European Season Starts Here
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Leading-Edge Motorsport Technology Since 1990 Formula 1 2019 European season starts here F1_Cover_DigiMay19.indd 1 20/05/2019 12:57 30 & 31 October 2019 | NEC, Birmingham The UK’s largest annual gathering of OEMs and engineering supply chain professionals 91% 88% 98% of exhibitors met their of exhibitors have either of exhibitors were satisfied objectives of networking booked or will be booking with their experience at with new and existing clients again for 2019 Advanced Engineering 2018 Secure your stand today “We have done this for the 5th “I found the event a great year in a row and it is a very networking opportunity to meet good event for us to meet new industrial professionals from clients.” different backgrounds with Thomas Evans, Business different products.” Development Manager, Kat Clarke, Wing Manufacturing EBS Automation Ltd Engineer, Airbus Secure your stand now www.advancedengineeringuk.com AE_2019Advert_versions2.indd 1 13/12/2018 11:19:51 CONTENTS 5 Reverse thinking Ricardo Divila asks why racecars still have mirrored glass? 7 Complicated matter Pirelli’s tyre structure under Mike Blanchet’s microscope 8 Aero gain in Spain One quarter of the way through 2019 F1 has upgrades aplenty 14 S-Duct We uncover the real reasoning behind this clever aerodynamic trick 18 Skirting the issue Simon McBeath applies CFD to skirts in Formula 1 to see what happens 26 Pirelli We look at the challenges faced by Pirelli for 2020, and for 2021 32 The India formula The CFD model that shows future thinking for F1 2021 Produced by Racecar Engineering team Danger zone s we near ever closer to the ‘revolutionary’ 2021 season, details are constructors limited to just four in number. Your average F1 fan may not get emerging of the proposed regulations which are steering F1 into excited about today’s intricate wheel rims which utilise the hot air coming uncharted waters. In addition to the controversial budget caps, from the brakes to heat the tyres to go a tenth of a lap quicker, but the DNA tenders are now out for single supply transmissions, wheel rims of F1 is the ‘pinnacle of technology’ and the move towards single suppliers is Aand brake systems too. In the battle between controlling the cost and using threatening this philosophy, and taking the concept of innovation with it. the sport to develop technology, it seems that the former is favoured. Currently, there are four manufacturers of brake caliper in F1, each pushing Having previously worked at Manor Racing, I fully appreciate the eff orts to the limits of their capability and driving innovation to develop a better try and reduce costs to make the F1 championship more sustainable for the product than their competition in a battle to supply more teams. If you cut smaller teams. With the collapse of Manor at the beginning of the 2017 season that down to one manufacturer, not only do you adversely aff ect the other and the likes of Sauber, Racing Point (previously Force India) and Williams three in terms of their business, but that drive for pushing the boundaries either saved by title sponsors, buy outs, or clinging on to a sponsorship deal, evaporates. Look at the result of the decision to select a single tyre supplier for the era of the small F1 team is on life support. This is sub-optimal. Formula 1. I agree, a tyre war is an expensive initiative, but the Japanese cope Without such teams, there is nowhere for young engineers, mechanics in GT500, and what motivation do Pirelli have to keep developing their F1 or drivers to develop their Formula 1 experience. Formula 2 teams are products when their business is secured for the next three years? having to expand and become small F1 teams themselves in an attempt to Also, how much of a performance diff erentiator are brake calipers? Andrew soak up young engineers who want to make that jump into the top tier, a Green, Technical Director at Racing Point says that on the list of performance jump which is getting ever bigger. Of course, companies such as Williams diff erentiators, calipers are pretty low down. Furthermore, he reckons that the Advanced Engineering, McLaren Applied Technologies and Red Bull Advanced tender will struggle to produce calipers cheaper than Racing Point already Technologies are an excellent development area for engineers, but with the does. So, if the tender for brake calipers won’t signifi cantly aff ect on-track upcoming resource restriction in F1, we will undoubtedly see these companies action or reduce costs then the only thing it is achieving is putting engineering increase in