Caterham CT01 – new diffuser at China

    Caterham shows a respective development rate for a small team . The fruits of hard labor delivered so far a new front wing , multiple cooling configurations and even a new diffuser .

Launch – the central fences were removed at China ( in yellow)

China- changes in yellow

    The new diffuser came alongside with the new double openings at sidepods tail . Firstly the side tabs are much wider , meeting the width of the horizontal tab to isolate better the outer diffuser chambers from turbulent air created by rear wheel spinning.

    The double openings at sidepods tail release hot air following an up-wash direction pattern with the help of the horizontal tab . That helps the central zone of the diffuser to extract more air from underneath the car. Additionally small portions of air bleed through the engine starter hole to reach the central diffuser chamber and energize the flow .

     The new diffuser philosophy dictated the removal of the two central vertical fences as there was no reason to keep apart the airflow coming from skid sides and the one coming from the centre because now the two types of airflow are closer in energy level .

Launch – flow pattern , in purple the disruption from rear tyres

China – flow pattern , in red the hot flow

    The big changes at rear end, both referring to diffuser and cooling openings, curved the path for the team to develop new Mc Larenish style exhausts that were tested during the Mugello test on May at Italy.

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• Caterham CT01 – cooling ( up to Bahrain) (formula1techandart.wordpress.com)

Caterham CT01 – cooling ( up to Bahrain)

       Car cooling is crucial not only for reliability but for overall efficient aerodynamic performance . Teams have to compromise between the previous two having in mind both weather conditions and the nature of track where the race takes place .

        Usually larger hot air outlets are present at high temperatures and relative slow tracks featuring many slow turns and hairpins . On the other hand tracks having long straights favor less extreme cooling configurations because the car manages to catch large volumes of fresh cooling air while crossing the stretches .

       Pre season testing is a good opportunity to test various cooling options, both conventional and  extreme which are more suitable for Malaysia and Bahrain for instance. However the pre season tests takes place during chilly European Winter time and are not representative 100% to real weather conditions the teams are about to cope with ,thus improvements are likely to be made .

      Caterham tested/raced  from car launch up to Bahrain, overall four cooling configurations as shown and analyzed below

 

Launch

middle sized triangular outlet at the back of the engine cover (also called funnel) , gills at exhaust zone and openings at sidepods tail .

 

Barcelona test on March

Huge oval outlet at the back of the engine cover, appropriate for extreme hot conditions. However it was never brought to race till now

 

Australia

Large circular outlet at the back of the engine cover , raced at Melbourne and Sepang

 

China -new concept

 Tiny triangular outlet at the back of the engine cover, double openings at sidepods tail. accompanied with diffuser revisions .Raced at Sinopec and Sakhir .This configuration leaves a cleaner airflow over the rear beam wing but as counter side it widens the coca cola bottle silhouette of the car

Caterham CT01 – new front wing before season kick start

 

Team Caterham launched a brand new front wing of higher complexity before Melbourne but yet failed to challenge the established F1 teams . This wing of new breed bears no similarity to its predecessor on functional philoshophy . Flaps , cascades, endplates are all new,even the color of the flaps has changed from dark green to carbon black .Additionally the nose cameras were shifted lower between the wing pillars . Nevertheless the old spec was tested both at Melbourne and Sepang .

Caterham CT01 – Car Specification

Engine:	Renault V8 RS27-2012
Chassis material:	Carbon Fibre
Bodywork material:	Carbon Fibre
Front Suspension:	Carbon Fibre
Rear Suspension:	Carbon Fibre
Dampers:	Penske & Multimatic
Steering:	Caterham F1 Team
Gearbox:	Red Bull Technology
Clutch	AP
Discs:	Carbone Industrie or Hitco
Calipers:	AP
Pads:	Carbone Industrie or Hitco
Cooling system (radiators, heat exchangers):	Caterham F1 Team
Cockpit instrumentation:	MES
Seat belts:	Schroth
Steering wheel:	Caterham F1 Team
Driver’s seat:	Caterham F1 Team
Extinguisher system:	FEV
Wheels:	BBS to Caterham F1 Team Specification
Fuel cell:	ATL
Fuel provider:	Total
Lubricants provider:	Various
Wheel base:	More than 3000mm
Overall Length:	Approx 5 metres
Overall Height:	950mm

 

credit :  caterhamf1.com