More silly wings
Discussion
I admire the technical thinking that goes into creating clever ideas to maximise what is possible within the rules, but these appendages are getting daft.
Another one now, this time from McLaren:
www.formula1.com/news/6016.html
Another one now, this time from McLaren:
www.formula1.com/news/6016.html
Eric Mc said:
Not the first time a biplane arrangement has been tried on the front wings. They were all the rage in early 1969 - until they were banned.
I remember the wing above the nose, such as the STP March, but not actual biplanes in this configuration. Any links, Eric?
The way the McLaren one is done seems rather odd - the entire from wing assembly is only held in place underneath the nose with the rest going aaaalll the way round, so it can't be very structurally sound. I can imagine it flapping all over the place and bending out of shape at high speed. But if it helps to improve performance, then that's all that matters.
I was referring to the wings above the nose that were used for the first few races of the 1969 season. They were mounted on struts and were in addition to the nose cone mounted wings which had appeared during the 1968 season.
They were used at the South African GP of 1969, which was held in January of that year and the next GP (Spain) which was held in May (a full four months later).
Following structural failures that occured at the Barcelona race and during the Thursday practice session for the 3rd GP (Monaco), the governing body (the old CSI) stepped in and banned all tall, strut mounted and moveable aerofoils with immediate effect.
The cars raced at Monaco that Sunday with only their nose cone mounted wings fitted and returned with much lower rear wings and no high nose wings for the third GP of 1969.
They were used at the South African GP of 1969, which was held in January of that year and the next GP (Spain) which was held in May (a full four months later).
Following structural failures that occured at the Barcelona race and during the Thursday practice session for the 3rd GP (Monaco), the governing body (the old CSI) stepped in and banned all tall, strut mounted and moveable aerofoils with immediate effect.
The cars raced at Monaco that Sunday with only their nose cone mounted wings fitted and returned with much lower rear wings and no high nose wings for the third GP of 1969.
jacobyte said:
Eric Mc said:
Not the first time a biplane arrangement has been tried on the front wings. They were all the rage in early 1969 - until they were banned.
I remember the wing above the nose, such as the STP March, but not actual biplanes in this configuration. Any links, Eric?
The way the McLaren one is done seems rather odd - the entire from wing assembly is only held in place underneath the nose with the rest going aaaalll the way round, so it can't be very structurally sound. I can imagine it flapping all over the place and bending out of shape at high speed. But if it helps to improve performance, then that's all that matters.
I must admit that when I first set my eyes on those images of the new front element yesterday, it was deflating.
The uglier these cars get, the less appealing the sport is.
[url]http://montjuich.speedgeezers.com/pic[/url]
For the moment this is the best I can find. If you look down the grid, you can see that the Brabham is sporting an extra set of wings above the nose.
As it is, you can see that the rear, high mounted wings are pretty big and, as it turned out here in Barcelona, pretty fragile too.
For the moment this is the best I can find. If you look down the grid, you can see that the Brabham is sporting an extra set of wings above the nose.
As it is, you can see that the rear, high mounted wings are pretty big and, as it turned out here in Barcelona, pretty fragile too.
Yes, thats correct. The wings that were banned were upright mounted, these saw severe fatigue loads which led to mounting failures. Most cars had them at the rear only, but some had that arangement at the front too, just in line with smacking your head in as they catelevered backwards during a failure. Not the brightest idea i must say. 
They looked odd in cornering because the wing rolled with the suspension roll, i think a lot of failures were down to not allowing for the amount of movement it would see in reality when one wheel is drooping and the other is in bump.
I think it was Jim Hall's Chaparal sportscars that had the first upright mounted wing, his could be pitch adjusted too, during braking it defaulted to act as an air brake/high downforce arangement, then for the straights he had an extra pedal where the clutch pedal would be (2 speed auto box) that when pressed altered the angle of attack to reduce drag.
They looked odd in cornering because the wing rolled with the suspension roll, i think a lot of failures were down to not allowing for the amount of movement it would see in reality when one wheel is drooping and the other is in bump. I think it was Jim Hall's Chaparal sportscars that had the first upright mounted wing, his could be pitch adjusted too, during braking it defaulted to act as an air brake/high downforce arangement, then for the straights he had an extra pedal where the clutch pedal would be (2 speed auto box) that when pressed altered the angle of attack to reduce drag.
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