sides. I must admit to being very lazy and not actually reading the regulations regarding this cover, I have read several articles about it of course but it's likely I've done something wrong.
Still working on changes to the airbox, I haven't actually decided what is the best way to go but it will be a blade style roll hoop with engine intake and cooling inlets.
Any input would be greatly appreciated as always enjoy!

[MIKEY_!]

inspired by a recent scarbs article which stated:

The rules do not mandate wheel nuts, the rules are vague only stating “The wheel must be attached to the car with a single fastener” Thus the means by which the wheel fastener grips the wheel to the axle is free.

I came up with a faster method of attaching the the wheels to the rest of the car:



In these cross sections the frame (green) is attached rigidly to the wheel itself with the locking lugs (red) and wedge (orange) attached to the frame via springs (grey and blue dots). Both of these springs act to pull the wedge and locking lugs towards the frame. However the grey spring is stronger so the rest position of the device is shown on the left, with the wedge pulled tightly against the frame. When putting the wheel on the car the pit crew member simply pushes the wheel onto the hub (to the right in this case), the locking lugs retract due to their shape and then spring back into recesses in the hub, holding the wheel in place.

To remove the wheel the pit crew member must pull the wedge left, overcoming the grey spring and allowing the locking lugs to retract, the wheel can then be pulled straight off the hub (again, to the left). This greatly speeds up the pitstop process, maybe getting stop times down to 1.5 or even 1 second. It also removes the need for wheel guns, meaning less equipment/ hoses etc to get in the way and fewer things to malfunction.

[andylaurence]

I'm a bit confused by the diagram and explanation. Is the green bit the wheels and the orange/red the hub? How do you prevent the wheel moving laterally?

[MIKEY_!]

The green bit is a small part of the wheel or if you prefer, a separate component attached rigidly and permanently to the wheel.
the orange bit is only a tab for moving the locking lugs (which are the red bits),the hub itself is not shown.
The diagram is a cross section through the middle of the device, which would sit in the center of the wheel. Neither the red or orange sections can move into or out of the page retaliative to the green part as the wheel is in the way.

Does that help?

[andylaurence]

I think I get it. We're looking from where the wheel gun operator would usually be sat and this is just one of several mechanisms that lock the wheel in place. The pin on the left locates in a slot in the hub, so fitting the wheel is as simple as pressing it onto the hub until the pin clicks into its guide? Removal is just pressing the orange section to the right to release the pin from the guide? I assume there's drive pins to locate the wheel rotationally, just as there is today.

[MIKEY_!]

I haven't explained this very well, I think I'll whip up a 3D model

[MIKEY_!]

color coding the same as before, springs not shown for simplicity



Here the device is at rest, in the fully locked position, the red locking lugs have been forced outwards and into holes cut into the hub. The image on the left is at the same angle as the cross section I posted earlier. This is how the device would appear in a left wheel when viewed from behind. The image on the right is just for perspective.



Here the orange section has been moved to the left by a mechanic pulling on it, this has allowed the locking lugs to move inwards slightly.



With the orange part pulled further to the left, the locking lugs can move all the way inwards and unlock from the hub. The wheel can now be removed entirely from the car

[andylaurence]

Oh, I see. It's a latch. Is this a single item in the centre of the wheel? If so, that means it slots into the hub. I wonder what effect it'll have on the weight. Also, at what points does it touch the hub? Usually a wheel mounts on the hub with a face and a bore in the middle. This locates it well in all directions and the studs stop it slipping on the shaft. In order for the pin to be pulled my hand, there must be a little tolerance in the moving mechanism and that will result in a little play laterally. If the wheel isn't located well by other means, then it could rock on the hub, which isn't good news. I've worn out a rod-end on my car and there's barely noticeable play. By the time that reaches the edge of the wheel, it's 5mm and by the time it reaches the driver, it's terrifying!

[MIKEY_!]

Sounds like you've got it now yes, I expect it would weigh more than the usual arrangement but with the proper tolerances and hard enough materials (given that each unit would only have to last maybe 30 laps) wear should not be a problem. The hub would also have to be redesigned quite a bit. Usually the wheel fits over part of the hub doesn't it? In my design part of the hub would have to fit around part of the wheel, potentially making it more bulky and leaving less space for other vital parts like brakes etc.

[andylaurence]

I think you'd be surprised how a small tolerance can have a massive impact. I did less than a lap with a loose hub last year. I finished the lap at low speed and fixed the problem, but managed another 3 laps later in the day before the wheel shattered.

That aside, I don't see a problem with a centreless hub. A Formula Student team ran a centreless hub this year and saved weight as the wishbones don't mount in the centre and nor do the tyres, so there's no need to have any material there.

[coaster]

That's pretty cool kiddo, you could do a claymation youtube filmclip with that car.
I'm thinking, add some tyres and do a burnout sequence with Gumby at the wheel!

Black texta marks behind the tyres and a cotton smoke cloud on each tyre. =D>

[MIKEY_!]

lol coaster!

[MIKEY_!]

just a thought for future development:
could the sidepod be shaped like toro rosso's from 2011 (super undercut) but more like a wing so it creates a low pressure area behind it. then the floor under it could end earlier than usual so the low pressure area extracts air from under the floor?
this would mean the beam wing generates less df but it would also be in the upwash from the sidepods so it would create less drag too. Its kind of like a giant DDD, what do you guys think?

[MIKEY_!]

I wanted to test this idea out a bit more so I've rebuilt one side of my car with this new concept. The sidepods are like toro rosso's 2011 super undercut sidepods but with a wall preventing air escaping out the sides. The sealed wing shape this creates allows a low pressure area to form behind the sidepod. Normally the floor would make that pointless but I've removed some of the floor in this area (which is legal as far as I know) so that air is pulled from under the floor increasing the downforce it creates. The beam wing and diffuser would generate less df but also less drag so I think the trade off might be worth it.