Best F1 car designer of this generation?
Best F1 car designer of this generation?
Author
Discussion

entropy

Original Poster:

6,441 posts

232 months

Thursday 8th May 2008
quotequote all
AMD?

Intel?

Seems to be more now to do with man-management eg. Sam Michaels/Operations Director (or something like that) and letting the supercomputers do all the work in the wind tunnel.

MrKipling43

5,788 posts

245 months

Thursday 8th May 2008
quotequote all
Nah, I don't think that's fair - it's just that these days a series of teams of experts design the car around a central principle, each working in a highly specialised way on a single part.

There's less of a Gordon Murray/Adrian 'low drag' Newey approach of one bloke penning the whole thing.

entropy

Original Poster:

6,441 posts

232 months

Thursday 8th May 2008
quotequote all
Yes you're quite right.

15 years ago the big teams had over a hundred personnel.

Now it's over 300 average?

rev-erend

21,619 posts

313 months

Thursday 8th May 2008
quotequote all
I'm not an expert like some here but would nominate :

Gordon Murray
Adrian Newey
Rory Byrne

NightDriver

1,082 posts

255 months

Thursday 8th May 2008
quotequote all
entropy said:
AMD?

Intel?

Seems to be more now to do with man-management eg. Sam Michaels/Operations Director (or something like that) and letting the supercomputers do all the work in the wind tunnel.
Super computers do the calculations, they are only used to reduce the need for extensive track and wind tunnel testing. The computers dont come up with the designs, thats still down to the designers...

Lots of very good designers about at the moment, but Rory Byrne is still the no. 1 of this generation imo.

carbonfootprint

142 posts

222 months

Thursday 8th May 2008
quotequote all
>Scuderia Ferrari<

The End

FourWheelDrift

92,263 posts

313 months

Thursday 8th May 2008
quotequote all
John Barnard.

RobbieMeister

1,307 posts

299 months

Thursday 8th May 2008
quotequote all
Alfie Noakes or John Stitch

MrKipling43

5,788 posts

245 months

Friday 9th May 2008
quotequote all
entropy said:
Yes you're quite right.

15 years ago the big teams had over a hundred personnel.

Now it's over 300 average?
More like 1,000 for the top/works teams.

rubystone

11,254 posts

288 months

Friday 9th May 2008
quotequote all
carbonfootprint said:
>Scuderia Ferrari<

The End
Gotta say, they do seem to be doing a good job. I had my doubts about Costa but hats off to him and his team.

I can't see McLaren catching up the deficit either - another Ferrari one two this weekend? That's my prediication.

stuttgartmetal

8,152 posts

245 months

Friday 9th May 2008
quotequote all
John Barnard easily
brought carbon fibre into f1 in a big way with McLaren
brought paddle shift boxes into f1 at Ferrari
the guy's a genius

Edited by stuttgartmetal on Friday 9th May 16:46

navier_stokes

948 posts

228 months

Friday 9th May 2008
quotequote all
entropy said:
AMD?

Intel?

Seems to be more now to do with man-management eg. Sam Michaels/Operations Director (or something like that) and letting the supercomputers do all the work in the wind tunnel.
That's a ridiculous statement - the task of the aerodynamicist hasn't changed in decades, its just the tools he uses are far more advanced. It requires no less work/innovation to come up with a better solution with CFD than it does with a wind tunnel or track testing.

sniff petrol

13,125 posts

241 months

Saturday 10th May 2008
quotequote all
Willy Rampf always did a lot with the small resources he had.

entropy

Original Poster:

6,441 posts

232 months

Saturday 10th May 2008
quotequote all
NightDriver said:
entropy said:
AMD?

Intel?

Seems to be more now to do with man-management eg. Sam Michaels/Operations Director (or something like that) and letting the supercomputers do all the work in the wind tunnel.
Super computers do the calculations, they are only used to reduce the need for extensive track and wind tunnel testing. The computers dont come up with the designs, thats still down to the designers...

Lots of very good designers about at the moment, but Rory Byrne is still the no. 1 of this generation imo.
Interesting.

