I was thinking about the future of Indycars looking at pics of F1s and Indycars and I want to know what are the benefits of having a raised nose like in F1 and CC and also the benefits of having the Nose lower to the ground like the current car and the cars previously used in AOW.

marq4porsche - 06 August 2008 08:50 PM

I was thinking about the future of Indycars looking at pics of F1s and Indycars and I want to know what are the benefits of having a raised nose like in F1 and CC and also the benefits of having the Nose lower to the ground like the current car and the cars previously used in AOW.

The raised nose is useful for airflow under the car. This helps to optimize downforce for road and street circuits while the low nose is better to reduce drag and optimize top speeds on ovals. I personally think that the raised nose cars are nicer looking but the reality of the IRL being more ovals than not makes the raised nose less viable than the low nose.

Not really sure. Maybe: More wing area for a given span. Less turbulance with out the wing root juction with the nose. Better management of the air flow under the car.
Low nose may make for a more rigid wing mounting, and thus more consistant downforce.

What would be the best way to find a compromise to get the best of both worlds.

I Think... A high nose has a higher pitch sensitivity then a low nose. Bigger surface area = more downforce = better turn in. This combined with what has already been said. I remember hearing something like this a couple years ago when Lola tried it on their champ car.

Again, I Think...

Edit: speeling

I believe it has to do with cooling. A low nose deflects more air away from the sidepods which makes it difficult to cool the engine in low speed turns. On a high speed oval, this isn't an issue.

the high nose is to create more wing area which can produce downforce from a given width, as i understood it. the reason no one in indycar did it was because the rules required the nose to be in a particular position, which effectively prevented anyone from implementing a high-nose (altough penske did try with their last chassis design, that was about as close as you could get under the rules). personally, i find the high nose really awkward and unattractive, but that's a beauty in the eye of the beholder argument, i guess...

marq4porsche - 06 August 2008 08:50 PM

I was thinking about the future of Indycars looking at pics of F1s and Indycars and I want to know what are the benefits of having a raised nose like in F1 and CC and also the benefits of having the Nose lower to the ground like the current car and the cars previously used in AOW.

In the cars that have mounting 'forks' to hold their front wing, what literally happens is that aside from where those mounting forks intercede on the wing, which might be a frontal area no more than three inches (collectively), essentially the whole wing gets airflow over it -- whereas when the nose is low, it occupies a considerable amount of space on the top side surface of the wing -- maybe on the order of a foot or so? Yes, it helps with airflow in and around the car but the primary purpose is to allow the wing's aerodynamic effect -- 'The Bernoulli Theorum' have maximum correct aerodynamic surfaces to make use of that theorum. (Sorry for the ASCII performance...)
I had a great ascii diagram but for some reason, this software won't translate it.

Developing aero on the underside of the car is another expensive and time consuming task.
Probably best to avoid stuff like this in the series for the time being. The cars cost too much as it is.

I think/hope the newer car moves away from a bunch of the down force so driver skill comes more into play rather than hours and cubic dollars of wind tunnel development.

>
^ Wrong, underbody downforce is quite cheap compared to shape and wing-winglets upper-body aero.

Besides, down force created below the car does not cause the "dirty air" that keeps the cars from running close and being able to pass. Nascar calls it "aero push". Creating DF with wings really messes up the air flow and the car behind suffers.