Lotus's new ride height adjustment system deemed legal by the FIA

GravyMonster

GravyMonster

GravyMonster

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... other teams set to do their nut.

The mechanical system helps maintain a standard ride height during braking - when often the front of the car would dip down.

AUTOSPORT can reveal, however, that the adjustment to the ride height - which improves aerodynamic performance and stability on the Lotus under braking - does not come from the driver.

Instead it is reactive to brake torque and is linked directly to the suspension - so cannot be classified as a moveable aerodynamic device in the way that independent mass dampers were.
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http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/96952

Interesting about the comparison to mass dampers which also started the season being legal, but were banned halfway through.
 
Apparently they have been talking to the FIA about it for a year! If it does do as advertised (add stability under braking and look after tyres) its now a race to see which of the top 3 can copy it and get it working
 
I love this kind of stuff :)

So, what is the purpose of this for the cars? F1 cars have limited suspension travel anyway so its not like the nose dives a few inches when they jump on the brakes.
 
It's true that the suspension travel of F1 cars is only a few inches at most (and most of that is sidewall flex in the tyres anyway) but those few inches can be vital in keeping your hard-earned downforce levels. If this device can keep the car level it's entirely possible they'll be able to corner faster than the opposition due to more downforce. It's also possible, however, that they may need to back off on the total downforce coming from the front wing for fear of eating up their tyres faster.

There's a very technical breakdown of it from November last year at scarbs F1 blog which is very techy and also excellent.
 
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Just been revealed that the other 'top team' who have a similar system is Ferrari.

The reason for it being legal now becomes clear

/trollbait :D
 
Haha.

If it doesn't fall foul of any current rules, then why should it not be perfectly legal.

Wether they change the rules to ban it in the future, we will have to wait and see :)
 
Reading that Scarbs write up though, from what I can understand, this looks to just be a new way of doing something that already existed, rather than something totally new?

I.e. fluid filled devices rather than mechanical ones?
 
Interesting, I would have rather it come to light the Friday Morning in Australia and they where the only team with it.

Now other teams will be rushing to make there own system and Lotus's advantage may be tiny/gone come Australia.
 
True, but they really couldn't take the chance of turning up in Australia and having it banned and they need to test it. I wouldn't be surprised at all if someone at the FIA went *bring bring, hey Luca, it's xxxx at the FIA, did you hear about Lotus' ............system?*
 
Glaucus said:
Sweet, this is the bits I love about f1. Juicy juicy tech and savy finding holes in the rules. Love it.
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Indeed, this is what makes F1 so great - innovation and pushing the boundaries of technology. Within, and sometimes outside, the rules. Some people say the FIA are too strict and have stifled any creativity that there was in F1, but this is another one to add to the list that proves them wrong.

I wonder if Ferrari have fixed their RB style flexi-wing yet.....
 
I agree to an extent; it's not a black and white situation - there isn't as much room to be creative as there was, but the aspect is still there and it's very much alive.
 
Mad_Jay said:
Interesting, I would have rather it come to light the Friday Morning in Australia and they where the only team with it.

Now other teams will be rushing to make there own system and Lotus's advantage may be tiny/gone come Australia.
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Reading that scarbsf1 article it seems as this isn't really something thats really going to improve lap times in a big way, as such I can't imagine it will be top of everyone's list to copy asap. It seems as if its more a device to improve reliability/maintainability.

Another interesting point was raised where by in the act of filing the patent, they have to allow free licence to all other teams for use in their cars and designs. As such you would wonder why they'd do this if there were a significant performance advantage.
 
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