Indholdsfortegnelse for August 2018 i Racecar Engineering

Renault RS18 Chassis: Moulded carbon fibre and aluminium honeycomb composite monocoque. Power unit: Renault RE18 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 with direct injection. Energy recovery system with MGU-H and MGU-K in a compounded layout. Transmission: Carbon fibre casing; 8-speed semi-automatic with reverse gear; quickshift system. Suspension: Double wishbone with pushrod actuated torsion bars at front; pullrod at the rear; aluminium uprights. Fuel cell: Kevlar-reinforced rubber fuel cell by ATL. Electrical: MES-Microsoft standard electronic control unit. Braking System: Carbon discs and pads; calipers by Brembo; master cylinders by AP Racing. Wheels: OZ machined magnesium wheels. Cockpit: Removable driver’s seat made of anatomically formed carbon composite with 6-point harness seat belt. Steering wheel integrated gearchange paddles, clutch paddles, and rear wing adjuster. Dimensions: Width, 2000mm; front track, 1600mm; rear track, 1550mm; length, 5480mm; height,…

‘We had to work pragmatically from both sides to get the relationship working quickly, and we did that’ Toro Rosso directly translates from Italian to English as ‘Red Bull’, but the Austrian energy drink firm’s junior F1 team is these days a very different organisation to Red Bull Racing. Gone are the days where it ran adapted versions of Red Bull’s chassis fitted with different engines and transmissions. Today the team develops its own cars from scratch at the former Minardi factory in Faenza, Italy, and in its own technical centre in Bicester, England. On top of that, this year Toro Rosso is also the works Honda team! But this year’s car, the STR13, was not originally designed for a Honda PU, rather it was supposed to be a refinement…

Porsche won a disappointing GTE-Pro category after opening out a comfortable lead in the fourth hour due to luck with a safety car. It then held on to it until the end of the race. The No.92 Porsche took the lead on lap 54 of the 344 it completed, as its closest competitors pitted under the safety car and were held until a second of three safety cars had passed by. Under GTE regulations, the stint lengths were limited to 14 laps, under all conditions, refuelling was limited to 35 seconds per stop, although Porsche’s stops seemed faster, and refuelling and tyre changes could take place at the same time, so there was nothing to be gained from stretching the tyre allocation. There was nothing that the No.92 Porsche’s rivals…

It’s always possible to increase horsepower, but weight saving is a more difficult trick From time to time we’ve all dreamt of building our own car. But the Briggs brothers, Neill and Ian, went a step further when they founded Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) in 2009. This was no pipedream, though, for they had the advantage of a background in an automotive design consultancy which meant they had worked for several automotive A-listers for over a decade, notably Porsche, Mercedes, Smart, AMG, Maybach, Ford and Bentley. They used this experience as a platform to design and build their own car, taking cues from both niche projects and mass-production items to find the perfect formula. Then in 2011 they then launched the world’s only single-seat road legal supercar – the BAC…

In recent years we have constantly been told computational fluid dynamics (CFD) would revolutionise the aerodynamic development of racecars. This has indeed been the case, supported by the relentless development in computational technology and modelling techniques. However, CFD has not yet advanced enough to replace wind tunnels entirely, as was at one time forecasted. ‘I think there will come a day when we will stop using wind tunnels all on our own, because new technology becomes superior, but I think the timing of that is a long way off; many years,’ Paddy Lowe said back in 2015. ‘At the moment CFD is a great complement to the wind tunnel process, but only when it has the ability to be calibrated against the tunnel on a regular basis.’ Wind tunnels, therefore,…

‘Trying to get everything working when you have yaw and steer is going to be really tough’ When the current set of Formula 1 aerodynamic regulations were announced partway through the 2016 season (ahead of a 2017 introduction), their stated aim was to ‘improve the show,’ but almost immediately concerns were raised that the new rules would actually reduce overtaking opportunities and result in rather dull, processional racing. These concerns proved to be valid. In 2017 there were just 435 on track passes, compared with 866 in 2016. Recognising the issue the F1’s technical department, headed by Ross Brawn, and the FIA’s technical department started work on a new package of aerodynamic regulations aimed at improving the racing for the 2019 season. This new rules package was created using the…

During the Spanish Grand Prix Ferrari introduced a new wing mirror layout with the unit mounted on a stalk extending from the Halo, something which the FIA has specifically said is allowed. The Ferrari solution was subsequently outlawed, though, as its upper ‘support’ was deemed to be purely for aerodynamic purposes. However, Renault also experimented with its own solution which is thought to be within the rules, as the support structure clearly has the primary function of actually being a support structure. It was only briefly fitted to the car in Barcelona in mock up form, but it’s thought it is still likely to appear on the RS18 at some point during the season.…

Toro Rosso STR13 Chassis: Scuderia Toro Rosso Composite monocoque. Power unit: Honda RA618H. Transmission: Gearbox maincase, Scuderia Toro Rosso one-piece carbon fibre; 8-speed sequential; active hydraulic operation. Suspension: Front – upper and lower carbon wishbones; pushrods; torsion bar springs; anti roll bars. Rear – upper and lower carbon wishbones; pullrods; torsion bar springs; anti roll bars. Steering: Toro Rosso assisted steering rack. Exhaust: Honda. Calipers: Brembo. Brake by Wire: Toro Rosso. Steering wheel: Toro Rosso. Tyres: Pirelli. Fuel system: ATL tank with Toro Rosso internals. Overall weight: 733kg.…

