New member - Bought an RA107

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F1snake
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Joined: 04 Jan 2011, 23:58
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Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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Coming soon in Racecar Engineering Magazine! We have just had a completely fascinating day at MIRA in their full scale wind tunnel. My first time in a wind tunnel. Pretty exciting stuff and we certainly learned a lot about the RA107's aero from the experience. We will not know about the specifics until all data has been analysed and published in the article. Something we are obviously looking forwards to.


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Last edited by F1snake on 04 Feb 2012, 15:34, edited 1 time in total.

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

Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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Very cool.

How is the progress on the gearbox? How about the mounting structures for the powertrain to the tub?

Tim
Not the engineer at Force India

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F1snake
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Joined: 04 Jan 2011, 23:58
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Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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Hi Tim,

I'm afraid it hasn't really moved on a great deal, other than I think I've finally found all the specialist tools for removing the Honda internals. We were waiting to complete our wind tunnel date, where the car was obviously required to be in one piece. We can now remove the gearbox and let Hewland have it back so they can get on with the job.

We do have various ideas for the engine cradle. We will need the input of a'proper' engineer, as we'd like a structure as light as possible without compromising torsional strenght. Certainly still open for suggestions!

aero_chap
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Joined: 04 Feb 2012, 16:59

Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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Hi,

I'd be very careful reading too much into the aero based on a MIRA test - it's a long way from being a good enough tunnel even for road cars (based on professional experience) - I wouldn't go anywhere near it for an F1 car other than possibly the rear wing....

If you like I can put you in touch with somebody who was one of the senior aero who designed the 107?

Caito
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Joined: 16 Jun 2009, 05:30
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Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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Hi aero_chap, welcome to the forum.

Why do you think it's not a good enough tunnel?
Come back 747, we miss you!!

ESPImperium
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Joined: 06 Apr 2008, 00:08
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Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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Is that 2 rear wings you have now?
Last edited by ESPImperium on 05 Feb 2012, 00:45, edited 1 time in total.

Muskrat
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Joined: 20 Jan 2011, 17:05

Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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F1snake wrote:

Muskrat,

Its the 3.0 litre version with a 500 BHP tune. P/W ratio should remain the about the same as was in 2007. There's more on this subject earlier in the thread.
Cool (on the larger version), not sure how it can have similar p/w to the car as raced in 2007 with 200 - 250bhp less though (the weight reduction would have to be "Massive" to be in the same p/w zone (surely), and you surely can not be loosing much if any weight?

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andylaurence
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Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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The car would've raced at 605kg plus fuel, so maybe around 680kg at the start of a stint. 720bhp makes that ~1060bhp/ton. Take out ballast and only run the car for a few laps and the all-up weight is likely to be closer to 550kg with 500bhp from the new V8. That's ~910bhp/ton, which isn't far off. Where it'll be noticably slower is on trap speeds at the end of the straights - it'll not have the power to overcome the drag in the same way as it did with >700bhp. It'll still be epically quick though.

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F1snake
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Joined: 04 Jan 2011, 23:58
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Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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Hi aero chap,

Many thanks for your comments. I am not really qualified to judge if the MIRA tunnel is as good as for example McLarens or Force Indias wind tunnels, as its the first one I've been to. But I really enjoyed the experience and felt I learned something new about the Honda. Its not like we were developing new aero parts or anything! It was quite exciting for me just to see how the air flows round the car. The people doing the test at MIRA were certainly well qualified and proffesional.
I'd appreciate any contacts you have, many thanks for offering.

Hi ESP,

Well spotted, we did try an alternative rear wing. I'm looking for parts all the time, that was one of my lucky finds!

Muskrat & andylaurence,

I did approximate a bit when claiming to maintain the same p/w ratio, but as Andy points out, its not going to be that far of. For various other reasons it will probably not be as quick as its used to, its going to have a much slower driver for a start!

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greenpower dude reloaded
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Joined: 29 Dec 2005, 20:03
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Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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Fantastic! those are really great pictures. I'm looking forward to reading all about it in the not too distant future.

Sounds like you're really putting yourself in with the right crowd. :)
______________________________________

ESPImperium
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Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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Cool. Id love to be in the posistion to be able to buy even a front wing end plate but they are just too damned expensive for me. Would look nice up on the front room wall next to some signed Tennis memrobilia (by a current top 4 player) we have.

Id love to see you run it with a 2009 spec rear wing just to get the data of how much downforce is lost or gained from the 2 diffrent specs.

Really looking forward to seeing the report after it drops thru my letterbox sometime later in the year.

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F1snake
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Joined: 04 Jan 2011, 23:58
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Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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You're right, ESP, its a very expensive hobby. I've had to sell my house and move in with my girlfriend in order to indulge my passion for unaffordable cars....everything is relative, though. I spoke to a chap who worked with composites for various F1 teams, he told me that an end plate for a rear wing cost the teams £5000! A few years later, and you can buy this end plate on Ebay for £2-300! The same goes for most other parts as well. Some dealers are best avoided, though, but on the whole its possible to find obsolete F1 car parts for a bargain basement price. Relatively speaking, of course!

I'd like to try a 2009 rear wing, but my guess would be a loss of down force. 2009 was an all time low on the down force front, as I understand it. If you click on this link http://www.racetothefinish.co.uk/rttf.a ... ywork&id=8 and scroll down, you will see a 2008 Honda wing that I'd like, as it looks quite wacky.... but unfortunately will be to much hassle to try and modify the rear end of the car or the wing uprights in order to use it. It costs a pretty penny, but nothing like what Honda paid for it.

jakelewismclaren
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Joined: 16 Jan 2012, 15:23
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Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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did you add the bull horns to the roll hoop? , looks really good with them
Come On McLaren

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F1snake
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Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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Hi Jake,

Yes, we added those ' viking horns' recently. They are actually from the RA108. I think they quite compliment all the other wacky aero protrutions the car is sporting, but Honda never actually raced with them in '07. This car did winter testing in Jerez 2008 and the test team probably used the horns out there. The fittings were already in place on the car when we got it. They are supposed to stabilise the car under yaw and pitch.

ESPImperium
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Re: New member - Bought an RA107

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Your car was used as a Super Aguri wasnt it, so it will have alot of cross over from 2008s parts from that team as well.

Am i right it was used by Anthony Davidson, James Rossiter and Takuma Sato as well as Rubens.

Thats a pretty decent driver set, however im not sure what was used in 2007 testing yet, havnt got that far in my data sheets.

Thanks for the link. There are some affordable parts there, however the front and rear wing assemblies are miles out of my budget. Anything for under £400 to £500 is what im looking at.

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