The Lotus Renault folks were saying their 2011 design was "on the brave end of brave." Here are a few words on that "brave" design. Renault running with radical exhausts and suspension (gpupdate.net)
A little video showing the new adjustable rear wing active on Sauber C30: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNZ5KlHa-cs]YouTube - rebuas c30[/ame]
A few more words on that "radical" new Lotus Renault exhaust. No exhaust exits were to be seen anywhere they would be expected so eagle-eyed folks started looking for them. The system pipes exhaust gases forward to exit at the front of the sidepods where they're expected to contribute to aero via diffuser. You can just see this one hiding back behind and left of a metal plate I'm guessing is there to protect the carbon from the high heat of the exhaust gases. (pic lifted from article at racecar-engineering.com) I'd bet every other team has someone busy at the computers trying to work out the benefits and decide whether they need to copy this little innovation.
Here's a better shot showing the unusual forward location of one of the supposed exhaust exits on the new Lotus Renault (as above, lifted from racecar-engineering.com):
Got to wonder if any gain in down force from the air will be negated by the extra distance the exhaust has to travel and the possible loss off power and additional weight from it...... Will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Exhaust exits at several hundred MPH helping to pull air, causing a negative pressure, and push air out the diffuser---yes this will help with the aero. As for the extra weight, no problem, they have to make weight to meet regulations. And power should be no problem as they have limitations to keep the revs and power in check. This is one of the reasons our diffuser is designed the way it is and why we get such good results. :idea: Mark
The new Team Lotus car. Note the split intake: I'm a little confused. I was sure there was a rule change that effectively outlawed the split air inlet on the 2010 Merc but here it is again.
In a way, that's impressive. The car is light, so there is enough down force to necessitate the need for power steering.