‘We didn’t want to carry anything over from our back catalogue of previous rally projects’ World Rallycross is one of the fastest growing forms of motorsport around. But with growth comes cost, and in order to try and protect the financial stability of the privateers, this year’s regulations have restricted the number and type of components teams can use to develop their cars. These have included limiting teams to two engines per season instead of three whilst reducing the number of turbochargers from two per event to four per year. Also, only two sets of gear ratios are allowed for the entire season, and rear aerodynamic development is forbidden. No compromises Yet despite these restrictions, WRX still remains a very open formula. In fact, the main limitations come from the…

BAC Mono Chassis and body: Inconel tubular spaceframe; high-strength carbon fibre composite around a steel safety cell; FIA-compliant steel roll over structure; side impact structure and a front carbon crashbox; prepreg carbon fibre bodywork. Engine: Longitudinally-mounted Mountune-built 2.5-litre, 4-cylinder inline Ford Duratec. Power 305bhp; torque 308Nm. Transmission: Formula 3 spec Hewland 6-speed sequential gearbox. Suspension: Fully-adjustable pushrod system; Sachs Racing dampers. Brakes: 295mm ventilated discs with AP Racing calipers. Wheels: Dymag carbon fibre/aluminium hybrid wheels. Dimensions: Length, 3952mm; width, 1836mm; wheelbase 2565mm. Weight: Dry weight 580kg. Performance: Top speed 170mph; acceleration 0-60mph 2.7s.…

Rotek Racing’s managing partner Robb Holland took his Chevrolet Corvette Z06 to Pikes Peak in 2017 and, according to the official results, netted 17th place overall for cars with a very creditable fourth in the Time Attack 1 class. Holland says: ‘We did a last minute build of the car for the 2017 event with a wing and splitter thrown on to give it whatever downforce we could get. This year we are looking to do a chassis-up build that is more of a racecar than a street car with some aero thrown at it.’ The objective for 2018, then, was to improve in all areas, including aerodynamics. And so Racecar Engineering took on the task of developing the aerodynamics of the Rotek Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 for the world-famous…

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 30 years it would be impossible not to notice the emergence of front-wheel drive, not just on the road but in racing too. In many respects front-wheel drive is a very different proposition to rear-wheel drive. Consequently, the focus here will be on discussing the dynamics of a front-wheel drive racecar and exploring through simulation the tuning tools you will need to deliver the maximum benefit. Front loading To start this discussion off we need to get back to basics about the challenge that front-wheel drive racing imposes. Let’s consider the FBD (free body diagram) of a front-wheel drive car that is shown in Figure 1. At low power values and low grip values a front-wheel drive road car…

‘I suppose I can justify the change in concept by saying that the car is now a lot quicker than it was last year’ It is unusual for an F1 team to embark on a major change of concept just one year into a set of rules, but this is exactly what Renault has done with its 2018 RS18 design. It’s a bold move for a team which in 2015 (as Lotus) was on the verge of financial collapse, but the takeover by Renault and an injection of cash has seen the Enstone team get steadily more competitive, and at the same time increase its headcount while improving its facilities. ‘At the end of 2015 we had about 450 people working at Enstone but since then we have been recruiting…

From the moment the RS18 rolled out in winter testing at Barcelona the relationship between its exhaust tail pipe and the underside of the rear wing raised eyebrows, and it is clear that the exhaust plume does have an influence on the wing because there is a ceramic thermal barrier applied to the underside of the main plane. ‘To prevent blown diffusers the rules [say] the exhaust has to sit inside a regulatory box, and our exhaust is entirely within those limits, so it’s completely legal,’ Bell says. ‘It is on the upper edge of the box but fully within it. Other people chose to put it lower, they didn’t do that because they wanted to be even more honest, and even more in the spirit of the regulations, they…

For those who say that this was an easy win, the winning TS050 completed 5286km, the furthest since Porsche’s first win in 2015 Toyota’s much-needed victory at the 2018 Le Mans 24 hours came at the end of a very carefully executed race. Yet while the 12-lap margin over the nearest non-hybrid was substantial, this wasn’t a slow cruise to the flag. The two Toyota team cars, prepared at TMG in Cologne, were allowed to race each other, and only late race penalties and a driver error confirmed the result. Kazuki Nakajima overcame his nightmare of 2016, when he stopped on the last lap having done all but take the chequered flag, Sebastien Buemi scored the biggest victory of his career, while Fernando Alonso took a step towards his dream…

There are over 250 main parts that make up a McLaren Automotive race engine. Which begs the question, how on earth do you go about piecing them all together? Well, you would have to go to Victoria to get an answer to that. Victoria is the codename for the Ricardo High Performance Assembly Facility in Shoreham, and this is where the company has built and assembled every McLaren road and GT race engine since 2011. These have included the one-make series 570S GT4, the McLaren 12C GT3 which has claimed four championships and 60 race wins; and the latest 650S GT3 currently competing in this year’s Blancpain GT series. ‘We now have the capacity to assemble over 20 engines per day across two shifts,’ says Steve Milton, the head of…

On the Friday before the race at Le Mans, the ACO laid out its roadmap for the future of its technical regulations. As revealed in Racecar, V28N1, all top class prototype cars on the grid will be hybrid, will be measured aerodynamically both in CFD and in the wind tunnel with minimum drag and maximum downforce levels, and will resemble road cars. That latter point pleases the likes of Aston Martin and Ford, who are both looking at the new global top class of prototypes and also want to highlight their technology in racing. Aston Martin, for example, will be able to design a car that resembles its Valkyrie. By introducing a front KERS, the current breed of LMP1 non-hybrid cars will become obsolete in the new regulations, although there…