Like drivers, you get a new generation of wizz-kids on the design front.

There's less of your Gordon Murrays, Harvey Poselthwaites, John Barnards, Adrian Neweys these days.

As been pointed out, there's more drawing boards in the design offices these days.

NightDriver

1,082 posts

255 months

Saturday 10th May 2008
quotequote all
navier_stokes said:
That's a ridiculous statement - the task of the aerodynamicist hasn't changed in decades, its just the tools he uses are far more advanced. It requires no less work/innovation to come up with a better solution with CFD than it does with a wind tunnel or track testing.
I would be to differ that the task of aero engineers hasnt changed. With the introduction of increasingly more accurate topometrical programmes the computer can find answers us human designers could never see. However, a huge amount of skill is required to accurately run models and get meaningful results, just because the job function of designers may have evolved over 20+ years doesnt mean the skill level has been changing.

Mr_Thyroid

1,995 posts

256 months

Saturday 10th May 2008
quotequote all
Has Newey lost it? He hasn't done much since 1998 (by his standards).

NightDriver

1,082 posts

255 months

Saturday 10th May 2008
quotequote all
Mr_Thyroid said:
Has Newey lost it? He hasn't done much since 1998 (by his standards).
I dont think he has lost it, times are just moving on. When he was at McL he would still do most of his designing with pencil drawings on a drawing board. Now that might sound like he's doing it the good ol' fashioned way, but thats no longer the best way. The computers are so powerful now that to not use them is silly. I'm sure at RBR he's been forced into using computer power as much as possible, but designing is a different game to 10 years ago. Theres a lot of very clever, young, 'playstation generation' designers who may not have the same raw talent as Newey etc but who are able to step ahead thanks to a much better understanding of how to use optimisation and analysis tools.

navier_stokes

948 posts

228 months

Saturday 10th May 2008
quotequote all
NightDriver said:
navier_stokes said:
That's a ridiculous statement - the task of the aerodynamicist hasn't changed in decades, its just the tools he uses are far more advanced. It requires no less work/innovation to come up with a better solution with CFD than it does with a wind tunnel or track testing.
I would be to differ that the task of aero engineers hasnt changed. With the introduction of increasingly more accurate topometrical programmes the computer can find answers us human designers could never see. However, a huge amount of skill is required to accurately run models and get meaningful results, just because the job function of designers may have evolved over 20+ years doesnt mean the skill level has been changing.
You seem to be contradicting yourself - I'm saying that the job of the designers/aerodynamicists requires just as much innovation/work as it has always done, i.e disagreeing with the OP. Do you agree or disagree?

navier_stokes

948 posts

228 months

Saturday 10th May 2008
quotequote all
Mr_Thyroid said:
Has Newey lost it? He hasn't done much since 1998 (by his standards).
Red bull seem to be moving up the ranks...

I'm betting the Newey/Prodromou (both ex-McLaren incidently) has definately had an impact on the team

entropy

Original Poster:

6,441 posts

232 months

Saturday 10th May 2008
quotequote all
navier_stokes said:
NightDriver said:
navier_stokes said:
That's a ridiculous statement - the task of the aerodynamicist hasn't changed in decades, its just the tools he uses are far more advanced. It requires no less work/innovation to come up with a better solution with CFD than it does with a wind tunnel or track testing.
I would be to differ that the task of aero engineers hasnt changed. With the introduction of increasingly more accurate topometrical programmes the computer can find answers us human designers could never see. However, a huge amount of skill is required to accurately run models and get meaningful results, just because the job function of designers may have evolved over 20+ years doesnt mean the skill level has been changing.
You seem to be contradicting yourself - I'm saying that the job of the designers/aerodynamicists requires just as much innovation/work as it has always done, i.e disagreeing with the OP. Do you agree or disagree?
I think he's referring to a bit of both err-ing on disagreeing with my OP.

The role of the designer hasn't changed, only the tools. CFD can compute algorithms and can come up with solutions that the designer missed out on.

Correct me if I'm wrong but it's a bit like the chicken or the egg?