FIA to clamp down on exhaust blown diffusers

Duke · 17 May 2011 at 17:35

Where did this come from?

Formula 1's competitive order at the front of the field could be thrown on its head in this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix with the FIA having made a major change to the exhaust blown diffuser regulations, AUTOSPORT has learned.

With the design and execution of blown diffusers being viewed as a key area of the 2011 development race, teams have been pushing hard with their concepts to try and eek out any competitive advantage they can.

One aspect that has been worked on a lot is in ensuring that a flow of exhaust gases keep pumping through the diffuser, to help increase downforce, even when the throttle is not in use.

But now, on the back of some teams expending huge effort in tweaking engine modes to help gain performance in this area, the FIA has acted and decided to clamp down on what they are up to.

High level sources have revealed that the FIA has written to teams informing them that from this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix they will no longer be allowed to continue flowing gases through the engine when the driver is not on the throttle.

It is understood the directive to the teams tells them that, under braking, the throttle input can now be no larger than 10 per cent of its maximum. Some outfits had been gaining aerodynamic benefit from keeping the throttle flow at 100 per cent under braking.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91475

I'm guessing the teams can change the engines to stop doing this quite quickly, is it done by electronics? Or it could cause some very quick shipping of new parts?

Hxc · 17 May 2011 at 17:37

There's no way teams were running 100% throttle during braking? That just seems completely impossible....

Indy500 · 17 May 2011 at 17:48

Hxc said:
There's no way teams were running 100% throttle during braking? That just seems completely impossible....

No, they weren't applying power to the wheels, just venting gases through the exhaust to use the resulting airflow for rear downforce.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffuser_(automotive)

Glaucus · 17 May 2011 at 18:08

Are we going to see Renault fall back a bit, iirc it was them using it the most?.

NathanE · 17 May 2011 at 18:15

Renault and RBR will suffer from this.

I'm not an engine expert but from what I read on this in 2010 (yes they were doing it back then too)... basically the throttle butterfly is held open to a greater extent than what the throttle position would have you believe. The engine mapping then retards ignition instead to gain back what the driver requested from his throttle pedal. The effect is that throttle control is more or less unaffected but because the butterfly is held in more open positions when cornering it allows greater gas flow through the engine and therefore produces more downforce from the blown diffuser.

The downside, apparently, is it makes the engine run hot because you're basically running it with a lean mixture and retarded timing.

dannyjo22 · 17 May 2011 at 18:19

NathanE said:
The downside, apparently, is it makes the engine run hot because you're basically running it with a lean mixture and retarded timing.

Remember Vettels failure 'spark plug' from last year

NathanE · 17 May 2011 at 18:22

Yup

PS: Am amazed other teams have only just cottoned on and finally protested this. It was discussed on various F1 forums by armchair experts like us this time last year!

NathanE · 17 May 2011 at 18:33

Various McLaren engineers seem to be taking to Twitter to express their delight (some even posted before the public FIA announcement! and then swiftly deleted their tweets!)

Methinks this was a McLaren protest

utajoker · 17 May 2011 at 18:38

suprised they have done this half way through a season.

NathanE · 17 May 2011 at 18:39

utajoker said:
suprised they have done this half way through a season.

Maybe Bernie pulled a few strings and the FIA dug up some dirt that would hurt Red Bull (for obvious reasons why they would want to do that).

The FIA has had this card up their sleeve for over a year now - that's how long they've known about it...

Duke · 17 May 2011 at 18:40

utajoker said:
suprised they have done this half way through a season.

<pedant> We will just be quarter of the way in at the next race </pedant>

Mr.Fantastic · 17 May 2011 at 18:42

Glad that it has happened because it will stop RBR from being stupidly fast in qualifying also it could hamper there championship by not getting pole everything bloody time at least it will make Vettel do some overtaking for once but lets see what happens this weekend.

EDIT: no more stupid noises on downshift now

TaKeN · 17 May 2011 at 18:45

Very interesting

GingerNinja1989 · 17 May 2011 at 18:47

Duke said:
<pendant> We will just be quarter of the way in at the next race </pendant>

<pedant> You can't spell 'pedant' </pedant>

Personally, I think this is a good idea. F1 cars aren't meant to sound like wet farts!

utajoker · 17 May 2011 at 18:48

either way i dont think it will effect the order too much.

everyone will lose the advantage not just RBR.

Glaucus · 17 May 2011 at 18:49

Mr.Fantastic said:
Glad that it has happened because it will stop RBR from being stupidly fast in qualifying also it could hamper there championship by not getting pole everything bloody time at least it will make Vettel do some overtaking for once but lets see what happens this weekend.

EDIT: no more stupid noises on downshift now

They will still be fastest by a big margin.

It won't stop the noises on down shift.

NathanE · 17 May 2011 at 18:56

utajoker said:
either way i dont think it will effect the order too much.

everyone will lose the advantage not just RBR.

It was only recently McLaren indicated they were aware of it. Sort of suggests that not all teams are doing it TBH.

Memphis · 17 May 2011 at 18:57

Mr.Fantastic said:
Glad that it has happened because it will stop RBR from being stupidly fast in qualifying also it could hamper there championship by not getting pole everything bloody time at least it will make Vettel do some overtaking for once but lets see what happens this weekend.

EDIT: no more stupid noises on downshift now

If Vettel anything but dominates again this weekend, I will be very shocked.

~Mike~ · 17 May 2011 at 19:07

Very interesting development but don't expect it will make a significant difference which will be a shame but here's hoping.

The Red Bulls's wings need clipping.

DRZ · 17 May 2011 at 19:14

What IS interesting with regards to RBR is that the knock-on effect of this is that they might not be able to run such an extreme rake angle, raising the wing up to where it "should be" in the spirit of the regs rather than where it is by projecting the reference plane below the floor. The theory is that the RBR exhaust minimises the vortex generated by the rear wheels , effectively "sealing" the sides - much like the Renault is believed to use the exhaust energy to form a skirt around the sides of the car. The upshot of that is the diffuser can remain efficient whilst being relatively high - something none of the other teams' diffusers can do. They will have to reduce the rake angle to bring the diffuser down to restore the efficiency if they want to keep the car balanced, which means they will sacrifice the more efficient aerodynamic flows they are able to run by running at such an extreme rake angle.

Bear in mind that there could be as much as "800bhp" worth of energy coming out of the exhaust pipe when the engine is on full power - this is a HUGE net loss of energy from the diffuser when under braking!!