Study of the Vortex Flow over a Generic Open-Wheel Race-Car

Open wheel race cars present a challenge to the aerodynamic designer because of the numerous wakes and vortices created by the various body components. The present study follows the development of a high-downforce race car, and investigates possible vortex manipulations to increase its aerodynamic efficiency. The tools used for this study involved computational fluid dynamics and small-scale wind tunnel testing, with final on-track evaluation of the full-size vehicle. Once the basic geometry of the race-car was finalized, cost effective measures were tested to improve its downforce to drag ratio. Therefore, and in view of the fact that the largest aerodynamic surface on the car is its underbody, different vortex generators were tested to increase the vehicle’s downforce. Additional low-cost improvements were tested by fine tuning the relative position of different body components, such as the rear wing location relative to the underbody diffuser exit. The results of this study indicate that such simple modifications can positively improve the race-car downforce to drag ratio.