How to build ceramic brake discs

Great insight into how Brembo ceramic brake discs are made.

Video: Internal packaging of an F1 car

Great video showing internal packaging of an F1 car, explained by Sauber chief designer Matt Morris. The car used is a 2008 BMW-Sauber F1.08.

 

Updates coming soon!

Hi to all that follow the blog. Would like to apologise for the lack of updates. Been very busy with design work and family-related issues. One thing I have been updating regularly for every Grand Prix is my Twitter, so if you want to stay up-to-date with all the latest car updates etc, simply follow me on there. At the moment it’s much easier (and convenient) to update on Twitter rather than a full blog post here, but I promise I will do more in-depth analysis when time allows. I’ve been itching to post some of the changes we’ve seen on the cars but not enough time in the day! Thanks again to all that follow/read my blog/tweets.

Twitter: @GurpzF1 

Front-end comparisons

A quick front-end comparison of all the 2012 cars. With the new nose height restrictions in place for this season (nose must be no higher than 550mm above the reference plane), the majority of cars feature a stepped-nose. The teams that have chosen to go this route have opted for better aero but compromised their CoG (Centre of Gravity) as a higher nose means a higher chassis. The lower-nosed cars (McLaren, Marussia and HRT) have opted for the opposite, which means although they have an advantage in terms of CoG, they will have to work the aero more aggressively. McLaren have had a low nose for the past few seasons therefore they understand the concept very well. At the launch of the MP4-27, the car featured a turning vane under the nose known as a ‘snow plough’. This is an aggressive turning vane which directs/conditions the airflow under the nosecone and works effectively with a low nose concept. Now that the season is underway, McLaren have removed the snow plough, which indicates they have optimised the aerodynamics of the car.

Looking at the other cars in detail, we can see most teams have very similar concepts, with Ferrari being the only exception. Every car features a nose that sits ahead of the FW, but the F2012 nose is very short and sits behind the FW. Williams adopted this approach last season (FW33), Caterham in 2010 (T127) and Toyota in 2009 (TF109). All three cars were considerably off the pace, so why have Ferrari chosen a short nose? It could be down to the design of the FW, which is now a five-element wing, instead of the conventional two/three element. A shorter nose may reduce interference with the FW but could also aid the airflow from the upwash of the wing, but it’s very difficult to say for certain without CFD and wind tunnel analysis.

Mercedes’ DRS activated F-Duct

The biggest talking point of the season so far is the Mercedes F-duct. There were rumours circulating last season of how Mercedes had developed a method of blowing the front wing  to reduce drag but there was no conclusive proof, until now. The original F-duct was banned by the FIA at the end of the 2010 season as it constituted as being a driver activated aerodynamic device. Now Mercedes have brought it back but it is activated by the DRS, making it perfectly legal under the technical regulations.

How does it work?

When the DRS is in its closed position, both the front and rear wing act as normal, producing downforce. DRS has no effect at this stage and you could say it’s almost as if it isn’t there.

DRS in its closed position:

Here we can also see a small plate attached to the end of the DRS flap. Behind this plate is a small duct:

When the DRS is in its open position (above), the flap uncovers the duct which is then fed high pressure airflow.

 

The high pressure airflow (blue) enters the small ducts, travels down the endplates (yellow), along the beam wing (pink), then into two ducts which go towards the front of the car.

Ducts taking high pressure air to front of car

Here we can see what these ducts look like with the engine cover removed:

These go around the engine, right next to exhaust manifold before they disappear again into the cockpit area.

Above we can see the two ducts once again which exit from the front bulkhead. These then connect to ducts in the nose…

The high pressurised air then travels down the FW pylons, across the mainplane and exits on the underside via four slots.

Above are the four slots in the FW where the air escapes causing the wing to stall.

Obviously Mercedes have put a lot of effort into this to gain lap time and don’t want others to copy this in a hurry and negate the advantage they have. Here is a video of Michael Schumacher shielding the car from photographers to try and stop rivals from figuring out what they’re doing:

This DRS activated F-duct is probably giving them around 2-3 tenths per lap but only in qualifying. In the race, the use of DRS is limited so the advantage of the blown FW is somewhat nullified.

Why blow the front wing?

