Best F1 car designer of this generation?
Discussion
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.
There's less of a Gordon Murray/Adrian 'low drag' Newey approach of one bloke penning the whole thing.
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...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.
Lots of very good designers about at the moment, but Rory Byrne is still the no. 1 of this generation imo.
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.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.
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...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.
Lots of very good designers about at the moment, but Rory Byrne is still the no. 1 of this generation imo.
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.
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 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.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.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.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?
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