對 F150 新車有多d設計上的了解
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To the untrained eye, the car looks similar to the F10. But the detail hides some significant changes - and some surprising revelations.
究竟是否 PULL ROD vs PUSH ROD 之爭?
Chief among these is the decision to retain push-rod rear suspension, rather than the pull-rod that has been used by Red Bull since 2009 and which is expected to feature on the majority of the grid in 2011.
Pull-rods had been out of fashion since the late 1980s, but were brought back by Red Bull's design head Adrian Newey as a response to the major technical changes that were introduced for 2009.
These included severe restrictions on the design of diffuser, the part of the car where the floor sweeps upwards under the rear wing and which is so important in creating downforce.
Newey's pull-rod design actually proved a handicap in 2009 following the controversial adoption by some teams of the so-called double-diffuser, around which a pull-rod was difficult to package.
But with the ban on this item, 2011 effectively marks a return to the intended diffuser regulations of 2009, and Newey's design is expected to come into its own as a way of lowering the centre of gravity and improving airflow.
Most teams are expected to follow Red Bull's lead.
不過, Ferrari have chosen NOT to follow.
instead Ferrari has come up with a clever repackaging of the dampers, bringing them forward in the car. This allows them to have a much lower back to the gearbox without the penalties inherent in a pull-rod design, which is very difficult to work on - the mechanics have to take the floor off to adjust the dampers.
Ferrari Chief Designer Nikolas Tombazis reckons that Ferrari has been able to keep all the benefits of the push-rod layout without suffering any drawbacks in terms of the aerodynamic layout at the rear of the car.
Tombazis said, "Different suspension configurations have different possibilities - one is for aero volumes and we have found a way, which is not so visible on the car right now, to reduce the volume of the push rod suspension in an extreme way.
That means we could reduce the rear volume, so our version is far more compact compared to the previous ones. We believe we have reached a similar level of packaging to the other ones."
當然, 簡單化地標籤 push rod vs pull rod 真係好膚淺
Fascinating as these things are, no F1 car's performance is defined by one single aspect of its design - it is about how a complex package works together.
And it is clear that a lot of thought has gone into F150 in the context of the rule changes for 2011 - most notably the debut of movable rear wings to aid overtaking and the re-introduction of the Kers energy recovery and power-boost systems, which come with heavy batteries that create a packaging headache.
Ferrari Technical Director Aldo Costa said :
"We had to rethink quite a lot on the car from the aerodynamic point of view.
The ban on the double diffuser, the introduction of the new rear wing concept and a lot of other detailed clarifications around the back end of the car pushed us to have a complete re-think about the rear of the car.
There's a completely new layout with a completely new concept. Also the introduction of Kers has pushed us to review the central part of the car. Because of all these changes, Kers and then develop the car around new tyres, changes related to the safety of the chassis, it has been quite a different project."