EBD & Engine Mapping questions and answers

[Fenderman]

Not exactly. it just means that whatever engine map governing how the EBD is used has to be the same in the race as in qualifying. If an aggressive mapping cannot be used in the race then evidence of the loss of advantage will be seen in qualifying pace (and therefore grid position) not in race pace. It remains to be seen if it is the aggressive use of EBD that has given Seb' his advantage in qualifying or if it is some other factor, such as him.

 

[cynical old Hector]

Fenderman, not sure if you post is addressed to me ?

The flip side is, why would Charlie (The FIA) deem it necessesary to effectively ban the qualifying map settings ? Am guessing they expect the ban will seriously close the gap between the front runners during Q3.For right or wrong.

 

[Fenderman]

Hi Hector (love the tag and Avatar by the way). I was just trying to clarify the effect of the ruling. I think the FIA's decision has something to do with the fact that they've been rather clumsy in dealing with whole issue of the hot blowing EBD since of they'd had their act together it should have been banned right at the outset as it seems it has been against he rules anyway. we then had the debacle arising from threat of a protest from HRT at Monaco which has obviously contributed to forcing the FIA's hand to do something about it.

As you say the other pressure on the FIA arising from the fear expectation that we'll have a runaway championship winner with millions of casual viewers turning off halfway through the season. The hands of Bernie and CVC may be applying the pressure behind the scenes in that regard.

 

[cynical old Hector]

I've no doubt that Bernie is behind all this.
Although we've had great racing due to KERS and DRS, the fact remains Vettel is walking away with it.So they have decided to make changes that will level the playing field (mid season).

The rule makers need to up their game basically, give the designers less loopholes, make the regulations more unequivocal from the start of the season so there is less leeway for teams to gain an edge.
I realise the job of the designers/engineers is to circumvent the regs and gain an advantage but to be hauled back mid season just seems wrong to me ?

OK,am waffling ! gone......

 

[Harry]

reading between the line of the autosport article, it sounds like they are actually banning the steering wheel controls that change engine maps? ie they can only change the map in pit stops.

if so that will make it harder to conserve fuel if they need to. They'll have to do it the old fashioned way - short shifting and rolling off the throttle before the braking zones.

 

[jez101]

Quite, the whole point of having a more aggressive engine map ( for qualifying) is solely to supply the off throttle blown diffuser.So after Valencia, the ban on different engine maps becomes quite redundant surely ?

I am no expert, but I don't think the engine map relates solely to the off throttle blowing. I believe that the engine map also has a significant effect on throttle, where Red Bull's advantage is.

I suspect that the FIA realised that off throttle ban would not hurt Red Bull as much as others and quickly decided to tighten up the engine map regs to level that out again.

 

[siffert_fan]

I think that Snowy got it exactly right. I wouldn't be surprised that, if this latest gambit doesn't work to the satisfaction of the FIA and Bernie, they propose a two-year suspension on Newey!

 

[Pyrope]

reading between the line of the autosport article, it sounds like they are actually banning the steering wheel controls that change engine maps? ie they can only change the map in pit stops.

if so that will make it harder to conserve fuel if they need to. They'll have to do it the old fashioned way - short shifting and rolling off the throttle before the braking zones.

Yes, interesting point that. However, it isn't so much that steering wheel controls are banned, but that parc ferme conditions - which, oddly, up until now have excluded the ECU software, so it could be altered on the grid prior to the start - are being extended to include engine maps. That means that the engine map can be changed in any pit stop after the red lights go out. What price someone at the front pumping in three or four quali-style laps at the beginning of the race, then ducking into the pits for a set of prime boots and a race-spec engine map? Sounds like ideal Seb Vettel tactics to me!

 

[Slyboogy]

I don't know where to put this, but there is an article on F1 Technical, - I will see if I can find it then I will edit my post. - that Renault's car will be more stable and might just lose out less than others because they have the Forward Facing Exhausts.

 

[kfzmeister1]

The way that i understand it is that currently the RBRs mapping allows for the throttle to remain open 100%, and also for there to be some fuel and spark entering the combustion chamber. This "hot blown" combustion/ exhaust is helping with cornering downforce while the driver's foot is off the accel.
RBR's punch here is during qualifying. I'm sure that if used during the whole race, it would seriously hurt fuel economy and perhaps engine reliability.
The FIA is banning the mapping to not allow the trottle to remain open (only 10%)and fuel and spark from entering engine, thus taking away the exhaust air rushing over the diffuser= cornering downforce.
FIA should easily be able to check via plugging into standard McLaren ECU after the race.
I'm sure that this special mapping is quite different from the various race mappings that allow more or less fuel depending on need. For one, the throttle setting should not be affected, nor suddenly open wide while the drivers foot is off the accelerator.

 

[sportsman]

So does McLaren, Ferrari,Lotus Renault and Mercedes.

 

[jez101]

During FP1 this morning, I think you could hear the difference between cars doing Silverstone spec tests and those running with the OTT hot blowing. I did think I could hear some fairly aggressive revs on the McLaren pretty much from the apex, which didn't seem to match the rate of acceleration out of the corner. Presumably, they are still going to be free to "exaggerate" the amount of exhaust produced when the throttle is partially open.

This will effectively limit teams to using just 10% of engine over-run when the driver is off the accelerator - which will prevent the clever mapping systems that have pumped almost full throttle exhaust flow through engines when the driver was not on the power

I can imagine there still being a significant advantage to blow max exhaust, even when the driver is going from 0 to 100% throttle as they exit.

The Red Bulls and especially the Mercs looked decidedly dodgy under braking though without the OTT exhaust though. I thought McLaren looked much more stable. Schumacher's rear end was like a

 

[f1fansp]

http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/

Nice piece on Scarbs' website for those of you (like me) still struggling with this whole business.