Why dont F1 cars have cockpit-adjustable wings so the driver can adjust the angle of attack?

Question

i.e. low A.O.A. for the straights, high A.O.A in the corners or if it rains.

Answer 1

The impression I get is the rules say the wing has to be fixed, and by virtue of the fact they can move, they aren't allowed. I think there was a case last year where the rear spoiler would bend at high speeds, and in the process reduced drag, and this was banned.

Another way to think of it is that setting the fins to the correct angle is part of the skill required in setting up a car to win.

Answer 2

You have to always remember that in F1, many of the technical regulations are to keep the car's performance "humane", in other words, these regulations are against efficiency.

As you said, adjustable wings are effective, because drivers will flat the wing at long straights and then increase the angle at tight twisty part of the circuit.

That basically meant that performance would increase tremendously. Same goes for many other things such as low profile tires. I once read that if an F1 car have low profile tires, the car could corner so fast that it would be inhumane to be driven.

F1 rules is to keep the performance of a car in check. So there are many kind of performance enhancement that is banned.

Answer 3

You'd have to fit a motor to the front and back wing plus all the wiring. Think of the weight plus it's rarely adjusted that much during the race.

Also you would have to ensure it never moved under braking etc.

Answer 4

do you remember the case when flavio briatore(renault boss) complained to FiA that one of the aerodyinamic part in the front wing of ferrari f2006 would bend while the car was in high speeds(esp. on straights) to give them advantage and that was...invalid...as FIA's rules says there must be no moving aero parts in the cars...hope that gives you ur answer...and driver adjustable aero parts are a far cry considering the rules.... ;-)

Answer 5

I read rumors of them bring brought back next year with the stipulation they could only be changed twice per lap. As for the weight, I'm sure they could remove ballast and the weight gain from having such a system would be more than off set by the benefit they would add.

Answer 6

Driver adjustable aerodynamics were allowed in the early days of wings and spoilers but Jimmy Clark accident was attributed to suspension failure.  Jim Hall's Chapparals in sports car racing were the biggest innovator in this field.  Driver adjustable aerodynamics were legislated out probably because they could cause accidents when they do fail.

Answer 7

They don't have them because they have been illegal since 1969. (Although well into the mid-80s several teams pushed the limits of the law with front wings which the driver could change the pitch of in one direction as the fuel-load decreased...)

When F1 "borrowed" the Chapparal "high-wing" concept, the wings were adjustable by means of rubber straps from the cockpit - there was a pedal which the drivers would push with their left foot when going down the straight in order to flatten the wing. Unfortunately in the interests of saving weight, these wings were not build sturdily enough to withstand a couple of hours of load and there were several accidents, finally and most dramatically at the 1969 Spanish GP, when the two Lotus drivers, Rindt and Hill, both crashed at the same point within a dozen laps of each other. When the FISA wrote the legislation banning the high wings, they defined them as "movable aerodynamic devices" and the wording of this rule has been used on several occasions since to ban other, completely unrelated, items of technology including the Brabham fan car, the Lotus 88 and Renault's flexible wings in recent times.

Apparently they will be repealing this rule for next season, as has been mentioned above. I'm not sure where that fits in with the current ethos of cost-saving, because you can be sure that the technology involved today will be a lot more complicated than a couple of rubber straps...

Answer 8

Several teams started to experiment with the now familiar wings in the late 1960s. Race car wings operate on exactly the same principle as aircraft wings, only in reverse. Air flows at different speeds over the two sides of the wing (by having to travel different distances over its contours) and this creates a difference in pressure, a physical rule known as Bernoulli's Principle. As this pressure tries to balance, the wing tries to move in the direction of the low pressure. Planes use their wings to create lift, race cars use theirs to create downforce.

A modern Formula One car is capable of developing 3.5 g lateral cornering force (three and a half times its own weight) thanks to aerodynamic downforce. That means that, theoretically, at high speeds they could drive upside down.

Early experiments with movable wings and high mountings led to some spectacular accidents, and for the 1970 season regulations were introduced to limit the size and location of wings. Evolved over time, those rules still hold largely true today.

Answer 9

.

I believe they did have driver operated adjustable wings back in the sixties, but I also believe that they were banned after a number of tragedies including our very own Jim Clark....however I could be as "mistaken" as Murray on this one. Enter our more enlightened one's please!!!

Can you imagine how many WDC Mansell would've won (love the guy) with another toggle/switch to "play" around with. Hahaha...a Williams with a sail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EDIT. Made a complete gaffe there, re JC (RIP), but that's becaause of lack of years at the time to recall the details and too many of them now for you - that's why the word "boll*cks" was coined in the english language.... However, I might be wrong on that one too!! :)

.

Answer 10

They count as moveable aero dvices, I think rosbif said that.

The same rules apply to the bridged front wing, thats why loads of teams have added extra support to it.