Why this Formula 1 Car was FASTER Without Suspension

formula one cars run with pretty much rock solid suspension but what would happen if they removed it all together well back in 1980 williams tried it out they literally swapped out the springs and shocks with solid members but what was crazy was that it appeared to gain them performance but how can a car go faster without any suspension what made it work and why did the concept never make it to formula one first let's briefly explain how suspension works and how it allows a race car to maximize its performance on a track now we all know the size of a tyre's contact patch is critical for grip drawing cornering accelerating and braking the more rubber that is in contact with the ground the more grip the tyre can generate when a car hits a bump in the tarmac it undergoes a vertical change in momentum if the wheels are originally attached to the body they will follow this body movement and the tyre surface would leave the ground or at the very least lose full contact this would lead to a momentary loss of grip and unpredictable handling over bumps an example of this is when a stiffly set up f1 car breaks hard into a bumpy braking zone and the tyres unload over the bumps and the brakes lock up this is where a great suspension setup really matters being stiff enough to allow for good changes in direction whilst also absorbing the bumps in most race cars the wheels are connected to the body by wishbones which are able to articulate up and down with minimal change in wheel geometry the mass of the car is then supported by the springs and dampers when the car goes over a bump the spring compresses to absorb the bumper on impact and then the spring forces the tyre back to the ground after the bump the dampers control these forces of compression and rebound and prevent the car from continuing to oscillate on its spring after the bump suspension therefore allows the wheels to move independently of the car's body and follow the contours of the track surface for maximum tire contact and grip at all times as we explained in this video the engineering that goes into formula one suspension is incredible so how on earth can an f1 car with no suspension be faster there are a few interesting concepts at play here one reason is that the aero platform of an f1 car is far more stable without suspension giving the driver more consistent downforce across all four corners of the car when a car is bricking cornering or accelerating it undergoes weight transfer which causes pitch roll and heave it might not look like it but even a modern f1 car suffers from a certain amount of this and it can affect the arrow of the car significantly the entire car is designed as a cohesive aero package with all the aero devices working the air together to produce maximum downforce however this carefully constructed package is disturbed when the orientation that the car travels through the air is altered for example when the car nose dives under braking its rake is increased and as we've seen in the current f1 season the rake of the car is critical to aero performance a car with no suspension solves this issue with no springs to compress that allow these body movements the car stays almost completely level and works through the air as intended all the way through a corner there is inevitably some body movement in a car without suspension in the form of chassis flex but it's still kept to an absolute minimum but there's more this lack of body movement also allows for less weight transfer for maximum performance the weight of the car should be distributed across all four corners as equally as possible throughout the corner to share the cornering load when a normal car undergoes cornering forces it leans on its springs and transfers weight to the loaded side of the car when driving hard this weight transfer can overwhelm the tyres and cause them to start sliding earlier than they should so as a driver when we're driving a car with softer suspension you have to be really smooth with your inputs you turn in carefully so you load up the suspension smoothly taking up the slack if you like before settling the car into the corner we see this quite a lot where drivers are too violent on turning it actually overloads the outside tyres and lowers the cornering potential of the car this is much less of a problem in a car with no suspension since there is inherently far less weight transfer the driver can attack corners more aggressively and the car will relay the information back immediately and the lack of body movement means that the driver can subtly alter the attitude of the car with far more precision however the main reason behind this insane experiment by williams is to do with ride height we often see f1 cars sparking down the straights as the speed and downforce builds because they run so low to the ground this is by design they do it to lower the centre of gravity of the car as much as possible because the higher it is off the ground the more weight transfer the car will experience in a car with no suspension you don't have to account for it going over bumps or a build up in downforce causing the springs to compress and the car to scrape on the ground this means you can ultimately run the car with a lower ride height however the main reason f1 cars run so low and the reason for the williams experiment is all to do with aerodynamics in the late 70s f1 was all about ground effects working the underside of the car to create a low pressure zone that sucked the car into the tarmac lotus achieved this with a genius side pod design that had an internal venturi shape that ended at the diffuser this specific shape accelerated the airflow under the car and created a low pressure zone this is thanks to a principle that says as airspeed increases the pressure decreases but here's the trick the cars use skirts at the side of the body work which sealed off the air underneath the car to maximize the low pressure effect since the air couldn't escape out of the sides it was forcibly accelerated underneath the car creating massive downforce with minimal drag effect the performance gain was insane but skirts were soon banned due to concerns that if they were damaged in a race the cars could fly off and cause a fatal accident as a result in 1980 the manufacturers were looking for new ways to maximize underfloor downforce in the absence of skirts running without suspension was one idea as we've explained running without suspension means you can set the car at a lower ride height this means that the area under the car for air to pass through is smaller and air speed increases when the air particles are forced to travel through a smaller area greater airspeed means reduced pressure and more downforce genius if you ask me williams had heard a rumor that lotus were trialling this system so to make sure they didn't fall behind williams tried it too and the results were fascinating driver alan jones came into the pits and said that the car felt faster it feels like it could be quicker it actually worked the car was faster but there were some major problems well if you could just if you could put suspension on the seat but that's actually that's a sensible suggestion the first is that the car would only ever work on the smoothest of circuits when you introduce bumps to the equation a car without a suspension would be incredibly unpredictable with small road imperfections throwing it offline and causing the tires to leave the ground but the engine is making peculiar noises due to the unsprung tires skipping on bumps over a bumpy track it just wouldn't be able to generate the consistent grip of a car that used springs and dampers there's also the problem of setup the springs and dampers are critical in setting up the car according to the track driving style and conditions for instance on a circuit with lots of slow speed traction limited corners you can soften the rear springs and dampers to give it more traction protect the rear tyres and ultimately result in a faster lap time changing spring and damper settings can also alter the balance of the car significantly which must be tuned to the driver's taste for ultimate performance this scope for setup simply wouldn't be available in a car without suspension and it would be a far less flexible package as a result however the main reason that alan jones refused to run the williams without suspension was the violent bumps and vibrations that were put through his body during the test the punishing bumpy ride of the unsprung car is not popular with jones the lack of bump absorption would be incredibly fatiguing and could even cause serious damage over a long stint since every harsh bump and surface imperfection is transmitted to the driver well if you could just if you could put suspension on the seat this wasn't williams first go at an unconventional suspension setup they also pioneered the active suspension craze which we made a video all about you can check that out here thank you very much for watching and i'll catch you in the next one

Channel: Driver61

Views: 423,983

Rating: 4.9277925 out of 5

Keywords: Formula 1, Driving, Coaching, Motorsport, Engineering, F1, Racing, Incredible Motorsport, Driver61, formula 1 2021, Williams, Suspension, Rebound, Compression, Setup, Race Driver, formula 1 sound, Technology, Design, AustrianGP, Austrian Grand Prix, George Russel, Frank Williams, Latifi, Active Suspension, f1 technology documentary, f1 tech tuesday, f1 technology, f1 technical analysis, driver61 f1, grand prix

Id: 6n3v8soAqr0

Length: 9min 20sec (560 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 02 2021