Red Bull flexible nose

[François.cevert]

Image taken from Seb's first pit stop in Abu Dhabi.
Strangely the car nose is very flexible.

[frankdouglason]

hmm, that is interesting. i wonder why they build it that way. it doesn't seem to be aerodynamically useful.

[Yaaay]

The classic approach is to allow the wing to reduce it's angle of attack and therefore drag at higher speeds but this is something else. Another way to get around the wing loading tests.

[frankdouglason]

the flex in yaaay's picture seems to stem from the main plane of the wing, and tilts the wing back under loading, which would reduce drag.

the flex in francoiscevert's picture is in the very tip of the nose, which if anything, would bend downward and increase drag. the only thing i can think of, and it sound crazy to me, is that it's a bumper that protects the nose in minor collisions.

[Neonzapper]

I agree with frank, because the ugly step nose is actually crash protection.

[Yaaay]

Look at the nose, the flex is the same at the nose as it is on the wing. They got a flexy nose making the flexy wing. There is something terribly clever going on there.

[frankdouglason]

i disagree, yaaay. the travel at the rear edge of the wing is much greater than the flex at the front edge of the wing or in the nose. the nose is flexing a bit (more than other cars? i don't know.) but the reason the elements of the wing are moving so much is because of the flex in the main plane.

[Yaaay]

Well, if you consider the fulcrum, the pivot point, is the the nose section, the angular movement at the wing, is going to be much greater.

I don't know how that is going to work, but that is probably why I make mat making machines and Adrian Newey got the job he did.

[frankdouglason]

if the nose is flexing, as you suggest, the fulcrum would be where the nose meets the monocoque, and the rear edge of the wing would be closer to the fulcrum than the leading edge, which would make the leading edge travel more.

it appears to me that the rear edge is traveling more than the leading edge, which means the fulcrum must be forward of the center of the wing profile. that's why i suggest the main plane of the wing is flexing, making the fulcrum the joint between the main plane and the struts attaching it to the nose.

[Koala]

Perhaps it it is just a way of saving on panel beating costs - in the event of a "ding" it just bounces back

[bmw85]

Forget what I said before, I see it now in the pitstop video. It looks like that yellow section is made out of play-doh! I still don't think anything looks special in the video going over the kerb though.

[Neonzapper]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKm59ktOeI0

[Neonzapper]

I think the material used for the nose is D3O. http://www.d3o.com/partner/how-d3o-works/

http://www.d3o.com/about/d3o-tv/