F1technical.net

Hollus contacted me yesterday about creating a topic to have a discussion about our recent article :Rear Wing Endplates in F1: An Extensive Analysis.

I didn't felt doing so because I feel it comes across as boasting about an article. However, given the low amount of technical updates in general in F1, it might be a nice distraction in a technical way.

I strongly want to emphasize although my name is on top of that article, one only needs to have a look to the credits to notice this is, and I cannot stress this enough, a group effort. I could not have done this without these fantastic people.

So there you: discuss whatever remark, opinion, disagreement,... you have about the article right here!

maybe the article should explain that basically endplates are induced drag-related ie high AoA/limited AR devices
also car DF wings were on the (1926 Sanger ?) Opel-sponsored rocket car, the banned 1955 May bros Porsche, the 1967 Chapparal
(and from c 1960 some eg Ferrari so-called tail 'spoilers' on sports prototypes may have produced DF)
and the Brabham at the 1967 Belgian GP had small adjustable front wings
in the Tasman series Jan-Mar 68 Lotus 'F1 invented' the wing, by using a length of helicopter rotor blade on the 2.5 litre Lotus 49T
but the initial 68 Lotus 49B had wedge-themed body and tail sections

Tommy Cookers wrote:maybe the article should explain that basically endplates are induced drag-related ie high AoA/limited AR devices
also the first car wings were the 1926? Opel-sponsored rocket car, the 1955 May bros Porsche, the 1967 Chapparal

Oh that latter escaped to me. I focussed quite narrowingly on F1, so I probably missed out on those cars because of that. Still, the Lotus 49B was the first F1 car to utilise downforce as far as I know. Aerodynamics is an other thing, which was used much earlier in F1 (aero in means of air resistance).

Tommy Cookers wrote:maybe the article should explain that basically endplates are induced drag-related ie high AoA/limited AR devices

They are certainly beneficial to those types of device but they are also beneficial in low AoA, high AR wings too - see the plethora of wing tip devices on aircraft for evidence of that. Sure, those devices are far removed, in visual impact at least, from the brutal devices we see on F1 cars, but they do the same basic thing.

Just_a_fan wrote:

Tommy Cookers wrote:maybe the article should explain that basically endplates are induced drag-related ie high AoA/limited AR devices

They are certainly beneficial to those types of device but they are also beneficial in low AoA, high AR wings too - see the plethora of wing tip devices on aircraft for evidence of that. Sure, those devices are far removed, in visual impact at least, from the brutal devices we see on F1 cars, but they do the same basic thing.

they are often not as beneficial as having a higher AR via raked tips or other wing extension, wrt both lift and drag benefits
winglets may well be a cheaper way of developing a plane's capacity or fitting it to airport stands eg the A380 vs the 80m limit
a winglet of tolerable size cannot greatly influence so-called tip vortices (because most of the span is involved in vortex formation)

some interesting points here
http://aviation.stackexchange.com/quest ... e-winglets

They do have a noticeable effect on aircraft, even those where wing span isn't a limit e.g. the 737-800. The effect is to reduce induced drag if not as effectively as a nicely tapered tip does.


Looking at the design of the tips, I guess that they make the wing behave as if it had a long, slender tip like the 787 does. They just do in a cheaper and easier to retro-fit way that doesn't impact too much on span and thus on-ground handling.

All of which means I'm probably agreeing with you one way or another...

I enjoyed the article very much, thankyou!

[quote="turbof1"]Hollus contacted me yesterday about creating a topic to have a discussion about our recent article :Rear Wing Endplates in F1: An Extensive Analysis.

I read the article in the link...It didn't go into the reasoning/theory about the horizontal slats on the pressure side of the wing's endplates?


Also...even though it was a race car the 69' dodge daytona's endplates/uprights. It was probably the most advanced street car of it's time. -2 < 10 degree of rear wing adjustment, front wheel well vents, bullet nose cone with chin spoiler. Had a Cd of just .28. The Clark Y profile rear wing gave a 350lbs of rear downforce at 200mph. Actually was faster than a McLaren F1 with the race hemi...went 243mph at chrysler's proving grounds during testing in 1968.