Weird Cars Thread

[Frank Dernie]

I'm guessing finding a treadmill capable of running at 200mph is quite tricky.

Although, what about a rolling road, the sort of thing they use for dyno testing, or does the fact that the whole surface underneath the car isn't moving relative to it mess that up?

When I first started doing F1 aero in the mid 1970s we were stuck with a full sized car in an aeronautical tunnel with neither rotating wheels nor the movement of the road simulated, mind you, ignorance is bliss and I had no idea how inaccurate we were being in most areas - though it was certainly better than nothing.
In the late 70s I started using a small tunnel at Imperial College (my alma mater) Aeronautics department which had had a simulated moving floor fitted years earlier to test a model of Donald Campbell's "Bluebird" land speed record car.
This meant testing a model and the wheels were mounted on brackets attached to the tunnel and rotated by the belt simulating the road. The speed was low, and Reynolds number low but these were minuscule errors compared to the breakthroughs we then made.
Eventually we bought an old wind tunnel and modified it to have an overhead balance and simulate the ground moving. It is funny to look back on, there were not many of us but we never took "impossible" as an answer. Ross Brawn organised the shipping of the bits of wind tunnel from Huntingdon to Didcot and built it back up almost single handed. I sourced an overhead balance and computer for control and data, not so easy in 1980 we had to wait 4 months for it to be made. I wrote the control and analysis programme whilst also making all the instrumentation and control wiring and connection boxes.
Sourcing a belt capable of simulating the moving ground was the most tedious and long winded bit, it was a new and unique requirement.
It was hard work but fun and we won a lot of races and championships after that.
Nowadays budgets are 100x bigger and instead of me, a model maker and technician doing the aero (and running the cars at the races) a top F1 team aero dept like Ferrari has well over 100 people doing just aero!
I have been retired 10 years now but after 35 years racing I still miss it.

 

[Ron Texas]

 

[Doodski]

View attachment 48230

That's a beauty!

 

[Ron Texas]

What would you do if this was in your rear view mirror?

 

[Blumlein 88]

What would you do if this was in your rear view mirror?
View attachment 48420

Accelerate! Pronto!

 

[Ron Texas]

 

[Ron Texas]

 

[somebodyelse]

I remembered the car from when I was a kid; obviously having two extra wheels makes it quite memorable.

It was around this time that Formula 1 tried out a number of things that were later banned, like skirts and fans that actively sucked air from beneath the car to increase the down force:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabham_BT46

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/0...-cosworth-builds-an-engine-for-gordon-murray/

 

[Count Arthur]

I think that's a Volt loudspeaker driver on the back:

https://voltloudspeakers.co.uk/loudspeakers/rv3863-15/

Presumably some sort of subwoofer.

 

[Frank Dernie]

I think that's a Volt loudspeaker driver on the back:

View attachment 74719

https://voltloudspeakers.co.uk/loudspeakers/rv3863-15/

Presumably some sort of subwoofer.

Probably a fan.

 

[Count Arthur]

Probably a fan.

I was being facetious.

 

[mhardy6647]

Volt?

 

[Ron Texas]

Dodge Deora

 

[Blumlein 88]

Dodge Deora
View attachment 75285

I had that in a HotWheel car when I was a kid. Had two surf boards on the back.

 

[carlob]

Ferrari 512 S Modulo, only one made (thanks God)

 

[Djsedaw]

I drive one and if its good enough for Gordon Murray but when it leaks I weep!

 

[Count Arthur]

Who needs four wheels?:

 

[Ron Texas]

 

[Ron Texas]

I actually remember someone whose family was lent one of these to drive.

 

[Beershaun]

When I first started doing F1 aero in the mid 1970s we were stuck with a full sized car in an aeronautical tunnel with neither rotating wheels nor the movement of the road simulated, mind you, ignorance is bliss and I had no idea how inaccurate we were being in most areas - though it was certainly better than nothing.
In the late 70s I started using a small tunnel at Imperial College (my alma mater) Aeronautics department which had had a simulated moving floor fitted years earlier to test a model of Donald Campbell's "Bluebird" land speed record car.
This meant testing a model and the wheels were mounted on brackets attached to the tunnel and rotated by the belt simulating the road. The speed was low, and Reynolds number low but these were minuscule errors compared to the breakthroughs we then made.
Eventually we bought an old wind tunnel and modified it to have an overhead balance and simulate the ground moving. It is funny to look back on, there were not many of us but we never took "impossible" as an answer. Ross Brawn organised the shipping of the bits of wind tunnel from Huntingdon to Didcot and built it back up almost single handed. I sourced an overhead balance and computer for control and data, not so easy in 1980 we had to wait 4 months for it to be made. I wrote the control and analysis programme whilst also making all the instrumentation and control wiring and connection boxes.
Sourcing a belt capable of simulating the moving ground was the most tedious and long winded bit, it was a new and unique requirement.
It was hard work but fun and we won a lot of races and championships after that.
Nowadays budgets are 100x bigger and instead of me, a model maker and technician doing the aero (and running the cars at the races) a top F1 team aero dept like Ferrari has well over 100 people doing just aero!
I have been retired 10 years now but after 35 years racing I still miss it.

Thank you so much for sharing Frank! That is fascinating!!