Downforce and drag

[Guest]

I was having an early morning surf for F1 news and came across this article in F1 technical
http://www.f1technical.net/development/167

It shows some nice photos of the BMW nose cone and the presence or absence of wings which help with downforce... apparently. I'm a bit surprised that such subtle differences in aero can have a big effect on performance.

I'm in full on girly mode here, but I do want to understand why you want downforce in some circuits but not in others as it increases drag. Remember, girly here so not too much physics please lol

Maybe it's some help with the terminology I need, but isn't extra downforce always a good thing when it comes to making the car stick to the road during cornering so my question is whats more important, less drag or more downforce?

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

 

[bogaTYR]

hi salti

lok here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downforce

hope this helps you.

 

[Guest]

Thanks boga .. just reading it and saw some physics aargh lol . I think I might have to read it through a couple of times but I'll get there in the end.

 

[fat jez]

Too much drag or downforce will slow the car down. On some circuits (e.g. Monaco) this isn't a problem - the circuit is very twisty and you want a car that will grip the track and change direction when the driver turns the steering wheel. On other circuits with long straights, you want a car that is fast in a straight line, so you minimise the downforce to improve your straight line speed, accepting that the car won't be as grippy when turning.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Stephen

 

[Guest]

Cheers F_J

Thanks for the info, as they say in Tesco "every little helps" and I guess it's gonna be a slow process with me :doh:

Welcome to the board. I hope you have a fun time here.
Salti