number. However, these off er little trackside experience. companies out of business and sacrifi cing innovation. The FIA and FOM have In an attempt to encourage more teams to remain sustainable in Formula a diffi cult task ahead of them, and their decisions will please only some. But 1, and equalise the performance and therefore competition between the this relentless drive towards standardisation could put the top tier of teams, the FIA are aiming to slash costs through limiting access to the sport motorsport in jeopardy, along with many companies within its supply chain. via a tender process to supply all teams. However, these cost cutting measures are going to signifi cantly aff ect innovation and opportunity; you don’t need GEMMA HATTON to look far to fi nd just that in Le Mans Prototypes with the LMP2 chassis Deputy Editor RACECAR ENGINEERING FORMULA 1 SUPPLEMENT www.racecar-engineering.com 3 RCE_F1 DigiSupp May 2019.indb 3 20/05/2019 11:45 STRAIGHT TALK – RICARDO DIVILA Don’t look back in anger Why do racecars still use such old fashioned technology to provide a rear view? ay Harroun, an engineer born in 1879 The knee-jerk reaction from the organisers was It proved so useful and practical that it turned who was nicknamed the ‘Little Professor’, to specify that the LMP2s had to have moveable into a no-brainer for all racecars built by Nismo Rmaintained he only really raced so as to mirrors to shift the focus from the overtaking and since then. The added bonus was the auto-dim observe his designs being tested in the field. blinding LMP1s, but it only made things worse; the feature for the Suzuka 1000km race, which ended In 1911, for the inaugural Indianapolis 500-mile vibration moved on to new heights of blur. Okay, in darkness. Audi brought its version out to much race, of the entire 40-car field his yellow Marmon part of it was inadequate mountings to damp or fanfare in 2012, much to my amusement, as we – AKA the Wasp – was the only car to have just restrain the housings, plus they were mandated to had used that solution for 14 years by then. one person on board. All the others had a riding be bigger; so more aero turbulence and drag. It was also a primary item on the Deltawing for mechanic, a bit of a tradition from the previous Despite changing the mounts, shapes and Le Mans in 2012, a clean, mirror-less design with a years of racing on open roads where the early actuating mechanisms after the test day they still camera mounted high on the rear fin relaying an racing machinery, pretty much all prototypes, were vibrated, so they eventually solved the problem unobstructed rear view to the cockpit screens. We prone to mechanical failure or punctures a long laterally by presenting the cars at scrutineering, were definitely annoyed when not only did the way from any assistance. Incidentally, ACO insist on having the old style in 1912 the riding mechanics were mirrors but, adding insult to injury, required by the rules and were then demanded that the car run LMP2 mandatory until 1922, and then size mirrors even when running in returned again in 1930 until 1937. the Garage 56, with supposedly unlimited rules. This added eight Time to reflect per cent more drag, considerably For that first Indy 500 the Wasp also slowing the car in a straight line. featured a rear-view mirror, one of the first times such a device had Looking ahead been used – this was inspired by There is now software that has a solution to traffic management motion sensors that can put a Harroun had seen on a horse-drawn coloured arrow pointing to the side taxi some years earlier when he had of the car an opponent is coming worked as a chauffeur in Chicago. up to pass. It flashes faster if the In winning that first Indianapolis overtaker is closing up fast and 500, Harroun actually had a secret, XPB changes colour from green to red. It which he related over 50 years later, The trick mirrors on the 2018 Ferrari were as hi-tech as these parts can be, wouldn’t pick up vampires, for as we in 1967. His innovative mirror had but should reflective glass really have a place on a modern Formula 1 car? all know, they cast no reflection, even reassured his rivals that the racing electronic, but all else is signalled. would still be safe, despite him being alone in then siliconing the mirrors in for practice and the So, when these days we can have cameras the car. But the race track at the speedway was race. No more adjustable mirrors but no more guiding us into our parking slot, why not have a jarring, bumpy ride; it was, after all, made of vibration either, or at least back to the usual. the same sensing and warning about traffic and bricks.