The reason for blowing the front wing is simple – to reduce drag and achieve a higher top speed which then equates to a quicker lap time, but there is also another benefit. When a driver activates the DRS, the rear downforce is reduced but front downforce remains the same. This can cause balance issues when driving the car through high speed corners meaning the DRS can only be activated when the driver feels confident enough, usually on the exit of a corner. With the Mercedes system, they can activate the DRS much earlier than any other team because as the DRS reduces downforce at the rear, it simultaneously reduces downforce at the front by blowing the front wing, making for a much more balanced car. Both Mercedes drivers have been seen to employ DRS mid-corner and this is where they are gaining precious tenths. Here is a slow motion video showing the DRS enabled mid-corner:

So far it has proved its worth in qualifying but the system has not been advantageous during races. Rival teams will be working on their own systems but it will be difficult to integrate it into their cars any time soon, hence the others questioning whether this equates to a driver activated aerodynamic device, therefore arguing that it is illegal.

Mercedes F1 W03

Mercedes were the last of the top teams to launch their 2012 challenger and it was worth the wait. After winning both championship in 2009, the past two seasons have been disappointing for the Brackley squad. The W01 of 2010 had inherent problems from the start and the W02 fared no better, which meant Mercedes were confined to the fourth best constructor. Last season they were late to develop a full EBD due to cooling problems and half way into the season, development was ceased as they concentrated all resources on the 2012 car. With Pirelli introducing modified tyres for this season, Mercedes decided to delay the launch of their car and ran last year’s W02 at the first test to gain valuable tyre data. Another reason for the delayed launch was down to rumours that they had been developing a blown-front-wing (BFW) – first tested at Suzuka last year.

The standout visual features are the stepped nose, front wing, sidepods, wheelbase and exhaust position.

Like other 2012 cars, the W03 features a stepped nose. The main idea behind stepped noses is to keep the nose as high as possible for optimal airflow underneath it to the rear of the car.

In previous seasons the FW has been lacking in development. The reason for this was simple: Mercedes lacked rear downforce. Developing the FW to gain more downforce would have exacerbated their problems, making for an unbalanced car. Last season two FWs were trialled in preparation for 2012. The wing for this year is a triple-element, as opposed to double-element wings of previous years. The upper elements are more profiled to condition the upwash going to the rear of the car. It also features McLaren/Red Bull-esque ‘R’ cascades, outboard of the wing pylons.

The sidepods are very low, heavily undercut, slim and taper inboard very quickly – making for a tightly packaged coke bottle area. This is a marked change from the chunky W02 sidepods which deprived the rear of airflow. Judging by the compactness, it seems they have reverted back to single radiators (W02 featured dual radiators), mounted vertically.

As can be seen from above, the sidepod intakes are radiused forwards, which have been carried over from the W02. Another aspect of the car which complements the tightly packaged sidepods is the wheelbase. The previous two seasons the Mercedes has been notoriously short in comparison to the top three teams. This year the wheelbase has been extended by a substantial amount, resulting in a Red Bull-esque rear-end, which will be crucial for the airflow around the sidepods and the rear wing/diffuser.

The roll hoop remains very similar to last season, although it is more refined, along with the engine cover/fin. As before, the main intake feeds the engine airbox, with the secondary intake cooling the gearbox oil/hydraulics.

The position of the exhaust is fairly conventional on the W03. Placed as far forward as possible, with the gases blowing the beam wing and with the downwash from the sidepod, the gases are also blowing over the diffuser/ into the starter hole area.

This gives us a better visual of the exhaust and the area Mercedes are trying to blow. With the diffuser, Mercedes are exploiting the centre section by forming a mini DDD (Double-Decker-Diffuser), which as mentioned, is being blown by the exhaust. Although the exhaust solution is yielding impressive gains, it is possible they could switch to a layout similar to McLaren/Red Bull/Sauber but this will need fine-tuning on track, as replicating exhaust gas flow in the wind tunnel/CFD is always difficult.

Suspension-wise, the W03 retains pull-rod rear and push-rod front from its predecessor. Cooling is also much improved, with no bodywork gills evident, but they could feature at races such as Malaysia and China. The cooling of the W02 was a major factor in Mercedes’ poor form in 2011. While other teams were gaining in performance, Mercedes were for the most part, concentrating on reliability. During testing, the W03 seemed like a major step forward compared to the W02. Both Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher expressed their delight in a well balanced car. In terms of pace, the long runs in testing were encouraging but tyre degradation seemed a little higher than the likes of McLaren, Red Bull and Lotus. This has been an issue for the past two seasons. If Mercedes are to compete at the sharp end, then their engineers must solve the tyre problems. With new technical personnel (Aldo Costa, Bob Bell and Geoff Willis), Mercedes could be the dark horse of 2012.

