Honda RA109

A place to discuss the characteristics of the cars in Formula One, both current as well as historical. Laptimes, driver worshipping and team chatter do not belong here.
wesley123
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Joined: 23 Feb 2008, 17:55

Re: Honda RA109 - The Domination that never was

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Yes, there was already a topic about it here; http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... 12&t=19672
Last edited by Richard on 27 Oct 2014, 17:17, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topics merged
"Bite my shiny metal ass" - Bender

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hollus
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Joined: 29 Mar 2009, 01:21
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Re: Honda RA109 - The Domination that never was

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Of course there is the possibility that if Honda had competed, the car, having the 2009-must-not-have, KERS, would have been fatter and heavier and suffered a string of DNFs at the beginning of the season. And then there is the possibility that the overstuffed management at Honda would have made sure that everything moved at snail pace in development by comittee. And then Vettel would be a 5 times world champion by now.
Rivals, not enemies.

Facts Only
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Joined: 03 Jul 2014, 10:25

Re: Honda RA109 - The Domination that never was

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Any engineer worth his salt can see straight away that someone chucking that many nose designs at the CFD box doesn't know what they're doing and is just flailing about in the dark.

People who were there at the time have told me that the Merc V8 was 50+BHP up the Honda V8 it replaced. I seriously doubt that without the Merc engine, the stripped down management and sense of urgency that Brawn GP had in 2009 that the car would have been anything other than a podium botherer and Red Bull would have started there domination a year earlier.
"A pretentious quote taken out of context to make me look deep" - Some old racing driver

NoDivergence
50
Joined: 02 Feb 2011, 01:52

Re: Honda RA109 - The Domination that never was

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Not really true. The level of integration for the Mercedes engine was a complete hodge podge. With KERS the Brawn would have been competitive. Rear end aero was also compromised due to the extra length of the Mercedes engine, and think about the development. Brawn did practically no in season development. Honda would have enabled continuous improvements throughout the season.

Facts Only
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Joined: 03 Jul 2014, 10:25

Re: Honda RA109 - The Domination that never was

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NoDivergence wrote:Not really true. The level of integration for the Mercedes engine was a complete hodge podge. With KERS the Brawn would have been competitive. Rear end aero was also compromised due to the extra length of the Mercedes engine, and think about the development. Brawn did practically no in season development. Honda would have enabled continuous improvements throughout the season.

Do you have a source for the claim about the extra length of the Merc engine and the compromised rear aero?

Also even if the Honda unit KERS had worked, 80bhp for 6 seconds would not make up for 50+bhp bhp for the entire lap.

It's a pointless debate anyway, the Brawn/Merc combo won the title and this mythical RA109 never raced. I'm sure much like the stillborn 2010 Toyota people will claim it would have cleaned up
If it had raced knowing it can never been proved either way.
"A pretentious quote taken out of context to make me look deep" - Some old racing driver

ollandos
0
Joined: 22 May 2014, 07:28

Re: Honda RA109 - The Domination that never was

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brawn gp that year run with mercedes engine but with honda gearbox......for save money .....i dont know if it the new or the old honda gearbox.......ross pay only the engine and run the season with out upgrades ....only 3 versions of downforce levels
L-M-H ......

ollandos
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Joined: 22 May 2014, 07:28

Re: Honda RA109 - The Domination that never was

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ollandos wrote:brawn gp that year run with mercedes engine but with honda gearbox......for save money .....i dont know if it the new or the old honda gearbox.......ross pay only the engine and run the season with out upgrades ....only 3 versions of downforce levels
L-M-H ......

sorry for the second post ....but for the gearbox from honda .....one mayne reason is the rear suspension ........with mercedes gearbox need new desing of rear of the car........

and the final result is mercedes engine honda gear........
branw gp is honda car with only mercedes engine nothing else outside honda.........

p.s.next time honda may keep the name after exit for one year more............. :idea:

