F1 Aerodynamics and engine cowls

[GusBiz]

I found this recently and realised that there are some interesting concepts that can be used in the designs of plenums and engine cowls.

What happens at the rear of the F1 is of most interest. The expansion of air under the car made me think of what it is to create a lower presure region in the lower cowl under the engine and at the same time try to get all that air out of really small ports to get down the intake to outlet ratio needed to reduce drag. (MANY posts on this is your interested)

My thought was that these two persuits are competing challenges and work against each other and this video illustrated it well in my opinion.

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

[bret]

That is cool!

[DanH]

We want to expand/slow at the intake, and contract/accelerate at the exit. Study the heat exchanger pods on the F1 car, not the tail.

[Toobuilder]

...or the P-51 radiator system...