Ross Brawn, Mercedes GP boss and one of the men behind the revolutionary blown double diffusers, says the forward exit exhaust found on the Lotus Renault GP R31 is a “clever idea”. Blown Double diffusers have now been banned, but their concept was relatively simple; direct the flow of the exhaust gasses inside the rear diffuser and, hey presto—bags of extra downforce! More downforce means more grip and that means higher corner speeds and, ultimately, a faster car.
So, with that aerodynamic aid now gone teams have been forced to come up with new ideas. In the end it turned out only Renault came up with a new, forward thinking, idea. Forward being the operative word, of course, whereby they have radically altered their exhaust design by bringing it forward of the engine to exit just ahead of the sidepods (highlighted area above). This means the gasses can then be directed to the car’s undertray forcing more air ahead of the rear diffuser.
Speaking to Autosport, Brawn claimed, “It is a significant area and maybe more significant than the double diffuser in terms of performance and of course the teams are all working with their engine partners to work out how to get the most out of the exhaust energy so that is the new interesting area of development.”
Follow the link below for more detail. Better still, check out this analysis on the ScarbsF1 website.
[Source: Autosport | Pic: Renault/LAT]
3 replies on “Ross Brawn expects big impact from Renault’s forward exit exhaust”
Except blown diffusers have not been banned. Double diffusers have been banned.
Red Bull and now Ferrari have blown diffusers and winglets on the rear suspension near the wheels.
Yeah, you’re right. Thanks. I was aware of that, just poorly worded the intro; will fix that now.
[…] time last week the FIA had written to the Formula One teams declaring the engine mapping allowing exhaust gasses to flow into blown diffusers while the driver was off-throttle would be drastically altered. The change was to take effect at […]