Paint is the way to be faster, at STR

[ioan]

<<One of the key changes implemented is that the team will no longer use stickers on the bodywork - especially with the design of the large red bull on the engine cover.>>

Link: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/58607

[blakebeatty]

hahaha nice! i hope that they paid some guy like 300 000 $ per year to come up with that one. I wonder if that was straight from the desk of Newey himself. if they truly believe that one of their biggest detriments on the car was the raised edges of stickers, then they are in fantasy land.

maybe the problem with the honda is not dumbo wings, but the mountains on the planet earth mural.

[Ranger]

This seems more silly than most methods of speed extraction on an F1 car.

[CarlMetro]

I see nothing wrong with what they're doing, in fact I'm surprised they haven't done so before now. For all of you quick to dismiss the benefits of what STR are doing, here's a little experiment for you................

1. Find a flat glass surface, a window would be a good example of this.

2. Place a single sheet of paper, preferably the thinnest you can find, flat against the surface the surface of the glass and hold in place with one hand, or glue if you have any.

3. Move your index finger lightly over the surface of the glass so that it also brushes over the edge of the paper.

4. Now repeat step three but move your finger fast enough to simulate air passing over the difference in the two surfaces at more than 180mph.

When an aerodynamicist designs a surface, the last thing he wants is to have a bump, however small, where he didn't design one to be. One of the first stages in the production of any F1 car is to make a 1/4 scale clay model of the car, where the surfaces of the model will be made painstakingly smooth, the last thing they do is cover it with a whole bunch of stickers.

[Donney]

And remember what Mercedes did with the silver arrows.

Not that I think it will bring great benefits, but I agree with Carl.

[Erki]

in NASCAR, when they have restrictor plate races, they paint the car over and over quite a few times to ensure that the surface is as smooth as possible. It's not really a silly thing to do, every little thing counts.

[schmenke]

I've also heard (sorry no link) that aerodynamists prefer to eliminate paint, specifically from the leading edges of wings and other aero surfaces. Reason being that paint tends to chip (due to gravel, marbles, etc. on the track), causing an unsmooth surface thus affecting the air flow.

[nigelred5]

The leading edge of most aircraft I am familiar with are bare metal.

[e2mtt]

I remember reading about Penske eliminating all stickers from his CART Indycars in the early '90s, to improve airflow.

What makes this so funny is that Squadro Torro Rosso is only now considering this... I wouldn't be surprised if every other team in F1 is laughing like crazy at their incompetence.

[Dave B]

When they were testing the Spitfire, the prototype had very smooth wings but mass production demanded the use of dome-headed rivets, buggering up the aero.

So to replicate this in testing, engineers glued hundreds of split peas to the wings!

[SteveA]

I believe NASCAR now uses "Vehicle Wraps" rather than individual stickers and paint. Maybe this could also be done for F1 cars too.

[gjalie]

they have to do something, while redbull is developing the car.

[jens]

Talking about paint effect on the speed of F1 cars, then I also remember that Jaguar had some of trouble in finding the right and lightweight "green" for racing.