How Mercedes solved their rear tire issue

Slot in the rear wheel inner surface of the rim. Somehow the brake duct aids in feeding the inner rim. Really clever.

Nie podwójna felga, a opaska pomaga in?ynierom Mercedesa zarz?dza? temperatur? opon | F1TALKS.PL - BLOG F1, FILMY F1


They started doing this some time early in the season, unknown how many times it's been altered/tweaked. Brilliant stuff though.
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Very Cool

 

Interesting stuff. Are any other teams messing with their rims?
What exactly do you suggest they can do with that slot? Feed hot air from the brakes? Or feed cold air from the brake inlet?
Anyone with an idea on how sensitive the tire temperature is to rim temperature?

 

Interesting for sure. However, don't wheels have to be homologated at the start of the year?

 

None that I have seen yet, I know F1technical geeks (myself included) have been reviewing pics of everyone else to see, and that doesn't appear to be the case. Tire temps are indeed sensitive to rim temps, not as much as you'd think though.

The rear brake duct slot is feeding clean air to that inner area, as is conjectured anyway.

I believe to an extent, not sure re what is and is not allowed to be altered.



Mercedes took a big chance by taking this approach. Costa/Bell/Brawn/Willis all agreed the tires especially at the front needed to be superheated, fast, but the rears may be an issue with this approach. They took the chance knowing they designed a system like this knowing they were going to have to deduce a way *during the season* to keep those rear tires cool obviously not knowing just how good or bad their cooling mechanism might work during pre-season when I'm sure they were mettling over this mechanism and it's conjectured workings. Apparantly it's working, and this superheating is where their qualy speed is coming from.

 

Love this stuff. Why do I get the sense that this type of innovation is not happening with Ferrari F1 engineering right now? They just seem to be working on the basics like making sure the car stays on the race track. Barely.

-F

 

here you can see it even better.


since when do they use them?
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Interesting.

But I suppose that the kevlar in the tyres helped a lot because at Nurburgring with the old Pirellis they sucked.

 

It's difficult to say when the started. From the photos I've been seeing, the inside of the wheel all appear to be slightly different depending on the race. At least that's the appearance anyway.

 

The kevlar chassis supposedly runs about 10C cooler on its own, and W04 has a tendency of overheating the rears over 20C.

 

I'd still say it's too early to say the tire issue has been solved. But it is cool, nonetheless.

 

The slotted air forces greater air circulation through the inner barrel of the wheel; it forces cooler air in as much as it helps to force hotter air out. And the only reason why it changes along with the size of the air ducts is because every GP varies in track temps and corner loads which impact the temperature of the tires which in turn impact their longevity in the race. They change to accommodate the individual traits of each track.

This isn't anything new, Lotus has had a similar concept for awhile now, so does Williams from last year (but through the center but), and not surprisingly thats probably partly why Lotus seem to have the car that's easiest on the tires at the moment.

 

Kevlar doesn't run hotter or cooler, it simply has a lower heat retention than steel ie steel retains heat more readily & for a longer duration.

 

Would that not provide the allusion of kevlar running cooler then? Thanks

 

I guess it kinda does...the temperature extremities don't change between kevlar and steel, it just means after putting load onto the tire, the tire doesn't retain as much of the heat energy afterwards, so that helps keep the temps of the tires within the optimal window for better performance.

So, if the temp of steel hit a max of 90F, kevlar will also hit that limit, but it'll just cool down from that limit much more rapidly. The key difference between kevlar & steel is that dissipation of heat.

 

So, the groove on the inside tire seems to only be an optical illusion. Larger pics seem to show that it's just black tape.

I mentioned before it being similar, but without the wheel groove, it's actually the same exact concept for the brake ducts and drums as Lotus, Williams and the other teams.

 

really? I'm skeptical.

here is another picture, where you can see two of the rims:
http://i.imgur.com/KPm7pGb.jpg

 

It looks like its a brake duct enhancement.
The benefit is more likely from venting the brake heat more efficently than specific tire cooling. The two are, of course, related but keeping the tires from heating may be better than cooling them once they're already too hot.

 

Yea, pretty sure, due to the wavy / uneven edge lines of the "black tape" running around the circumference of the inner barrel. If it was an actual groove or "hollowed out" section, the edge line would be pretty perfect and uniform since wheels are machine-milled:

http://www.zaslike.com/files/p1gqjbkpbs39djfg2g9f.jpg

http://www.zaslike.com/files/tyikodu6epkt9rf4hk2.jpg

 

Still lots of opinions rolling around about if it is dipped inside the rim or if it's just tape. One of the above pics clearly shows during a pit stop the front rim does not have this feature, only the rears.

W04s rear brake duct is the only on the field which features a venting platform feeding area into that area of the inner rim, I suppose it is indeed dual purpose.

 

All the teams have ducts feeding air through the hub and wheel, with variations in execution and focus. e.g. williams funnels it through the center nut, lotus and ferrari do it very similarly to mercedes except their exit vents on the drum are different etc.

 

It would interesting to see what the surface it mounts to looks like.

 

Do they?

None are angled so specifically to feed both the inner rim and brake duct.


Mercedes AMG F1 W04 - Forum - F1technical.net

see the 4th post down on the above. shows every cars ducts

 

This may be stupid; but How could they have a slotted rim? Obviously air would leak out; or the stress on the inner tire would be massive in that area. Wouldn't it?

 

Yes, the actual execution of the concept varies from team to team, but the concept itself is widely used. for e.g. Williams channels it more towards the center nut while Ferrari and Lotus outboard on the drum.