F1 cars set for major changes by 2013

[ENZ525]

Highlights:

* Much smaller front and rear wings

* A far greater proportion of the total downforce of the cars will be created by the underfloor, compared to the wings

* A major reduction in the amount of total downforce created by the car

* To achieve this, the underfloor of the cars will be shaped along its length to generate downforce for the first time since the 1982 season - currently cars have bottoms that are flat between the wheels

* The average proportion of a lap that a driver is able to spend on full throttle to be cut from 70% in 2010 to 50% in 2013

* Tyres will remain large and chunky to ensure cornering speeds remain high

Full story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9307861.stm

 

[dem maser]

Do you think that will make it more exciting enz??

 

[ENZ525]

Well Dem,
Yes in a word... the new rules should not make overtaking any harder, it should make passing easier, because a car should lose less downforce when it is following another car if more of its total downforce is created by its underfloor rather than its wings.
This means it should be easier for drivers to follow closely behind and hopefully easier to overtake

 

[dem maser]

they needed to do something to make it more exciting....

 

[2b1ask1]

Downforce created by the underfloor sounds suspiciously like 'ground effect' that cost the world the tallents of Senna....?

 

[ENZ525]

The death of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger the day before were tragic accidents...
as far as I am aware, no consensus has been reached as to what the causes were,
maybe the 'ground effect' was a contributing factor, maybe not...one thing is for sure,
safety as a whole has been improved dramatically in F1 since '94

 

[Andyk]

That is a problem currently...when up behind a car they just can not get past..If that sorts out the issue then I'm all for it.

 

[OzzieAl]

Interesting stuff I though Senna was killed by a wheel which came off another car and hit his helmet??? If I remember correctly What Enzo says is right,but I also recall down force created by the underside of the cars was banned back in about 82 because the cars were starting to go to fast again!! so it will be interesting to see what they do...as ever, to get round the rules with an advantage nobody else thought about..

 

[Andyk]

Didn't the wheels come off his own car.......I can see it now...Terrible weekend for motorsport.

 

[2b1ask1]

There had been several laps behind thew safety car, they niped him in for a trye change straight away but didnt refuel, he was running light and when the SC came in his tyres being being new and very cold (actually lost heat additionally because of SC) effected the setup making it run just a few millimetres higher, all these factors meant that the 'ground effect' could not hold it through the corner when it should have sending him airborn, I seem to recall his fatal injury was from one of his own wheels or debris smashing his head into the cockpit... Just an awful set of circumstances and an awful weekend.