Nice tech article on the 'wings' in F1

As Webber alluded, people are finding all sorts of bogey men in the design to explain away the Red Bull's advantage but it may be that its just that much faster than everyone else and legal.

 

The FIA says that it may increase the loading of tests on the Formula 1 front wings in order to make sure that they all comply with Article 3.15 of the Formula 1 Technical Regulations...

 

C'mon if you put enough weight on anything it'll bend.
IMVHO this is just the FIA's way of leveling the playing field. It makes for better TV and maybe even for better racing but undermines the legitimacy of the FIA as a sanctioning body.

 

Don't shoot the messenger, I'm keeping the F chat up to speed D ..

IF RB are bending the rules (pun intented) then so be it, test em! if not max respect to them.

Bernie's show fixer is bound and gagged somewhere I hope ...

 

E-Mail explaining frame of mind sent.

 

There you go
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Ya bst'd!

 

Cheers and I thought that would help..

Back on topic:

The problem for the FIA is that it is impossible for wings to remain immobile, because of the forces that they are subjected to, and all of them flex, to a lesser or greater extent. Thus the FIA must define a limit of flexibility and find a way to police it. The current FIA tests involve a force of 500 Newtons being applied to each wing. This is equivalent to a kilogram-force of 51, which means that it is similar to 50kg of downforce. The wings are allowed to flex 10mm, but engineers argue that if the FIA test is not stringent enough and they are clever enough to create wings that are rigid for the test but bend when loadings increase then they cannot be blamed for doing it. In high speed corners in F1 wings can be subjected to four times the downforce of the test.

Those who do not have the flexi wings will inevitably argue that Article 3.15 should be applied, while those that do argue that the test are the important thing and if the car passes the tests then it is legal.

There should not be a surprise if the FIA changes the tests in order to achieve its goals. Teams will then have to look to see what is possible. If the FIA does not change the regulations then one can expect all the teams to start building the same wings.

From Joe S blog

 

All this mid-season rejiggering of the rules makes me think Todt and company have spent too much time visiting NASCAR.

 

I wonder if the flexing wings are not just a distraction to deflect attention from something else.

 

You guys are full of conspiracies. Bottom line for me, this will probably benefit Ferrari, so I'm all for it. The RB's front wing and floor are more advanced than ours, so they have more to lose. Question is, will this test force RB and Ferrari to have rigid wings, or will they simply be less flexible flexi-wings? IMO the only way for the FIA to truly police this is to put their own sensors on the cars, and that way they can monitor any flexing under real conditions.

 

Another link on the subject;

http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/2010/07/30/aero-elasticity-%E2%80%93-red-bulls-front-wing/

 

Guys, you're missing the point here. Once again, a team has been copying Ferrari!
Image Unavailable, Please Login