Formula 1 car base model

2014-15

By: Sachin Kumar, Nitin Karmyal , Prashant Chauhan, Ajay

Index:
1.

1.

Important Design Considerations of a f1 car:

Within the framework of the specifications, there are a few factors to keep in
mind when it comes to building a winning car. These are:

Friction:

Energy used to overcome friction is energy that isnt being used to accelerate
the car.

Sources of friction include:

Wheels and axles: if the wheels do not spin freely, the Car will beslow.
Misaligned axles: if the axle holes are not drilled perpendicular to the
centerline of the car, the
Car will have a tendency to turn to the left or
right.This will cost you speed and the contest.
Misaligned screw eyes: if the screw eyes are not positioned and aligned
properly, the guideline can drag on them, the car body, or the wheels. This can
slow the car dramatically.
Bumps or imperfections in the rolling surface of the wheel. The more perfectly
round and smooth the wheels are, the better they will roll.

Mass:
There is a finite amount of thrust produced by a CO2 cartridge. It stands
to reason that a car with less mass will accelerate quicker and travel down
the track faster. Reducing the mass of your car is one way to build a faster
car .Keep in mind that the contest specifications stipulates a minimum
mass of 55grams for the vehicle.

 Aerodynamics:

The air exerts a resistance, or drag, as the car tries to move through it. To
minimize drag, your car should have a smooth streamline shape.
Body dimension: ( All body dimensions stated in millimeter , mm )

Sl. No.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

6.

Structure
Full body length.
Body height
above the track.
Body width at
side poles.
Total body width,
including wheel.
Body weight
without CO2
cartridge.
Maximum body
height

Minimum
170
3

Maximum
210
10

50

65

60

85

55

60

The body length is measured between front and extemeties of body.

The body height is measured from the track surface to the car body.
The body width is measured from the side to side of the car body - the side
poles are the car that flanks the side of the cockpit of the car. The outside
face of the side poles when vied from the side pole must present a surface
measuring not less than 30*15mm a sticker of 30*15 mm will applied to
both side of poles and must be 100% visible when viewed from side. Side
poles must be convex, convex or flat but capable of taking the F1 in schools
promotional logo decal.
The body width is measured between the outside edge of the wheels or
body, whichever is widest.

Wheel dimensions : ( All body dimensions stated in millimeter , mm )

All f1 cars must have 4 wheels, two at the front, two at the rear and all
must be cylindrical.
All wheel must fit the following criteria:

Sl. No.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Structure
Front wheel
diameter.
Front wheel
width.
Rear wheel
diameter.
Rear wheel width.

Minimum
26

Maximum
34

15

19

26

34

15

19

Car body and wings:

The car body including sides poles and rear wing must be machined
from a single place of balsa wood. Airfoils at the front may be
machined non-metallic.
The design of the complete race type car should resemble an actual f1
car and should include the following features:

An airfoil on the front nose of the car, an airfoil on the rear of the car and
sides poles on both sides of the car
Sl. No.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Structure
Rear/ front wing
width
Rear/front wing
depth
Front wing
thickness
Rear wing
thickness

Maximum
65

Minimum
40

25

15

12

12

The velocity analysis of the initial race car block:

Solidwork flow simulation offers a straight forward wizard base setup for
external flow which allows to learn flow simulation easily. We can Study the
flow of air over the vehicle. With better visualization, flow simulation gives a
better insight on the pressure acting onto the design as well as the velocity.
We dont want our vehicle to have lift force instead of down force. If we have
lift, our sport car will fly when pump out from the compressed CO2. A cross
section at spoiler will let us know the pressure distribution above and below
the design.

Pressure analysis:
Surface plot result:

The Surface Plot displays the pressure distribution on the selected model
faces or SolidWorks surfaces. We can see in the Surface Plot that rounding off
the nose of the body results in a much smaller area of high pressure. This
means we have reduced the drag force on the body of the race car Adding a
front wing would reduce the high pressure in front of the Wheels and provide
down force for the Race car

Red indicates areas of high pressure. Blue indicates areas of low pressure. By
looking at the Surface plot we can see that the pressure is highest on the
front of the Initial Car Block and the front surface of the front wheels.

Changing the Design:

The drag value for the new design is 61.77 grams-force. The drag value of
the original block was 150.32 grams-force.

It is interesting to note that the Initial Block design had a upward lift force of
approximately 10.01 grams-force. The modified design has a downward lift

force of about 26.62 grams-force. This is the effects of the Front Wing to keep
the fontend of the car down at high speeds

Percentage Improvement:
To find the percentage of improvement use this formula
{ [ initial value-final value] / initial value } * 100 = percentage change
For simplicity we will round to 2 decimal places. Substituting we get:
The changes yielded about a 58.91% improvement in drag!

Changes that can be made

1. Design of front face: by making the front face as pointed it will create
less drag as compare to the flat design of front face

2. By reducing the edges on the car body and making them as curved or
smooth as possible