Red Bull and Ferrari front wings

rufus_mcdufus said:
Going off on a tangent as I'm prone to do, and back to the 'clue' that Vettel's front wing became detached at Silverstone... Rather than this being an indication that something funky is going on in the nosecone itself or with the fixings, might not the failure merely be a result of the far higher downforce that their front wing is generating - i.e enough to break the fixings? Pure speculation of course which no-one could answer but just a thought.

I though that at the time as it's just before they change direction very heavily for Abbey

_48314216_vettelfrontwing640.jpg


UK users can see it again here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsp ... 807373.stm

On the video it's pointing down at the front.
 
The whole front, not just the nose, looks crooked in that picture?!?

It does look like the fixing has snapped at maximum stress coming into abbey..
 
RickD said:

The whole front, not just the nose, looks crooked in that picture?!?

It does look like the fixing has snapped at maximum stress coming into abbey..
Just to be pedantic, I presume you meant "the whole front, not just the wing..."

I agree though, if you watch the video you can clearly see that the top mountings have failed where the nosecone is bolted to the tub. Red Bull explained it at the time by saying that it had been incorrectly fixed by the pit mechanics, didn't they?
 
I actually meant the nose cone, but whichever way, it looks crooked and I didn't think the monocoque was supposed to move like that..
 
Brogan said:
If you watch the video Speshal linked to at 48 seconds, you can see the nose cone break down and to the right.

The nose breaks and moves down to the right... :thinking:
Perhaps Vettel's car likes going to the right. Could explain a few of his moves this season. ;)
 
Tis a bit strange the way it falls to the right. Something in the way the fixing works I guess?

Like your "Tír na nÓg" sig btw McZiderRed - loved that game back in the day.
 
Why not use a version of this.Simple to fit.Can be easily read by ECU or the FIA. I think that the pinnacle of motorsport should be able to utilise such a simple technology.
I have factory fitted parking sensors on my car.And if I get within 100mm of a car behind the alarm is deafening.

http://www.parkingdynamics.com/videos
 
sportsman said:
Why not use a version of this.Simple to fit.Can be easily read by ECU or the FIA. I think that the pinnacle of motorsport should be able to utilise such a simple technology.
I have factory fitted parking sensors on my car.And if I get within 100mm of a car behind the alarm is deafening.

http://www.parkingdynamics.com/videos



That would demand the use of reason.
Current F1 racecars should have used venturis and adjstable spoilers instead of passive wings and diffusers to begin with.
 
Well, the video on the CotW thread for Spa showing the Vettel incident with Button clearly shows that not only could they be illegal but they seem to be very dangerous. The FIA may take a harder line on the front wings after that footage as the change of air pressure severely affected the flexing of the wing thus making the car uncontrollable for a second which hence caused he collision. I'd be surprised if the front wings were still the same at Monza.
 
On that Video evidence alone i need to seriously reconsider some of the things i shouted at the telly' on Sunday.

Wow, clearly NOT all Vettel's fault, that is unless he is already aware of the effects driving close to the car in front has on his front wing.

If what Martin Whitmarsh will have us believe is true about 1mm = 1 down-force 'point' then Seb's car just had the equivalent weight of two men move from one side to the other side and back in the space of half a second. id be impressed if any man could have held onto that car yesterday. quite sure most would manage to avoid Button, but that's another story...

I hate how it works, but surely now safety has to take precedent over any superficial 'tests'. I can see now that could have been a whole lot more serious, and it explains a thing or two about Webber's crash with Heikki too.
 
Well if the flexing wing is dangerous*, why has no-one else with a flexing wing suffered any problems? Any appropriate videos of the Alonso crash?

*Its banned, so we can't rule this out
 
What on earth is going on with the front wheels of the Red Bull in that top picture? Are we missing something here and it's not that the wing flexes but that the whole front end of the car is dropping down?
 
FB said:
What on earth is going on with the front wheels of the Red Bull in that top picture? Are we missing something here and it's not that the wing flexes but that the whole front end of the car is dropping down?

I'm almost certain I read an article in Autosport recently that explained that that was the exact case in the "Flexing Wing" issue. Apparently the reason why the RBR cars were passing the lateral wing deflection test was because the actual fulcrum of the point of deflection was not on the wing at all but at the point where the nose cone connects to the keel under the car.

This point was flexing down allowing the whole nose to tip down and bring the wing closer to the road. Obviously if you applied loads to either end of the wing then there would be no flex as the front wing is attached rigidly to the posts and I presume that if the test was conducted on the car then the point at which the nose connection deflects would be greater than the test load applied. Also the manor in which the test load is applied to the front wing would be different to the loading applied as a result of the aero effect of the wing. I guess the load weight wouldn't take into account the load of the air passing over the central part of the nose cone and thus the actual centre or pressure applied as a result of a load on the front wing would be further forward and not against the pivot point at the wing joint.

Or something like that anyway :thinking:

P.S, I can't see the pictures. Stupid work computers :givemestrength:
 
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