erwin greven wrote: ↑2 years ago
When wings are such a problem: then why is Indycar so good, F2 so great, F3 so competitive? They all have wings.
And again. NEXT year a complete new chassis, rules and maybe picking order.
I must admit that you made a very good point. Anyway, the racing is good because the wings in F2 cars, or in F3s are (i) relatively small and (ii) generate a limited amount of turbulence. Would a small set of front and rear wings common to the whole field make for better racing? for sure, but what's the point of such wings if they are the same for everyone? they certainly don't improve the racing (nor the show), you could argue that they are good for selling that bit of space to some sponsor but other than that I see no real benefit of small simple wings
You could argue that if they use such wings in F2 and F3 there must be a reason: I can think of a very simple reason why they have such wings, the drivers must learn to set up their cars taking into consideration aerodynamics because if some of them graduate to F1 and they can't set up a car with wings they would be lost. In my humble racing experience I faced this:
Formula Ford (1600cc), no wings whatsoever,
Formula Alfa Boxer, very little wings, basically they there so that we would learn not to destroy them by hitting other cars in case we managed to move up the racing order
Formula Opel Lotus, again little wings but we could adjust them a little (angle)
F3, a big step, wings were mostly adjustable and if you had plenty of money you could have a couple of rear wings with different shapes. There were also some further improvements such a bandella on the rear wings (a Gurney flap in English) and you could remove the front wings if you fancied (I fancied this a lot, never saw any meaningful improvement)
F 3000, I tried such cars a few times and the wings were even more complex than F3
I might be wrong and my view is solely based upon my personal experience but wings in junior formulae were/are there for some very simple reasons:
- the lucky ones must learn how they work,
- the cars look more purposeful with wings on
- you can sell that space to some sponsor (I never did, I knew a guy who raced for a whole season with a sticker reading "I'm looking for sponsors, if you're interested please call ....", it was in his front wings and on the rear one as well, in case someone missed it)
Which brings me to another subject: why are modern wings so problematic in terms of turbulence? because they are there not only to create some downforce, but rather to "build" a wall of air to shield the tyres, basically the aerodynamic effect of modern cars is similar to group C prototypes, that's what all those winglets are there for. What's the improvement in racing and in the show if cars travel at 340 kmph rather than at 325?