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Lap times for the 2014 F1 German Grand Prix

Posted on by Pablo Fernández Fernández — No Comments ↓

Not a good race start for Massa who didn’t complete his first lap after another incident in the first stages of a race, this time with Magnussen. Other than that, it was a good weekend for Williams as Bottas secured his third straight podium finish, with Hamilton close behind in P3 but with almost worn out tyres. After a start from P20 following an accident during Q1 and a gearbox change, securing 15 points is a clear indicator of the superiority of Mercedes this year. Even without the FRIC.

Further back, Alonso’s ability to score points race after race and to battle on equal terms with Red Bull’s apparently superior cars shows us why he is one of the greatest drivers in F1 history.

Following, I provide the plots so you may draw your own conclusions.

Average pace

This plot shows the difference to the average pace of the race winner. That is, the difference to the average lap time, including pit stops. The steeper the curve, the faster the lap; and as the curves are generated from cumulative sums of lap times, a negative slope implies a lap time which is quicker that the average. Read more ›

Posted in F1 Tagged with: , , ,

Analysis of a lap around Brands Hatch Indy (Pt. I)

Posted on by Pablo Fernández Fernández — No Comments ↓

I wanted to feel like a race engineer so I went to Twitter and asked for some telemetry data for analysis. I got 3 GB worth of data from different drivers and circuits in a format suitable for MoTeC’s i2 data analysis software.

The circuit

Data is from a BMW Z4 GT3 racing at the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, i.e., the short track. The circuit is very simple in layout, it offers a unique combination of fearsome corners and hills, dips and cambers.

bh_pdf_map2 Read more ›

Posted in Data Analysis Tagged with: , , , , , ,

CFD

Posted on by Pablo Fernández Fernández — No Comments ↓

CFD modelling, also known as Colourful Fluid Dynamics, is much hyped as being able to produce pretty and colourful images, but lacking in substance —Anonymous.

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Undergraduates in motorsport

Posted on by Pablo Fernández Fernández — No Comments ↓

During the last Valencia NASCAR Fest I got the chance to interview Ander Vilariño and Borja García. But that is not all. I also met two young students volunteering for Racing Club Partners.

Volunteering happens to be one of the best paths to get into motorsport. For instance, in Williams’s Careers Advice we find that, as well as giving our best at school,

It is also important to get practical experience, so try to use your vacations or gap year etc to get some. This could be paid employment in a garage or workshop or even voluntary labour for a junior race team.

Here is a quick questions and answers with one of them.

That's me talking with one of the students. The laptop always close to him for data analysis.

That’s me talking with one of the students. The laptop always close to him for data analysis.

Could you introduce yourself in a few lines?

My name is K. P. and I am from Cyprus. I am currently in my final year at the University of Bath, UK on an MEng Mechanical Engineering with Advanced Design and Innovation.

Read more ›

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Lap times for the 2014 F1 British Grand Prix

Posted on by Pablo Fernández Fernández — No Comments ↓

This was a very exciting race. The red flag was the leading figure of the day after Raikkonen got out of the track hitting the wall which was also unfortunate for Massa —who was celebrating his 200th Gran Prix— as he didn’t manage to avoid a collision with the Finn’s wrecked car.

And another spectacular race for Fernando Alonso who managed to climb places till finishing in P6. It was a great battle with Vettel, who once again was outperformed by his team mate Daniel Ricciardo. Definitely, this is not Seb’s year.

With Rosberg retiring from the race due to problems in the gearbox, Alonso becomes the only driver to finish all the races of the season without being lapped. That’s remarkable having such a slow car this season.

vlcsnap-2014-07-06-21h36m47s225

Following, I provide the plots so you may draw your own conclusions.

Average pace

This plot shows the difference to the average pace of the race winner. That is, the difference to the average lap time, including pit stops.

The steeper the curve, the faster the lap; and as the curves are generated from cumulative sums of lap times, a negative slope implies a lap time which is quicker that the average.

