F1 race cars use hydrodynamics to minimize aerodynamic drag and increase driving stability to reach speeds of over 400 kilometers per hour. The streamlined design of the body and rear spoiler are key to maximizing this performance.
The FIA Formula 1 World Championship, also known as F1 for short, is the most famous auto racing competition in the world today. The cars that compete in it reach incredible speeds, with top speeds of around 400 kilometers per hour. What makes these incredible speeds possible is the power of technology. One of the most important fields of technology is fluid dynamics.
The word hydrodynamics is a combination of the words “fluid” and “mechanics”. A fluid is a flowing substance, such as a liquid or gas. The study of forces is called mechanics, so hydrodynamics is the study of fluid motion, or what happens when a force is applied to a fluid. Fluid dynamics sounds complicated, but it’s very relevant to our lives. Cars and airplanes move in a fluid called air, and we humans move and live in air.
If we go back to F1 cars, if you look at cars that compete in F1 and do well and compare them to normal cars, you’ll notice that the body is flatter, and the overall lines of the car are smooth, streamlined curves. If you look at the back of the car, you’ll notice that it has something similar to an airplane wing. These shapes aren’t just for looks; they’re all based on hydrodynamic research.
First, let’s think about the low, streamlined body design. We need to consider how the shape of a car affects its coefficient of drag (Cd) value, which is a constant that describes how much air resistance a car encounters when traveling at the same speed: the higher the number, the more drag. Common sense dictates that a lower, smoother, more streamlined car will experience less drag, and it’s easy to see why when you think about how much a car impedes the flow of air.
Consider this situation. If a class of students is trying to move through a crowded subway station, and they’re moving in an unorganized jumble, they’re going to bump into a lot of other people and slow down. Conversely, if they’re moving in two lines, side by side, they’re going to bump into fewer people and move faster. If you think of a class of students as a car and the people around them as air, it’s easy to see why drag is affected by the shape of the car’s body. If the students are able to move faster with less collision time with the people around them, then the car will be able to move faster forward with less air behind it. So a low, streamlined design with a low body will have less drag than a high, angular shape. In fact, at high speeds, drag is very significant, which is why the shape of a car’s body is a very important consideration for race cars traveling at high speeds.
Secondly, let’s look at the wing-like part at the back of the car, which is called the rear spoiler. It’s literally a spoiler on the back. While it’s often added to regular cars for looks, it’s an integral part of a race car. As mentioned earlier, racing cars have a low body and a pointed front end. This design puts a lot of air pressure on the front of the car when traveling at high speeds. In the same way that an airplane’s wings are tilted at an angle opposite to the angle at which they are tilted, a low, pointy front body is subject to a downward force from the air. When the front of the car is pressed down by the air, the rear of the car is lifted and in severe cases can cause the car to flip over. This lifting can be devastating – not only does it cause the car to flip over, but the loss of grip on the rear wheels prevents the car from performing at its full potential and makes driving very unstable.
This is where a rear spoiler comes in, to prevent body lift. A rear spoiler has the opposite angle of attack to an airplane wing: the angle of attack is the angle the spoiler makes with the direction of travel. A rear spoiler has the front of the spoiler tilted down relative to the direction of travel. In the case of an airplane, the front of the spoiler (wing) is lifted upward, allowing air to push the airplane upward. Conversely, the rear spoiler is designed with the opposite angle of attack of an airplane, creating downforce, which allows air to push down on the spoiler. In the same way that the front of the car presses down on the air, the rear spoiler presses down on the rear of the car to increase driving stability and improve performance. This can also prevent the car from flipping over.
As you can see, the design of a race car isn’t just for looks, it’s to maximize the car’s performance. As these technologies advance, the performance of cars is getting better every year. At this rate, it won’t be long before we see cars exceeding 500 kilometers per hour in F1 races, and that alone will be a lot of fun for those of us who watch, but you can get a lot more out of the sport if you’re interested in the technology behind the cars and which designs perform better.
