Williams FW40 text by tw (February 18, 2017)
February 17, 2017, Williams' new machine 'FW 40' (CG?) Was released.(This looks like a shadow effect on 3D-CAD.)
Williams skipped the chassis number for the first time and celebrated the 40th anniversary and named the machine of this season as "FW40".
See the picture of the machine, F1 Thushin. Below, I will write my opinion from the overview of the car body.
Due to the presence or absence of lower wing, the aerodynamic concept of the rear end is very different.
If the installation of the lower wing is permitted, the effect of lowering the rear end of the side pod is remarkable.
If the lower wing is prohibited, the effect of lowering the rear end of the side pod is low.
And the point that I am skeptical about FW 40 is that the side pod is a strong stroke.
I've seen these designs in the past, but I remember that the number of cases evaluated as aerodynamically superior machine is small.
With such a stroked shoulder shape, the flow velocity on the upper side pod decreases and the pressure increases.
Physically, since the air flow flows from a high pressure to a low pressure, the air current at the top of the side pod is supposed to intrude into the coke bottle part.
This is an aerodynamic design, it can only be called a doubt.
Where is it possible to clearly distinguish between side flow and top flow, if possible?
And you can see the outlet on the top of the nose (there is a nose hole).
This should be "S-shaped duct" when seen from the side.
There is one pitot tube measuring the air velocity.
The front suspension is a reverse V mount as seen from the front.
It is a recent trend to clean up the downstream.
Looking at the front side of the side pod of monocoque, there is a mini upper border wing.
It is the same area projected from the top to the bottom, there should be a shadow plate or a border plate below.
(Otherwise, you can not clear the flat bottom regulation.)
The border plate is an important part that controls the air flow path flowing from the separator under the monocoque to the bottom of the side pod.
The radiator air intake opening area of the side pod is small.
This is the evidence of the concept that emphasizes the aerodynamics of the high speed range.
If priority is given to the energy efficiency of the engine, a large side radiator has a large side pod opening area.
On the contrary, if priority is given to reduction of air resistance, a small side pod opening area becomes small radiator.
Since air resistance increases with the square of speed, it is much more advantageous to give priority to air resistance reduction in the high speed range.
There is a bulge inside the side protector.
Is this a transmitter? Or a sensor?
Will not disturb the driver's head?
There is a dummy camera on the side of the separator on the lower side of the induction pod.
Since the flow velocity rises here, we have downforced even a small amount by installing a camera.
The engine cover was not a shark fin.
The rear suspension is an orthodox.
However, it seems that the lower arm is somewhat high. This is an option that emphasizes downstream.
The rear wing is a three dimensional shape.
The height of the central part is large, and the left and right are low.
Drivers are the newly-added Lance strike and Felipe Massa. (Massa retired once, but withdrew because Bottas moved.)
A picture of the actual FW 40 was posted on F1-Gate.com.
In CG, the engine cover was the minimum triangle that cleared the minimum area specification, but in the picture of the actual car it is a wide area shark fin.
However, compared to the other team's machines released this year, the FW 40 at the present moment has very few aerodynamic add-ons and it is very doubtful whether this is competitive.
It would be quite surprising if a massive update of aerodynamic packages was not done before the opening round!
[ Home ]