Comments on: Silverstone tech- The story behind Red Bull wing and McLaren diffuser

By: Christian

Christian — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:18:31 +0000

That was only because he didn’t really give the place back properly – he wouldn’t have been able to overtake there unless he cut the chicane.

By: Christian

Christian — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:13:25 +0000

Yes, the maps are pre-programmed, but not by McLaren, by the teams. That means that they could have one of the maps programmed to do what is described here.

By: Trevor_R

Trevor_R — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:47:03 +0000

@SWKD
I think the pneumatics only close the valves, I think a camshaft still opens them.

@MIkeBZ
Good explanation.
Retarding the ignition and basically getting some mixture ignition very late, probably even resulting in combustion in the exhaust itself (as suggested elsewhere in this post), will destroy exhaust valves pretty quickly. I think they are doing this, but can do it for only very limited time before they have to let the valves cool down

By: antony

antony — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:49:42 +0000

About the best blog ive ever read, fascinating discussion mid way thru about exhaust gases and LJK’s logical conclusion.

By: Fausto Cunha

Fausto Cunha — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:07:50 +0000

If broken during the race i´m sure many people would turn the conspiracy arround,lol.

By: malcolm.strachan

malcolm.strachan — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:45:54 +0000

I think they were probably listening, or maybe noticing flames or blackish smoke on a hard qualifying lap, signifying fuel burning in the exhaust pipes… although I haven’t seen photos of exhaust over-run, so it’s hard to say.

By: malcolm.strachan

malcolm.strachan — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:40:13 +0000

Exactly. My post wasn’t too clear, but that’s the point I was trying to make. I think I got distracted mid-post…

It was set up to take advantage of the additional downforce on the rear from the blown diffuser. When they removed it, they lost rear grip but still had all the front grip, making the car a wicked oversteering beast.

By: malcolm.strachan

malcolm.strachan — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:33:53 +0000

I remember a few years ago, Racecar Engineering was suggesting that turbocompounders might be allowed in a future formula.

Definitely an interesting thought, to actually use the turbocompounder like a gas turbine rather than merely an energy recovery system! Might not be too fuel efficient though, in this application.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:39:25 +0000

Thanks James!

By: MikeBz

MikeBz — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:01:42 +0000

By ‘throttle’ I mean the pedal the driver operates and whatever action that has. Obviously it’s all fly-by-wire these days so there is no mechanical connection to the throttle butterflies/slides. The whole point of “getting out of the throttle” (as Mr Brundle likes to say) is to modulate or reduce power. When braking for a corner you don’t want the engine pushing you on. So if the airflow isn’t being reduced (throttle butterflies/slides not being closed) then the only way to cut engine power is to make the mixture hopelessly wrong (cut/reduce the fuel) and/or make the ignition timing hopelessly wrong. On a road car you run a lot of ignition advance on the overrun as you get poor cylinder filling leading to a slow burn (so you need to start the burn earlier) – failure to do this results in popping & banging, which obviously isn’t a concern on a race engine.

So I guess what they are doing is some combination of keeping air flowing into the engine by not closing the butterflies/slides and reducing power by running extremely suboptimal fuelling and ignition timing.

Mike