Physics of Racecars

[F1 LOTUS]

A kind chap has put this on the net for anyone that's interested - Download / Print it while you can

http://phors.locost7.info/contents.htm

[Nige]

Thanks Brian, I've downloaded now I just need to understand it, should have paid more attention at school.

[GeoffSmith]

Thanks Brian. It's a very interesting read but I must admit, it's a long time since I used Slugs! We've bowed to that fine institution the EU and have been working pretty much wholly in Metric units for some time so Newtons are the order of the day.

Do I take it you are the author? If so, congratulations on an excellent set of articles.

Geoff

[F1 LOTUS]

Do I take it you are the author? If so, congratulations on an excellent set of articles.

Geoff

Good one Geoff!

I can't take credit for the articles, even though we do share the same first name Besides, I still work in 'tads', 'smidgeons' and 'shedloads'

[GeoffSmith]

I still work in 'tads', 'smidgeons' and 'shedloads'

but it can lead to confusion. For instance is 'next to bugger all' more or less than a 'tad' and are 'more bosses than you can shake a stick at' worse than 'a shedload of paper shufflers'?

BTW I have come across the 'shed' (1E-24 'barns' or 1E-52m²) in describing cross sectional areas in radiation work!

Have you ever come across the jerk (1ft/s³)? I guess it doesn't have the same slang meaning in the US as an American we were working with couldn't understand why my boss and I collapsed in fits of laughter when he asked if we wanted to give his dog a "Jerky treat" - turned out they were dog chews.

[F1 LOTUS]

Yet another interesting article - may be inspirational to some? Also, spot the deliberate mishtake...
http://autospeed.com/cms/A_110989/article.html

[Elanlover]

Yet another interesting article - may be inspirational to some? Also, spot the deliberate mishtake...
http://autospeed.com/cms/A_110989/article.html

"(red in this exploded diagram of a 1960s Lotus Elise)"

And that diagram is neither an Elise nor from a car of the '60's now is it

[surfboardfiller]

Nice one Brian, thanks for that! any chance you could give me some pointers for calculating air flow on my 3D model of the Elan.
I am rebuilding the body of a car to work on track and want to get it right, some fluid dynamics software would be nice, but I don't have access to any.

Cheers,

Phil

[GeoffSmith]

Sure there are some two headed aerodynamacists at Bristol - what Mach number do you want it modelled at?

[surfboardfiller]

Errr, about Mach 0.1.... It was Car Aerodynamics I was after, but the maths are the same, I'd just have to include a the ground.

[F1 LOTUS]

Nice one Brian, thanks for that! any chance you could give me some pointers for calculating air flow on my 3D model of the Elan.
I am rebuilding the body of a car to work on track and want to get it right, some fluid dynamics software would be nice, but I don't have access to any.

Cheers,

Phil

I'd run it by one of the LEC members (Josler ???) who's in an F1 team - they have plenty of chaps writing CFD code there