Picture above showing engine bay and exhaust pipes entering diffuser. Exhaust jets are sources of heat and turbulence, neither of which appear, at first sight, to offer any beneficial contribution to downforce.īlown diffuser on MARCH-911b Formula 1 car. This is understandable because, in general aerodynamic terms, exhaust jets are particular examples of round jets, a type of turbulent flow. On most cars of this era, the exhausts were treated, at best, as aerodynamically neutral elements, or at worst as disruptive devices. Back then the diffuser was 1000 millimeters width and not split like the current versions are (due to the step plane regulations).īefore this everyone had routed the exhausts into the area of least influence, usually above the gearbox or with long pipes through the rear suspension. Migeot actually routed both exhaust and turbo wastegate flow directly into the diffuser.
The blowing effect of exhausts is not a new thing, and has been a factor in Formula 1 since 1983 when Renault first routed their exhausts into the diffuser aft of the flat bottom on the RE40 (V6 Turbo), idea first conceived by Renault’s Jean-Claude Migeot. To re-energize the low pressure air at the back of the diffuser to create more rear downforce.Įxhaust blown diffuser on Renault RE40 (V6 Turbo) F1 To try to move the wake from the rear wheels outwards where it will cause less disturbanceĢ. More about diffuser itself, you can read in my article here.Ī blown diffuser is basically a way of using the exhaust gases to interact with the diffuser airflow. A diverging and expanding duct creates low pressure area under the car, creating negative lift, i.e. If the driver feels good rear end stability he will push harder, so the gain on the stopwatch from this kind of development is often not what a simulator tells you it will be, but what the driver actually delivers from it.Ī diffuser is actually a simple device. Rear downforce is very important for driver confidence.
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