Lotus Renault GP Technical Director, James Allison, takes a look in to why the R31 failed to perform in Singapore.
Is this situation down to the R31’s specific exhaust configuration?
JA: We know from our experiments with rear blowing exhausts earlier in the year that they do offer a lot more rear downforce – especially at high rear ride heights. We know that slow speed tracks allow the rear to be held up high in all the corners and we know that rear downforce is a prized asset for coping with the traction demand at these tracks. We also know that the forward exhaust, by contrast, performs more strongly once the rear ride height starts to compress – something that cannot be avoided in medium and high speed corners. It is probably reasonable to conclude that this is the basic mechanism behind the way that we shed so much competitiveness at slow speed tracks.
Source: LRGP – Singapore Debrief with James Allison
Discussion: Forum Thread
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