Quote:
We're told it's "optimized" but don't get to hear why
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Well they show you why, it's in the colors. Green is ambient (either pressure or velocity). Red is getting '
mangled' by body below the stagnation point. Blue is the low pressure created by the receding after-body.
Looking at the design itself, they've placed Air-Tab™ type vortex generators at the sills oriented in the cross-wind direction. I'm not sure if they act on the upwind or leeward side.
Then you have strakes. I haven't seen much on them but they appear here, third from the top left:
Mercedes seem to use them to moderate the red [pressure/velocity] on the sides but let a plume through down the center that results in an ambient condition at the center bottom of the wake.
Notice that in the wake the blue lines are evenly spaced, but in the green area they are bunched up.
Crafty. The Ferrari solution doesn't look like it would do much. Compare to this:
Edit: I looked at the Ferrari article. There are
two new examples of Ferrari using external ducts on the rear.