J_Clark
1
Joined: 21 Aug 2014, 10:13

Re: Honda RA109 - The Domination that never was

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For the love of God, not this myth article about RA109 again.
That car in wind tunnel is RA107, preseason spec, slightly modified for new 2009 aero and 2008 safety rules.
They were probably just experimenting a little bit when the new 2009 rules were announced, nothing more.

http://www.grandprix.com/jpeg/misc/hond ... ch1-lg.jpg
http://www.motorstown.com/images/honda-ra107-02.jpg
Airbox, shape of sidepod cooling ducts, mirrors, two bulges on front of monocoque, bulge on the sidepode, engine cover. They are all the same.


http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ ... 9366f5.jpg
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ ... af8efe.jpg
Exactly the same position of exhaust exits, exactly the same turning vane on the side of the chassis by the mirror.

zeph
1
Joined: 07 Aug 2010, 11:54
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Honda RA109 - The Domination that never was

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Isn't this a copyright violation? To repost the article in its entirety, with photos and all.

flyboy2160
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Joined: 25 Apr 2011, 17:05

Re: Honda RA109

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Bump for merging. There now have been 3 threads about this, which have been merged. Please search for this before posting yet again. Update: since the latest complete quote was a indeed a copyright violation, I've deleted it. The article is already mentioned in this thread.

wesley123
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Joined: 23 Feb 2008, 17:55

Re: Honda RA109

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Bump my own topic as I was reminded of it's existence.

Anyways, revisiting it I noticed something quite interesting;
Image
Image

These elements on the nose (re)appeared in F1 in I believe 2018. Intriguing to see that this was already being tested in the wind tunnel almost 10 years prior.
Image
"Bite my shiny metal ass" - Bender

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AnthonyG
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Joined: 03 Mar 2012, 13:16

Re: Honda RA109

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wesley123 wrote:
20 Dec 2021, 22:36
Bump my own topic as I was reminded of it's existence.

Anyways, revisiting it I noticed something quite interesting;
https://www.racecar-engineering.com/wp- ... onda05.jpg
https://www.racecar-engineering.com/wp- ... onda02.jpg

These elements on the nose (re)appeared in F1 in I believe 2018. Intriguing to see that this was already being tested in the wind tunnel almost 10 years prior.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EwI3571WYAE ... name=large
The 2007 and 2008 Honda cars already featured (large) elephant ears.
Thank you really doesn't really describe enough what I feel. - Vettel

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Stu
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Joined: 02 Nov 2019, 10:05
Location: Norfolk, UK

Re: Honda RA109

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wesley123 wrote:
20 Dec 2021, 22:36
Bump my own topic as I was reminded of it's existence.

Anyways, revisiting it I noticed something quite interesting;
https://www.racecar-engineering.com/wp- ... onda05.jpg
https://www.racecar-engineering.com/wp- ... onda02.jpg

These elements on the nose (re)appeared in F1 in I believe 2018. Intriguing to see that this was already being tested in the wind tunnel almost 10 years prior.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EwI3571WYAE ... name=large
I seem to recall the Honda ‘world’ car running something similar, now going to spend hours looking at photos of the thing….

…didn’t take as long as I thought!!

https://images.app.goo.gl/JotLsS4osZwSxuXx7
Perspective - Understanding that sometimes the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

wesley123
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Joined: 23 Feb 2008, 17:55

Re: Honda RA109

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Indeed cars in the years prior did run solutions on that area. But afaik they became (partly) illegal with the rule changes. It's interesting that they tried a legal, very similar, solution years before it would appear in F1 again
"Bite my shiny metal ass" - Bender

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jjn9128
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Joined: 02 May 2017, 23:53

Re: Honda RA109

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wesley123 wrote:
20 Dec 2021, 23:42
Indeed cars in the years prior did run solutions on that area. But afaik they became (partly) illegal with the rule changes. It's interesting that they tried a legal, very similar, solution years before it would appear in F1 again
It basically became impossible to place them on the nose after 2014, but at the AA bulkhead where the nose stepped up from 550mm from the ref to 625mm.
#aerogandalf
"There is one big friend. It is downforce. And once you have this it’s a big mate and it’s helping a lot." Robert Kubica