The 60%, 50m/second rule...

[Grizzly]

I work in the aerosol industry and they have tried to model nozzle design to improve efficiency, noise etc. All the time the gas and liquid is contained with a channel it all moves very predictably but as soon as it exits into the atmosphere it pretty much does what it likes as so many other factors come into play.

I imagine that it shares similarities with the air off the back of an F1 wing..... from a controlled environment to an open environment with a huge pressure drop....

I bet McLaren thought their 2009 car was a real world beater when they first modeled it on a computer and then stuck in a wind tunnel. As soon as they put it on the track it turned out to be a pup. As Pyrope points out the effects of turbulent flow are very difficult to model, you add into that wind speed & direction and humidity (both of which can change during the two hours of a Grand Prix), not to mention changing fuel loads and changing track conditions due to the weather and rubber build up, there are too many variables to cope with.

..at the moment

 

[Pyrope]

Did they put these forward as methods to increase overtaking, or were they asked to come up with new wing regulations?

Specifically to increase overtaking. The idea was to reduce wake coming off the rear of a car ahead and place the front wing in such a position that it would be less efficient, but also less affected by following another car. The regs relating to the diffusers were supposed to add to this as well, but the double-diffuser rather nixed that.

 

[Grizzly]

Specifically to increase overtaking. The idea was to reduce wake coming off the rear of a car ahead and place the front wing in such a position that it would be less efficient, but also less affected by following another car. The regs relating to the diffusers were supposed to add to this as well, but the double-diffuser rather nixed that.

Oh' dear! I had held the OWG in a rather higher regard than this. I still hope they were pushed into it rather than actually putting the idea forward in the first place..