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AT&T Williams
Chief Aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson explains Magny-Cours circuit, home of the
2008 French Grand Prix.
The French Grand Prix at
Magny-Cours brings the team back to a more typical type of race circuit,
with a mixture of slow, medium and high speed corners. It is normal for
these types of tracks to require an aerodynamically efficient car, but it is
also important that the car is well balanced. This is a term that is used
frequently with respect to the handling of the car, more often than not when
the car is not well balanced.
Balance refers to the comparison of grip (a combination of aerodynamic and
mechanical grip) experienced at the front and rear wheels. The driver feels
the balance most clearly when the car is cornering, and whether the car is
under- or over-rotating through it, which is typically known as either
understeer or oversteer. A car that is not well balanced through a corner
will result in the car being driven below its potential cornering speed and
so the ultimate lap time will be lost.
The aerodynamic balance of the car is heavily influenced by the car's
attitude - in particular: the front and rear ride heights, the yaw angle of
the car and the amount the front wheels are steered. The attitude of the car
will be different from corner to corner around the circuit, with the
variation being greatest between high speed and slow speed corners.
Therefore, it is possible that the aerodynamic balance of the car can be
quite different between different types of corners. On a circuit with a
mixture of slow, medium and high speed corners, such as Magny-Cours, this
puts a greater emphasis on a car with very little aerodynamic balance
change, or at least one that has a consistent balance across all type of
corners.
For this weekend, there are a few aerodynamic development items that will be
introduced - specifically on the front wing, bodywork and the floor regions
of the car. These items have been predominantly developed to increase the
overall aerodynamic efficiency of the car, but are not specific to the
Magny-Cours circuit. We are also hopeful that the balance of the car will
have been improved, which will translate to improved handling of the
characteristics for this type of track. |
