Moveable front wings

[mycool]

There was a lot made of this and KERS at the start of the year but virtually nothing mentioned now.

Is this because the drivers dont use the features as it upsets the balance of the car, etc.

Just a thought that i'm sure Ross Brawn has thought of but....if they are having problems getting heat into the front tyres why dont they put the optimum setting at the bottom to mid range of the movable aero and then they'd have something they could try to get more heat rather than the silly weaving before bends!

[jazz.cat]

Or maybe they've done that and they still need to weave about?

[mycool]

true

Anyone know how much the drivers actually use the moveable fron wings (not just Brawn).

[Adamantium]

Would be interesting to know this as it doesnt seem to be covered much and you dont seem to see them doing it, unless its part of the brake balance.

[EDLT]

The Brawns didn't have one fitted at the begining of the year, not sure about now though. The teams that do you a moveable win can't have that much movement in it because you still see wing adjustments going on during pit-stops.

[skinny]

i think the range that the driver can change isn't that much, and also not all of the teams use one. but it's basically never used for overtaking as it was intended, it's just for balance changes.

[DSM2]

EDLT said:

The Brawns didn't have one fitted at the begining of the year, not sure about now though. The teams that do you a moveable win can't have that much movement in it because you still see wing adjustments going on during pit-stops.

I think you'll find they did, and do. Button used his to good effect in qualifying at Sepang, but it stopped working in the race.

Edited by DSM2 on Friday 17th July 16:32

[paulrockliffe]

It's not been mentioned at all in the commentaries. If I remember right it was 3 degrees and could be moved twice per lap - ie once plus 3 degrees, once minus 3 degrees. In theory this would reduce drag and allow overtaking, but in practice I suspect everyone just moves their wings at the same time.

It's something that should be scrapped or they should be allowed complete freedom to alter wing angles. It doesn't seem to have made a difference and everyone seems to have forgotten about it, so whats the point?

Incidentally, is the length of the front wing elements constrained at all? 3 degrees would have more effect on a longer element than on a shorter one.

[jamied3]

I believe this was mentioned over the pit to car radio between massa and rob smedley, during one of the recent races.

Think massa was asked to set wing to "x" setting to combat understeer or look after tyres ??

Edited by jamied3 on Friday 17th July 19:41

[mycool]

I agree - they should allow front and rear moveable aero and then that way if a driver opted to overtake and wanted less downforce & less drag they could alter both and retain aero balance - more likely to be used then to overtake rather than to trim the car.

[zac510]

That's the exact same argument that was used to get movable front wings in in the first place and it hasn't worked. There's no evidence that if they could move both front and rear wings that they'd suddenly be able to overtake more easily!

[d3dna]

mycool said:

I agree - they should allow front and rear moveable aero and then that way if a driver opted to overtake and wanted less downforce & less drag they could alter both and retain aero balance - more likely to be used then to overtake rather than to trim the car.

Driver's (and advertising monkeys) may want this but an engineer will see this as a way to gain performance. Such as the F1 Williams from the early 90's with hydraulic suspension which was designed to keep the car level at nearly all times during a race. This helped keep the car at the optimum height for downforce and after its first season was banned. IIRC they tended to lead by laps not places.
If they had fully adjustable aero then they could potentially allow for the engineers to basically control how the driver drives.

[mchammer89]

zac510 said:

That's the exact same argument that was used to get movable front wings in in the first place and it hasn't worked. There's no evidence that if they could move both front and rear wings that they'd suddenly be able to overtake more easily!

d3dna said:

mycool said:

I agree - they should allow front and rear moveable aero and then that way if a driver opted to overtake and wanted less downforce & less drag they could alter both and retain aero balance - more likely to be used then to overtake rather than to trim the car.

Driver's (and advertising monkeys) may want this but an engineer will see this as a way to gain performance. Such as the F1 Williams from the early 90's with hydraulic suspension which was designed to keep the car level at nearly all times during a race. This helped keep the car at the optimum height for downforce and after its first season was banned. IIRC they tended to lead by laps not places.
If they had fully adjustable aero then they could potentially allow for the engineers to basically control how the driver drives.

+1 on both of these.

[scoobydude]

I know the Renaults have a system where the driver selects a wing angle with a little wheel on the side of the steering wheel. Then they have to wait for a confirm? message on their display, then they hit a button to confirm the change. I've heard it's a bit too much of a faff so they generaly don't bother.