Several medias announced Tuesday that 'Technical Directive 15' issued last week will ban the blowing of exhaust gases beyond 10% of full throttle when drivers are braking or not accelerating hard. Why is that?
Well, the FIA wants to clamps down on the extreme blowing of exhaust gases through sophisticated diffusers.
In a press release issued earlier this season, Renault Sport F1 made something of a surprising announcement by saying to get the best out of front exiting exhausts and other blown floor concepts the car use as much as 10% more fuel.
To power a blown floor effectively and generate additional downforce, an engine must produce significant amounts of exhaust gas. Simply put, the more fuel burned, the more exhaust is produced and potentially more downforce.
Click here to hear the Renault engine of Nick Heidfeld's R31 car. We can hear the engine “rumble” when Nick is off the throttle. The engine goes into “blown exhaust gases” phase during a fraction of a second, blowing hot air into the diffusor and therefore creating increased downforce.
The FIA probably decided to ban this system because the blown floors are very expensive to develop, requiring complex wind tunnel and CFD work, a lot of prototyping and complex composites that can resist to extremely high temperatures.
Additionally, when the general trend towards making motorsport green, it seems hard to justify burning 10% more fuel per session just to go around a corner slightly faster. It equates very roughly to around 15 litres of fuel per car per race.
Well, the FIA wants to clamps down on the extreme blowing of exhaust gases through sophisticated diffusers.
In a press release issued earlier this season, Renault Sport F1 made something of a surprising announcement by saying to get the best out of front exiting exhausts and other blown floor concepts the car use as much as 10% more fuel.
To power a blown floor effectively and generate additional downforce, an engine must produce significant amounts of exhaust gas. Simply put, the more fuel burned, the more exhaust is produced and potentially more downforce.
Click here to hear the Renault engine of Nick Heidfeld's R31 car. We can hear the engine “rumble” when Nick is off the throttle. The engine goes into “blown exhaust gases” phase during a fraction of a second, blowing hot air into the diffusor and therefore creating increased downforce.
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| Nick Heidfeld, Lotus Renault GP (Photo: Renault) |
The FIA probably decided to ban this system because the blown floors are very expensive to develop, requiring complex wind tunnel and CFD work, a lot of prototyping and complex composites that can resist to extremely high temperatures.
Additionally, when the general trend towards making motorsport green, it seems hard to justify burning 10% more fuel per session just to go around a corner slightly faster. It equates very roughly to around 15 litres of fuel per car per race.