Red Bull RB8

With Red Bull being the pace setters for the last two seasons, it comes as no surprise that the RB8 is an evolution of previous design philosophy. Starting with the RB5 in 2009, which set the benchmark for modern F1 design, Red Bull have simply refined their cars year after year enabling them to extract the most performance from their cars. The new RB8 is more of an evolution of the RB5 rather than the RB7.

At first glance, there are no major changes to the layout of the car, the only major talking point is the stepped nose, as with most other cars launched this season.

Although there was much talk about the stepped nose, there was more buzz surrounding the letterbox opening at the step. When asked, Adrian Newey simply implied that it’s for cooling the driver, but that’s just to keep the media happy. In my opinion, it serves to keep the airflow attached over the step. Rather than an awkward step like the F2012, Newey has kept to his ‘V’ nose, which is formed by the two ridges ahead of the slot in the nose, making for a more elegant solution.

Over recent years we’ve come to expect tight, compact sidepods from the Red Bull design team and the RB8 continues this. As can be seen, the sidepods are fairly undercut, which quickly taper down and inwards towards the coke bottle area. They are very reminiscent of the RB7.

Front suspension is the conventional push-rod , carried over from the RB7. New turning vanes under the nose along with a new splitter / T-tray.

Pull-rod rear suspension

Pull-rod rear suspension has been maintained with the rod slightly smaller than last year and also notice the rake, which is also carried over from last season. It will be interesting to see whether they continue to run this amount of rake during the season without the full EBD (Exhaust-Blown-Diffuser).

On the launch of the car the exhaust position was quite similar to what Red Bull ran on the RB5, placing the exits just under the upper rear wishbones. As I mentioned on Twitter, the layout looked like a temporary solution. Sure enough, on the penultimate day of testing, a new layout was introduced…

The above being the new layout, replicating the McLaren & Sauber channelled solutions. This is based on the Coanda effect, which in simple terms means flow attached to a surface, directing it where you need it to go. In this instance, the flow is directed towards the outer edges of the diffuser, effectively maintaining an EBD.

Blue = airflow around sidepod, orange = exhaust gases

On closer inspection, it is clear what Adrian Newey is trying to achieve. The exhaust has been pushed further forward, with a bridge section created underneath. This means the cold airflow (blue) around the sidepod goes under the bridge and exits under the pull-rod which then feeds the starter hole. Simultaneously, the downwash of the sidepod is directing the exhaust gases (orange) to the outer edge of the diffuser. At high velocity, the gases are also being directed towards the starter hole. A revised version of this exhaust was introduced in Melbourne, featuring McLaren-esque channels. This is a unique solution which is pushing the limits of the technical regulations.

Large starter hole

This is the larger-than-normal starter hole which is being fed air from the flow around the sidepods and also the exhaust gases.

The RB8 has the most developed and sculpted rear. The diffuser features a full length gurney which has been carried over from the RB7. The 12cm inboard of the rear tyres feature large brake duct fins, which Red Bull are exploiting more than any other team in a bid to gain more downforce directly at the wheels. The cannon exit (engine cover outlet) has also stayed, albeit smaller than the previous RB7.

I expect Red Bull to be very competitive but they never showed their true pace during testing, only concentrating on high fuel runs, which looked right on par with McLaren. Questions remain regarding their qualifying pace after they underperformed in Melbourne, but this to me is down to refining their new exhaust solution. Once the exhaust is performing to expectation, it will be a development race to see who can extract the most speed from their cars.

Ferrari F2012

For the past three years, Ferrari have followed a very similar design philosophy starting with their 2009 challenger, the F60. It has been a conservative approach with evolution each year rather than revolution. Last season, the F150 (2011 challenger) proved to be quite a quick car given the right circumstances (Silverstone for example) but lacked the outright speed of the Red Bull and McLaren. The main problem Ferrari encountered were tyre warm up issues. In qualifying they would under-perform therefore had their work cut out in the races. The performance on softer compounds was on par with Red Bull and McLaren but harder tyres resulted in poor results, given that harder compounds work at higher temperatures. Ferrari knew by the half way point that both championships were out of their grasp so they began to plan for 2012 with major changes and promised a more radical car for 2012.

