Motorsport Engineering – Aerodynamics
Continuing on from yesterday, now we move on to aerodynamics! This is definitely my favourite area of ‘technology in motorsport’. There is so much to explain, yet so little time!
After learning about some really cool things in Formula One aerodynamics, I decided to share this with the Brio team. Not only do Formula One teams spend ridiculous sums of money in developing the aerodynamics of their cars, but they do this for a tenth of a second (sometimes more).
That is 0.1 seconds they are looking for, and that can be the difference between pole position for the race, or being down the order in 5th. So over an average lap, the distance between first to second on the track, is approximately 30cm… And yes, they spent tens of millions of dollar to gain that 300mm… Seem a bit excessive? Well to most people, it probably is. Here is a short video to show you how teams go about finding that tenth of a second.
Yours in aerodynamics,
Lee.
