As well as the tyres being quite wide, F1 cars only weigh 605Kg which also means they don't need much pressure to stay off the ground :-p
TripleS wrote:7db wrote:The rules are clear - four wheels only.
As I mentioned earlier in the the thread, size of overall wheel is limited by maximum, not minimum. They have the largest possible overall wheel, with a high profile and a small rim.
Big wheels play havoc with aerodynamics and create a lot of lift.
What does that tell you about the optimal set-up, that despite this they have huge wheels?
If you're talking about the six wheeled F1 car, it was many years ago, as I said, and the rules were obviously different at that time.
Presumably one of the reasons for trying the six wheeler was in an attempt to reduce frontal area.
I suppose it
did reduce frontal area at the front, but they had such wide tyres at the back, there was still a huge rear frontal area there - if you know what I mean. (I wish I'd never started this!)
Best wishes all,
Dave.
The 4 wheels rule was brought in specifically to ban this 6 wheeler. The reduction in air resistance of the smaller tyres, balanced by the better grip afforded by an extra pair was one incentive to create them, but back in those days the #1 concern (before which all others must bow) was the ground effect, which created quite insane downforce by channeling the airflow under the car to create a partial vacuum, maintained by skirts down the side of the car that actually dragged along the ground to keep the seal. The 6 wheeler arrangement was advantageous for that, and thereby provided a *lot* more grip at higher speeds. A secondary advantage they hadn't thought of before they drove the car on the track was that off the starting grid, the "front-rear" wheels layed down a layer of hot rubber which gave the "rear-rear" wheels extra grip, so it was actually pretty hot off the starting line, too
It wasn't long before the rules were changed so that ground effect was much harder to achieve and cars were allowed luxuries like suspension again...
HTH
Cheers & God bless
Sam "SammyTheSnake" Penny
(I read a book by Nicky Lauda once...)
DSA A 2003/08/01 - first go
Zach 2003-2006 - 1995 Diversion 600
DSA B 2007/03/05 - second go
Ninny 2007-2008 - Focus TDDI
Unnamed 2008- Mk3 1.4 Golf
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