Enter the F2012 and at first glance they have delivered what they promised – a break from tradition and a more aggressive design philosophy.

In detail

The standout features of the car are its nose, suspension, sidepods, exhaust, wheels and roll hoop.

Given the 2012 nose height regulations, Ferrari has the most striking nose. It is very wide and works in conjunction with the front wing pylons, which are also wide yet angled and act as turning vanes together with the turning vanes seen under the stepped nose. I believe they’re trying to accelerate the air which goes through the pylons and under the nose. The FW itself is an iteration of last year’s concept, which was tested extensively during the latter stages of 2011 by both drivers.

Front pull-rod suspension, a break from the norm

This year Ferrari have gone back to an old concept of running pull-rod front suspension. It has been 11 years since pull-rod front suspension was last used in F1, back then it was the 2001 Minardi designed by Gabriele Tredozi. From this, it is clear Ferrari want to try everything to gain back the lost performance. The suspension is basically an inverted version of push-rod, with the rod now passing down instead of up and connecting with the rocker, which now sits lower.

Front bulkhead and rockers

The main reason for this change is aero benefit. The rod now sits in line with the upwash from the FW. Another small benefit is lower centre of gravity. No doubt this is Pat Fry’s influence on the car, who is known for his radical approach to design.

As a comparison, here is last year’s F150 equipped with push-rod suspension:

The F150 also featured push-rod rear suspenion but with this year’s F2012, Ferrari have followed the trend and gone for pull-rod rear too.

This year Ferrari have changed their side impact structures inside the bodywork resulting in more sculpted sidepods. The intakes are small and fairly low and in line with the front pull-rod. When viewed from above, the inlets are radiused inwards, meaning a cleaner, more efficient flow around the sidepod to the diffuser/rear wing. They are also much smaller compared to previous years with an aggressive undercut.

The radiators will most likely be mounted upright with the airflow now being directed outboard (orange) rather than towards the central section of the engine cover. This design helps to keep the centre of the car as slim and compact as possible, with no central engine cover funnel like last year. The sidepod fairings aka ‘Acer ducts’ also have another use…

Downwash (orange) allowing exhaust to blow diffuser

The fairings (Acer logo) also house the exhaust exits.  Even though exhaust-blown-diffusers have been banned for this season, Ferrari have cleverly managed to design a layout which continues to blow the outer edge of the floor/diffuser.

Exhaust layouts during testing

Even though Ferrari are still trying to blow the floor, they have had many problems with their setup. #1 was the launch spec and as you can see, it was was burning the fairing. Pat Fry mentioned that their exhaust is very aggressive and that they were having major problems with the flow, which resulted in high tyre wear, making the car difficult to drive. With #2, although the exit remained in the same place, the fairing received a cutout for where it was being burned. #3, and another change, this time resulting in a ‘V’ shape cutout next to the exhaust fairing. Quite bizarre as it almost looks like trial and error rather than fully understanding the issues.

So we now fast-forward to the final test…

Here we can see the exhaust was moved more inboard from its original outboard location. The exhaust now blowing the beam wing and over the diffuser rather than trying to blow the outer section of the floor and diffuser. This was also the layout which was used in the first race. It’s quite clear Ferrari are having difficulties understanding the exhaust, hence the iterations. The car is clearly lacking rear downforce in comparison with the likes of McLaren and Red Bull, making for a nervous rear-end. Rumours suggest a new sidepod arrangement is in progress along with returning to the original exhaust, all set to debut at the mid-season test at Mugello in May.

For this season, the Maranello squad have ditched their BBS wheels and switched back to their previous supplier, OZ Racing. The reason for the change is simple: quicker tyre changes during races. In 2011, Ferrari were not the best for quick pit stops and this was partly down to the design of the wheel nuts on the BBS rims. The new OZ wheels have been specifically designed for Ferrari, with an internal wheel nut which make changes much faster. During the Australian Grand Prix, Ferrari were a full 2 seconds quicker than any other team during the pit stop phases.

