Motorsport Off Topic Thread

DRS is very confusing to me.
I think I need to research why it was brought in, but as far as I can tell it is being used to get the cars to pass each other and fight for spots etc.

However I think it would make it more interesting to get the cars closers together. A DRS system like Mario Cart, in as such as if your 1.5seconds behind the car in front you get DRS, but if you within 1.5, you don't.

This would close the gaps, the cars behind would catch up.
Would it mean that the cars just bunch up and don't pass each other. Maybe.
Would it feel more fair then catching someone then getting a boost too, definitely.
 
DRS was brought in because they wanted cars to follow and pass each other.

Basically, they ballsed up when they allowed the double difusser to slip through the regs, so rather than just write it out the next year they tried to fix it with DRS but forgot to take it back out.
 
I don't think it lends anything to the sport except an unfair advantage. I may be alone, but I would rather see the sport have cars with better over taking abilities through aerodynamics, tyres that can handle it etc, rather than a strategy based pit stop crap we have now.
Some how or another they should be able to overtake each other with car of a similar nature. Overtaking through skill, not by mechanics.
 
It was a technical working group from the teams that came up with the idea of DRS. IT was the best workaround for the turbulence generated by the car in front.

There's only two other options I can thing of :
1) Ground effect. That was rather dangerous in the early 80s, and didn't do the drivers much good.
2) Get rind of the aero. F1 would then cease to be be the pinnacle of the sport.

Personally I'd rather see the sham of KERS abolished before DRS.
 
Shame they didn't focus on KERS - I am sure there could have been a workable strategy with it, plus the technology is relevant to the car industry. I have never liked DRS.
 
What's wrong with KERS as a concept? Obviously, the current implementation leaves a lot to be desired, but energy recovery is a good thing in my opinion.

When it comes to ground effects, I'd have thought that with a much, much better understanding of it these days there wouldn't be so many problems with using it. I'm no aerodynamicist though! :p
 
Why can't they just be built bit more bloody durable so the guy behind isn't scared of clipping you a little when passing. Anyone who tries to make an attempt to overtake and doesn't get it 100% virtually gets knocked out of the race.
 
KERS is just pandering to the environmental lobby so they don't take aim at F1. "Look - we're helping develop energy saving technologies!" It adds nothing to the sporting spectacle that couldn't be done more effectively and cheaper another way.

As for durability - lets add bumpers. This carbon fibre stuff obviously isn't that strong. Strap some big bits of iron on. ;)
 
ChroniC said:
DRS is very confusing to me.
I think I need to research why it was brought in, but as far as I can tell it is being used to get the cars to pass each other and fight for spots etc.
Click to expand...

(someone correct me if I'm wrong)

Back in the day, if you were close enough to the car in front, you could get a speed advantage called a tow or slip-streaming.

As the other car punches a hole through the resistant air in front of him, there is less air resistance against you, so you can go faster than him, pull out at the last second and over take.

As the cars became more and more reliant on aerodynamic grip instead of mechanical grip two things happened:

Firstly, the hole punched into the air by the leading car became a lot less clean. All of those flaps and fins meant that the air coming off the leading car became distorted and swirly, causing it to be more resistant rather than less.

Equally, because the cars were more reliant on aerodynamic grip, the following car bogged down in the dirty air, effectively causing a double-whammy.

What this meant was that even in a faster car, it was incredibly difficult to get past the car in front because your speed advantage instantly died when you got a certain distance behind them.

This lead to complaints that there wasn't enough over taking in F1 and so between 2008/09 the FIA introduced a rule to reduce the size of the rear diffusers on cars and thus reduce aerodynamic downforce.

However, the double-diffuser that Brawn introduced in 2009 and all of the cars used in 2010 actually exacerbated the problem.

To try and get more overtaking and solve the problem the FIA introduced DRS at the start of 2011. As the flap drops the car loses some of it's aerodynamic downforce and allows the car behind to get a relative speed increase to the car in front, mimicking the old slip-streaming.

However, at the start of 2011 the FIA also banned the double-diffuser as well as introducing the DRS. It's become apparent over the last two seasons that plenty of overtaking now takes place away from the DRS zones and at some circuits DRS is a complete joke.

If the FIA had just put their foot down back in 2009 and clarified that double-diffusers were in breach of the new rules we might never have had to suffer the DRS 'noddy overtaking'.
 
Thank you for taking the time to write that. That explains everything. Makes a lot more sense now.
I was blissfully unaware that slipstreaming had become an issue.
 
Yep. Its a solution to prevent a faster car getting stuck behind a slower one due to the Aero characteristics of F1 cars.

It works, when properly implemented. Of course the ideal solution is a clamp down on Aero rules to clean up the air, but have you seen how all the attempts to reign in aerodynamicists have gone recently? :p
 
Interesting blog/read about working under Ron Dennis. Perhaps reveals some of the reasons for the success, and also failings, of McLaren?

I’m talking perfection on a molecular scale. Perfection on a scale where, at times, you can spend more time cleaning away and straightening items on your desk, or wiping down the work benches, than actually working on anything productive like designing or building Formula One cars.
Click to expand...

http://f1elvis.com/2012/11/07/mr-ron-dennis-cbe/
 
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