Read more ›

Posted in F1 Tagged with: , , ,

Almost finished

Posted on by Pablo Fernández Fernández — No Comments ↓

portada_small

After several months of hard work, at the research facilities of CMT-Motores Térmicos, with little to no time to devote to this blog and my personal projects, I am now almost ready to defend my Master Thesis.

Posted in Assorted

This day

Posted on by Pablo Fernández Fernández — No Comments ↓

Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg was born this day, June 27, back in 1985. He was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, to Keke Rosberg, a former Formula One World Champion, and he is bound to become one too this year.

27 is also the number of times he had to retire. Fortunately, this season is turning to be close to perfect.

Happy Birthday!

Not 27, but close to it…

 

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Lap times for the 2014 F1 Austrian Grand Prix

Posted on by Pablo Fernández Fernández — 3 Comments ↓

Williams started ahead managing to keep both P1 and P2 for the first laps while Hamilton was pushing hard from back to amend a bad starting position. Despite a good start, Williams lost the strategic battle against Mercedes who managed to take one position away from the Grove squad each pit stop period. Williams opted for a conservative strategy as —in my humble opinion, after so much time without a victory nor a podium— they might have underestimated their chances for victory. I am confident the Grove squad will make more podiums this season and take home a victory before the end of the season.

The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it —Jordan Belfort.

In the meantime, Vettel experienced some problems in his car which cost him a couple of laps; but had to abandon several laps later due to reliability issues. Alonso, on his side, had a good race, and without any incident could keep a good pace to claim P5, which is a very good result considering Ferrari’s performance this season.

Following, I provide the plots so you may draw your own conclusions.

Average pace

This plot shows the difference to the average pace of the race winner. That is, the difference to the average lap time, including pit stops.

The steeper the curve, the faster the lap; and as the curves are generated from cumulative sums of lap times, a negative slope implies a lap time which is quicker that the average.

Read more ›

Posted in F1 Tagged with: , , ,

Lap times for the 2014 F1 Canadian Grand Prix

Posted on by Pablo Fernández Fernández — No Comments ↓

Twice has the Safety Car been released this race: when Max Chilton collided with team mate Jules Bianchi; and when Felipe Massa struck Sergio Perez in the last lap. And what a finish to this Canadian Grand Prix, with a pack of 5 car battling for the podium until that last unfortunate incident; lucky for Vettel who managed to miss a hit. Finally Mercedes could not take home the seventh consecutive victory for one of its cars.

Following, I provide the plots so you may draw your own conclusions.

Average pace

This plot shows the difference to the average pace of the race winner. That is, the difference to the average lap time, including pit stops. During Safety Car periods, the average pace of the race winner Daniel Ricciardo is equal to zero, as can be seen from laps 0 to 7 at 69 to 70.

The steeper the curve, the faster the lap; and as the curves are generated from cumulative sums of lap times, a negative slope implies a lap time which is quicker that the average.

Read more ›

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Drag coefficients for two Ahmed models at different vehicle spacing

Posted on by Pablo Fernández Fernández — No Comments ↓

This is an interesting academic exercise proposed in the book by Tu et al. [1] to analyse the aerodynamic drag and lift of two drafting bodies.

For that, a model simulation of two two-dimensional Ahmed models was developed. Each model had its own mesh continuum, the leading model being placed in static mesh with the dimensions of the fluid volume, and the trailing model placed in a smaller movable overset mesh. Total mesh size is ~150k cells.

Are CL and CD for the wing the same as those for the airfoil? The answer is a resounding NO! Not even close! Surprised? How can this be? —John D. Anderson [2].

Although a 2D solution will yield very different results to that of a 3D model, it allows for quick calculations as well as to detect certain trends. Experimental data by Watkins and Vino [3] is also shown so trends can be compared.

Read more ›

Posted in STAR-CCM+ Tagged with: , , , ,
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