Ferrari F12 AeroBridge

[Viturro]

well, maybe it's just me, but I can't find the trick of the new design of Ferrari Aerobridge used on the new Ferrari F12 Berlinetta to make downforce.
Ferrari says, “The aero bridge uses the bonnet to generate downforce by channeling air away from the upper part of the car to the flanks, interacting with the wake from the wheel wells, in order to decrease drag.”
I mean, if you pull the air down...your car will get up. I think that maybe the air want to go down be itself because the form of the hood, and maybe the aerobridge is a kind of wing with some degrees to send the air that wants to go down to the sides, but IDK.
What do you think guys?







2013 Ferrari F12berlinetta Car Reviews & Specs | duPont REGISTRY

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZJQ1dsAYpI

[Frank Lee]

Looks like a duct to me. I don't like ducts for "aero".

[justme1969]

1. gains downforce on hood.
2. Next turns and ports it into side turbulence created by wheels and front pressure diffrential.
3. recaptured in low pressure pockett and spoiled over rear trunk perhaps drawing more air with it from over cabin, applying downforce to rear axles?

I get that well enough and see how hood is a big spoiler because it has 6-7" of rake to increase air pressure with.
I dont get how the low pressure can create much if any down pressure to rear.
It must not and the low pressure is ported behind car to reduce pressure vaccume envelope behind car. Thus no parachute effect.
Im sure none of it does anything worth mentioning below 100mph.

[Blue Angel]

I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be 10% function and 90% marketing.

I can see the concept offering two "vents" to bleed high pressure air off the hood to a low pressure area on the side of the car for a reduction in drag, but I don't see how that would translate into downforce. I coud actually see a reduction in downforce being plausible.

From a styling point of view I could see the designers scratching their heads trying to come up with some sort of visual "feature" to break up the long expanse of bodywork between the wheel arch and front door. Instead of putting some creases or a non functional vent, maybe they decided to "push the envellope" and do something different. On a Mazda this sort of thing wouldn't fly, but a company like Ferrari can pull it off. It's all about the marketing.

With this type of thing it's not really possible for someone to publically verify the claim, so they can say whatever they want. Short of taking the car into a wind tunnel and doing A/B comparissons by blocking the vents, how could you prove them wrong?

[Frank Lee]

You're right; marketing hype is far more prevalent than the simple publishing of facts.

Every time we made a new body Marketing said it was more aerodynamic- not that they had a shred of data. I used to joke that soon we'd need to equip the sleds with better brakes, parachutes, and maybe even anchors or tie-downs because they were getting so aero they'd take off all by themselves.

[Viturro]

Maybe the marketing could help a factory to sell cars, calling people to buy the car for the '' inventions ''... but its ferrari, and also if you wanna call customers better than that aerothing, it have +700 hp, that should call more customers than any other thing.
I really think that it works, and if that thing really works it could open a brand new look to the aerodynamics, at least for me.

Frank Lee, i think that every new car is more aerodynamic, more efficient and more powerfull, because if that's not, why people will buy it? i mean in sports cars world if you don't follow the innovation way, you just don't sell, 10 years ago have a full aluminum body was just for some marks, now if your car isn't of aluminum you just can't compete, this will happen with carbon fiber to.

[kach22i]

It looks like they took the lessons learned on the 599 buttress, and applied them to the front of the car.

2007 Ferrari 599GTB Fiorano flying buttress photo


I'd say mostly marketing, but it does work at some level and should not be dismissed.

[Viturro]

www.hauteliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/berlinetta01.jpg
It's just me or somebody else can see a wing on the side of the car? Could that be the trick?

[botsapper]

Originally Posted by kach22i

It looks like they took the lessons learned on the 599 buttress, and applied them to the front of the car.

2007 Ferrari 599GTB Fiorano flying buttress photo


I'd say mostly marketing, but it does work at some level and should not be dismissed.

Distinctive design marketing. F12's designer Flavio Manzoni aero-sculpture and 599's designer Jason Castriota, did use the wing/flying buttress/bridge primarily as marketable 'jet plane' design features with plenty of wind tunnel stability studies.

Castriota was a great student/practitioner (Pininfarina & Bertone) of many Italian aero-feature design traditions.
A Carozzeria Touring design with large wing features. Pegaso Z-102 Thrill
Famous Alfa Romeo - Bertone BAT series. http://www.carlustblog.com/2008/10/alfa-romeo-bat.html

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Viturro

www.hauteliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/berlinetta01.jpg
It's just me or somebody else can see a wing on the side of the car? Could that be the trick?

Yes, I see a wing, and a wing needs air flow to work, which this one has.

It's a short aspect wing to be sure, which if I recall correctly needs a higher airspeed to produce lift, or in this case just the opposite.

In which case, the high velocity low mass of the air going though that port would be just about right.