Vapour trails are back!

[mattikake]

Oh yeah, and who noticed the vapour trail vortexes coming off the rear wings in Malaysia?

Haven't got a pic to post but I'm sure someone has...

[AlpineWhite]

Yep I saw 'em!

[GBRM]

Was it just because it was wet? They did look awesome though!!

[zac510]

I did notice them, but only on the BMW. They might want to do something about them?

[zac510]

GBRM said:

Was it just because it was wet? They did look awesome though!!

Yeah, all the extra moisture in the air.

[olimeads]

i think the red bulls and torro rosso's had them aswell, if nobody has posted pics by tomorrow i will do some.

[GBRM]

zac510 said:

GBRM said:

Was it just because it was wet? They did look awesome though!!

Yeah, all the extra moisture in the air.

Lets hope we see them in the dry too as they did look fantastic; the new season is brilliant so far!!

[BalhamLotus]

I think they've always needed a certain amount of moisture in the air, but it's great to see them back.

All we need now is some titanium skid blocks on the bottom of the cars for lots of sparks and a smaller front wing for aesthetics and with the slicks we're pretty much back to a perfect Formula 1.

Actually, some flame spitting turbo engines would be good too.

[elster]

olimeads said:

i think the red bulls and torro rosso's had them aswell, if nobody has posted pics by tomorrow i will do some.

It is tomorrow now

Can I see some pics if you have some.

Cheers.

[mat205125]

zac510 said:

GBRM said:

Was it just because it was wet? They did look awesome though!!

Yeah, all the extra moisture in the air.

That was a major factor for sure, however the new regs for wing design restrict the teams building their cars with the curved/shaped/formed wing and end plate designs that made them so efficient in recent years.

The vorticies (sp?) are a visual sign of disruption in the air which is not contributing downforce, rather drag. Therefore they are a sign of inefficiencies of the wing designs that they are using.

I hope they are here to stay, as the rule changes so far this year seem to be working to make the cars and racing a lot better ..... Wish they could legislate to make them a little aesthetically better though

[navier_stokes]

At the edges of the rear wing, rotating vortices are released due to the pressure difference between the two sides of the wing - the same as wing tip vortices on planes. Any lift (or downforce) generating surface MUST shed vortices from its side edges.

The centre of these vortices are low pressures, hence the vapour trails. The vortices reduce the efficiency of the wing (see up/downwash) and end plates greatly reduce their effect - so I guess the new reg endplates are less efficient - did we not see any last year? I guess because the new wings are so much more narrow they are trying much higher angles of attack to regain the lost downforce, which also adds to the strength of the edge vortices.


Couldn't find any F1 pics so here's probably one of the best illustrations of wing tip vortices

Edited by navier_stokes on Wednesday 8th April 09:01

[DangerousMike]

I think the wings they are running now are less efficient in terms of downforce/drag ratio - the wings are smaller so they can afford to have a more draggy wing, but also they need to get more downforce per unit surface area of the wing, so this has made them run wings that would have been too inefficient last year.

[curlie467]

[DangerousMike]

they're like little ephemeral moustaches.

[zac510]

They're also in less proximity to the rear wheel turbulence now too so that might contribute.

But I still think it's mostly the BMW wing