[Fot] State of F1

[Joe Curry]

I suspect that Computer modeling of aerodynamics could be much better if the
teams had super-computers with proper software.  But that in itself would be
at least as expensive as wind tunnels and maybe not as predictable.

Joe C.

-----Original Message-----
From: fot-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:fot-bounces at autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Bill Babcock
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 6:16 PM
To: Shane Ingate
Cc: Friends of Triumph
Subject: Re: [Fot] State of F1

They model the bejessus out of F1 cars, but flow is always chaotic at  
the macro level. You can't even really precisely model water flow  
through a pipe except as an ideal pipe. You can be very predictive  
about components and even interactions between components to a degree,  
but its not enough to really know what's going to happen. For that you  
can't beat a tunnel. And the tunnel has to have a lot of special  
characteristics. I know that even half-size models are viewed as a  
gross approximation. Only a full size model will do, and it needs to  
have steerable wheels, dynamic height front and back,  and a rolling  
road before the data is considered truly useful.

They also model (and wind-tunnel test) car to car interaction