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Chapman introduced aerodynamics
Aerodynamics is a branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air, particularly when it interacts with a moving object.
He popularized the concept of positive aerodynamic downforce, through the addition of front and rear wings. Early efforts were mounted 3 feet or so above the car, in order to operate in 'clean air' (i.e. air that would not otherwise be disturbed by the passage of the car). However the thin supporting struts failed regularly, obliging the FIA to require the wings to be attached directly to the bodywork. He also originated the movement of radiators away from the front of the car, to decrease frontal area and, thus, drag at speed. These concepts also remain features of high performance racing cars today.
Chapman, working with Tony Rudd and Peter Wright, pioneered the first Formula One use of "ground effectGround effect in cars
Ground effect is term applied to a series of aerodynamic effects used in car design, which has been exploited to create downforce, particularly in racing cars. This has been the successor to the earlier dominant aerodynamic theory of streamlining.
In everyday usage, vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. Vacuum was created under the car by use of venturi effect.
The Venturi effect is the reduction in fluid pressure that results when a fluid flows through a constricted section of pipe. The fluid velocity must increase through the constriction to satisfy the equation of continuity, while its pressure must decrease due to conservation of energy: generating suction (downforce) which held it securely to the road whilst cornering. Modern Formula One cars generate enough downforce (now generated by wings as well as ground effect created by the shape of the under-tray and diffuser, along with the radiator ducting) that they could theoretically be driven on a ceiling once they reach about 100 mph. Initially this technique utilized sliding "skirts" which made contact with the ground to keep the area of low pressure isolated. Chapman's next development was a car that generated all of its downforce through ground effects, eliminating wings and the drag that they introduce at high speed. The culmination of this effort, the Lotus 79.
The Lotus 79 was a Formula One car designed in late 1977 by Colin Chapman, Martin Ogilvie, Tony Rudd and Peter Wright of Lotus. It is considered by many the most significant and respected racing car design of all time.
It dominated the championship. However, skirts were eventually banned, because the skirt could be damaged, for example, from driving over a kerb, and downforce would be lost and the car could then become unstable. The FIA made moves to eliminate ground effects in Formula One, by requiring flat bottom cars from (eliminating venturis) and raising the minimum ride height of the cars from . Of course, the car designers have managed to get back much of that downforce through other means, aided by extensive wind tunnel.
One of his last major technical innovations was a dual-chassis Formula One car, the Lotus 88
The Lotus 88 was an innovative ground effect Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman, Peter Wright, Tony Rudd and Martin Ogilvie of Lotus as a response to technical regulations introduced in 1981 by the FIA to curb the ground effects cars.
For ground effects of that era to function most efficiently, the aerodynamic surfaces needed to be precisely located and this led to the chassis being very stiffly sprung. However, this was very punishing to the driver, resulting in driver fatigue. To get around this, Chapman introduced a car with two chassis. One chassis (where the driver would sit) was softly sprung. The other chassis (where the skirts and such were located) was stiffly sprung. Unfortunately, although the car passed scrutineering at a couple of races, it was protested by other teams and was never allowed to run. Under these circumstances, the car was never developed, so it will never be known if the idea would have worked.
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