FIA: Ride height control systems are illegal

vectra

F1.GPupdate

Formula 1 governing body the FIA has faxed all teams, informing them that any type of system which modifies a car's ride height levels whilst in action on-track would be illegal. Suspicions have been aroused in some teams over the likes of Red Bull, whose RB6 is rumoured to contain a device which generates more downforce by lowering the car in qualifying.

Could this be the end of of the Red Bulls dominence..??

G-Money

Red Bull have repeatedly said they have no such system and would protest any team that introduces one. Interesting that McLaren were due to have their version on the cars for China. I wonder will it ever see the light of day now.

I think Red Bull have something on their car though. The teams seem to be certain of it and they're usually very quick to figure out what these things are.

frostie500

Ride height control is illegal if the ride height of the car changes when 'the car is in motion' but I dont think the Red Bull system does this. Their system is legal because they change the height at the start of the race and during pitstops. It appears they have the ability to change the height rapidly-probably by adding or detracting compressed gas from a chamber. This is all perfectly legal in the rulebook.

The system-if it is what I descibed-would allow for the car to have no gas in the chamber in qualifying and once park ferme is over the tam could fill the chamber with gas and give a high rideheight. At the pitstop they could empty the chamber and the car runs low for the rest of the race.

Cookie_Monster

Formula 1 governing body the FIA has faxed all teams, informing them that any type of system which modifies a car's ride height levels whilst in action on-track would be illegal. Suspicions have been aroused in some teams over the likes of Red Bull, whose RB6 is rumoured to contain a device which generates more downforce by lowering the car in qualifying.

ah, the wonders of modern tech at work in F1 :pac:

frostie500 wrote: »

The system-if it is what I descibed-would allow for the car to have no gas in the chamber in qualifying and once park ferme is over the tam could fill the chamber with gas and give a high rideheight. At the pitstop they could empty the chamber and the car runs low for the rest of the race.

I reckon this or a variation of such will become common to all teams soon enough

amacachi

I'd've thought in-action ride height adjustments would have come under active suspension tbh.

frostie500

amacachi wrote: »

I'd've thought in-action ride height adjustments would have come under active suspension tbh.

It would depend, active suspension would be when you change the ride height via the suspension whilst the car is in motion. That is outlawed but there would still be other ways of changing the ride height apart from active suspension.

It doesn't appear to me that Red Bull are 'actively' changing the ride height when the car is actually in motion, ie-the ride height is constant when the car is on the track. But if they use a system like the one I described above it would allow them to change the ride height very quickly and would alsobe perfectly legal because you can top up fluids and gases on the grid or when the car is stationary at a pit stop. This wouldn't be active by the letter of the law because the car is passive when in motion

amacachi

frostie500 wrote: »

It would depend, active suspension would be when you change the ride height via the suspension whilst the car is in motion. That is outlawed but there would still be other ways of changing the ride height apart from active suspension.

Fair enough, can't really think of any other way to do it unless they've a nice big fan hidden somewhere under the car. :pac:

shamwari

frostie500 wrote: »

you can top up fluids and gases on the grid or when the car is stationary at a pit stop.

That is not correct. Tyres may be changed and that is it. The adding of additional fluids is prohibited after several teams ran their cars underweight during a race, and then added the fluids as ballast to bring the car in above the min weight limit. Tyrell got expelled in 1984 for doing this (they added water ballast!), and Bar-Honda got banned for several races for a concentric fuel tank and underweight running in 2005.

frostie500

shamwari wrote: »

That is not correct. Tyres may be changed and that is it. The adding of additional fluids is prohibited after several teams ran their cars underweight during a race, and then added the fluids as ballast to bring the car in above the min weight limit. Tyrell got expelled in 1984 for doing this (they added water ballast!), and Bar-Honda got banned for several races for a concentric fuel tank and underweight running in 2005.

Your'e right, what I meant to say was that a team can top up hydrolic and brake fluid once park ferme ends. So if they were running a system similar to the one I described they would be able to increase the ride height quite easily. The cars are weighed after qualifying so they would have to be the correct weight thus an underweight car wouldnt start the race.

Ghost Train

Well you are able to add and remove compressed air from the car in parc ferme conditions so that could be one way to make a change

Other things that have been suggested is setting something up (fluid system) that is frozen closed during qualifying and then as the system thaws in parc ferme the system changes configuration

Or some type of suspesion system for the fuel tank which rebalances the car as fuel is added... sounds a bit complicated though

If there is some system there its probably not too complicated but it will be interesting to see if or when it becomes public

EvilMonkey

Illegal ride height control systems are illegal, thank god we have the FIA to clear that up for us.