The roll hoop again breaks from tradition for the Scuderia and although it’s not a game changer, it’s another change that has been made to gain performance. The inlets are elliptically shaped, which in contrast to the nose, are very easy on the eye. The main inlet, as ever, feeds the engine airbox, with the secondary inlet designed to feed the gearbox and possibly hydraulics oil coolers.

So all in all, the F2012 is a marked change for Ferrari. With disappointing results for the past three years, they have gone all-out in a bid to regain both championships. Although results in testing and the first race have not gone to plan, the car has the potential to be very quick once Ferrari get on top of their problems and learn more about the car. The downforce potentials are there to be seen and it’s just a question of how quickly can Ferrari understand their new car and unleash the true performance? They will be a major force this season IF the engineers can resolve their issues.

McLaren MP4-27

McLaren were the first to do a real launch, after Caterham unveiled their car online. On first appearances, the design is an evolution of a 2-year-old concept – which started with the the MP4-25 in 2010. Towards the end of the 2011 season they had the fastest car, so with the MP4-27, there will not be a need to find massive gains. The new challenger continues the McLaren trademark of curvy lines, sweeping sidepods and a low nose. With a new FIA regulation of fixed weight distribution (which came in last season) and the second year of Pirelli tyres, the chassis will be the same as used previously.

In detail

The most evident features of the car are its nose, exhaust position, sidepods and rake, although the rake is for appearance only in the above studio shot. McLaren have gone for a very low nose this year (previous design philosophy). The maximum height under the 2012 regulations is 550mm.

This vane works in conjunction with a low nose

To go with the low nose, they also have a turning vane known as the ‘snow plough’. This creates much less space under the nose and together with a lower chassis means it has to work more aggressively to force air to the rear of the car. With a higher nose and chassis there is no need for the snow plough because there is a greater volume of air entering under the nose and feeding the rear of the car. The advantage of a lower nose + chassis means a lower CoG (centre of gravity) meaning the car will handle better but the disadvantage is the amount of air reaching the back of the car is more limited. With a higher chassis come a higher CoG but you can trade this off with more air entering under the nose and feeding the rear diffuser.

The 'U' shape pods from last year make way for high, rectangular sidepods with undercut

In 2011 McLaren introduced the ‘U’ sidepod which was designed to work with their exhaust layout and blowing the rear diffuser. It was intended to create more downwash (air forced down by an aerodynamic action)  to the rear-end and it worked well for them. This year, with the introduction of the new exhaust rules, they decided to adopt a different approach to both external and internal aerodynamics of the car. This season the sidepod arrangement is similar to the Red Bull philosophy of channeling the heated radiator airflow upwards and around the engine, exiting at the rear of the engine cover.

When the MP4-27 was first introduced, the ends of the sidepods had the above bulge visible. This was obviously for the exhaust but they looked like a temporary solution. My initial thinking was, that they were going to try and blow the beam wing (pink) and under the rear wing mainplane (where the DRS actuator is situated) but as thought, when testing took place, they introduced a revised solution with the exhaust blowing in a different direction.

Revised exhaust with slot-gap designed to channel gases

With the above exhaust shown in testing, it was clear the gases were now channeled much like last season.

Another revision, now more streamlined

The slot in the exhaust fairing, combined with the downwash of air coming over the sidepod, direct the gases directly onto the floor and into the gap between the tyre and floor / outer edge of the diffuser. This is a very clever interpretation of the new exhaust rules whilst remaining 100% legal.

Last season Lewis Hamilton complained that he could not see out of his mirrors, so these have been redesigned with the help of the driver. Initial thoughts on launch of the car was that they were quite neutral in position, but having seen the revised exhaust outlet, they also help with the downwash over the sidepod and exhaust.

Moving on to the rest of the car, suspenion-wise, pull-rod has remained at the rear and the conventional push-rod at the front. The beam wing has a raised centre section with a slot – designed to keep airflow attached. The DRS flap is a much shorter chord, very similar to Mercedes. The KERS used by McLaren is the same as the one used by Mercedes which is packaged under the fuel tank. All in all, this is very much an evolution of previous design philosophy although much more refined. Expect McLaren to be very strong from the get go.

More updates coming very soon

Hi all. You will have noticed I’ve only analysed one car so far, that’s because I’ve been busy designing! I will hopefully start posting more content later this week. Stay tuned. In the meantime, follow me on Twitter @GurpzF1.