F1 static hubcaps
 

i'm generally not a big fan of motorsports...in particuler F1, as these cars have truely disasterous drag quoeffients, and silly regulations prevent these cars from beco
a few days ago however watching the sports news at the end of the news, there was a review of the F1 race at the zolder sirquit in belgium.

since the spoilers etc looked a little different than the image of what i remembered an F1 car to look like i started looking closer, and lo and behold
ferari was running something wich looked like hubcaps!...

a quick web search revealed this Formula 1 Insight

surely roadcars have been running hubcaps for ages and, especially during the 80's, these where pretty aerodynamic, and today the most dedicated aeromodders run moon caps...so as such the fact that F1 cars finally start to run them is not all that interesing.

the only notable thing is that these F1 hubs are aparently static in relation to the ground...and while said to serve for break cooling, this is apparently the only way they'd pass curent F1 regulations.
of course ferrari is not going to throw it's findings out in the open... think about the gurney flap, and how long it's true function was not understood by those trying to coppy it.

the most interesing aspect about this is that a system that can keep a bubcap static on a car that shoots across the tack at incredible speeds might one day trancelate in a solution for steering front wheel fairings.

I've seen weighted ones. But I doubt Ferrari's are weighted. They must be attached to the center axle somehow.

I wonder how they affect pit stop time?

i suppose there's a solution for that, they won't invest in something that makes the car go faster only to loose that time in the pit.
but it will further add to the complication of the device... that must mean these things are really effective at whatever they do.

i've seen these weighted hubs too, but i wonder what happens if they should get stuck somehow... suddenly you'll have a wheel with a huge unbalanced weight... can't be very safe...

F1 cars only have one securing nut per wheel. I could see a fixed center shaft with a rotating cylinder for the wheel. The cap is part of the wheel but moves separately and indexes itself on the shaft during tire changes. Wow, they just took a relatively simple and cheap part of the car and made 10 X more expensive and complex!

It might be good for 0.1 second on a fast track... Therefore its a screamin' deal in the world of F1 to have it only cost 10X more than a normal hub!

F1 is kind of like space exploration, super expensive and nothing they do is immediately useful or practical. But eventually the technology trickles down to normal folks stuff.
Variable valve timing, turbo charging, super charging, variable intake manifolds, ABS, stability control, active suspension, advanced engine materials and design, brake materials, computer simulation, tire compounds, aerodynamics, and probably local weather prediction techniques have all been created or improved by F1 engineers or people hired by the teams. NASCAR is kind of the opposite, they have teams perfecting dead technology, carbs, restrictor plates, and solid rear axles probably aren't going to be put into regular cars anytime soon.

F1 is at a bit of a crossroads with trying to balance the cost of a team vs. good close entertaining races, vs. stifling innovation, they could go many different directions. I'm sure within a year they could have a car lapping faster with out a driver at all and in another few months have these cars racing wheel to wheel if the rules were changed that way. How long would it take to get that system into relatively dead slow passenger cars then? For a manufacturer cost of $500 each?

Ian

Ferrarri at one time took out the gear shift and used GPS with pre-determined shift points to control the transmission. It was banned.

There are many examples of driver-less cars on autocross tracks at university-level research. I think that making a bunch of cars that can drive safely together is easy... making them share the road with us stupid humans is the hard part.

Hi,

Ferrari was the first to use these aero "hubcaps" but other teams now use them, including Mercedes McLaren:
http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-...8090700622.jpg

Next year, F1 cars will have to be hybrids:
Information on the hybrid Formula 1 drivetrain from Torotrak and Xtrac - AutoblogGreen

Thanks for link Neil, I wasn't aware that they were doing this for the next season. From what I understand of the regulations they will get upto 80hp extra for 6 seconds or less hp spread out over a longer time.
I am so glad they are doing this! IMHO batteries basically suck for hybrids anyways and F1 teams will get the most efficient and lightest flywheel system sorted out very quickly.
I imagine a constant speed "pulse and glide" will be possible with this system when it gets put in production cars.
Very cool!
Ian

A static wheel fairing allows for subtle tricks ;) :

http://www.f1technical.net/images/de...ri-fairing.jpg

The tiny winglet (black arrows) improves airflow around the wheel. The vent angled backwards/downwards redirects hot air from the brakes (yellow) to the underside of the pods. Every bit counts in F1.