Red Bull RB6

[Cap'n Jack]

Thar she blows:

 

[zed300]

The busy Red Bull livery, seems to disguise the sublte changes of the RB6.

 

[Boffin]

One of the nicer ones I reckon, but I wish they'd go back to the pin stripe livery.

Sauber still tops it for me.

👍

 

[Ardius]

The livery I was least looking forward to

Possibly the least changed car?

 

[yeti]

More info...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8504426.stm

C.

 

[Alex.]

I see literally no differences whatsoever.

 

[Flerbizky]

I cringe each and every time I see that snow plow on the front. Obviously, not limited to RB... *sigh*

 

[Peter]

Last year's car was the fastest car on the grid by the end of they year, so why change much? Still looks awesome though.

 

[daan]

Last year's car was the fastest car on the grid by the end of they year, so why change much? Still looks awesome though.

Because everyone else is trying to improve, and if you don't improve, then you go backwards.

 

[F1 fan]

Because everyone else is trying to improve, and if you don't improve, then you go backwards.

They've fully developed the car around the double diffuser. Remember, they had to do a rush job on the diffuser mid season last year. If they've taken the time to do it right, it should be a great car.

And by the way, pretty much everyone's been copying the RB5, so if the RB6 is like the RB5, but with a few more tricks up it's sleeve, then all looks well.

 

[Danny]

Thar she blows:

She blows alright. What's the difference?

 

[Dijital Majik]

I think it's testament to how well the the RB5's aero package was designed. Of course, there's bound to be a lot of technical improvement under the skin, this car will be seriously quick.

 

[PeterJB]

It's really long! Webber has already called it a Limousine!

 

[yeti]

Couple of issues for RB...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8508080.stm

But I doubt it's anything too serious.

C.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Last year's car was the fastest car on the grid by the end of they year, so why change much? Still looks awesome though.

Don't be fooled, that front wing has a large set of features of you look at it closely and compare with others. While others have been going on about Alonso, Schumi, Button and Hamster, my biggest bet is actually on these guys. This time everyone knows how the situation is with all the diffusers and whatnot. I promise you, this car will be an incredible machine.

 

[Ardius]

Well, its an Adrian Newey car, that almost ensures it will be fast. All those cars for March, Williams and McLaren make that much obvious. However, will it be reliable? Another common Newey trait is unreliability.

 

[The Outlaw]

All I can say is, they better hope for good weather in the following days/weeks so they can get some meaningful testing/track time in Otherwise they'll be showing up at the first race picking their cards up off the floor...

Awesome piece of engineering otherwise. Should be interesting to see how the new chassis copes with the new regulations, as the RB5 was rather hard on the tires, and the new regulations will really stress being able to save your tires throughout the race. Luckily for them, they'll be running the fuel efficient Renault powerplant which will give them a bit more control over the static ballast of the car.

 

[Stevisiov]

The car looks good except the moustache on the front.

 

[chromatic9]

Webber: Seb, I've experienced this before. I was sitting on the wheel and you had that hat on.

What's that term beginning with D, mate?

Seb: I dunno. Driving for Red Bull?

 

[waggles]

Red Bull always make a sexy car-this is no exception-sems relatively quick too.

 

[PeterJB]

I do hope it stays as sparkly and shiny as it is now for the whole season!

 

[daan]

The car looks good except the moustache on the front.

The moustache looks better than Seb in that hat.

 

[Peter]

It's quick, but the STR seems to be faster this year.

 

[daan]

It's quick, but the STR seems to be faster this year.

How much fuel was the STR running? How much fuel has the RB6 got? Did both teams go for flat out times?

Winter testing times mean nothing in relation to how fast each team is.

 

[Only_in_f1]

STR had a horrible Barca test if I remember.

Damn.. I had high hopes for RBR...

 

[The Outlaw]

I saw this posted on James Allen's blog:

An interested spectator trackside at the Jerez test was former BAR Honda and Red Bull technical boss Geoff Willis, who delivered a clear verdict on how things stand as he sees them, “Of the new cars the one that has impressed me the most is the McLaren, ” he said. ” It will be the front runner for the title battle along with the Red Bull. Just behind are the Ferrari and the Mercedes.

 

[Ardius]

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted elsewhere or even discussed, but everyone seems to have forgotten possibly why the Red Bull is dominant. There is a lot of discussion going on other forums about what they've done right.

Well I certainly remember something different about this car that was suggested as a potential issue for reliability of the rear suspension, and there was some discussion after Bahrain that it might have caused Vettel's engine failure - the different exhaust design.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8567029.stm

It seems the BBC have also remembered this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8674691.stm

Chief technical officer Adrian Newey has also proved innovator with his treatment of the exhaust pipes.

As this picture shows, the exhaust vents to the outer side of the gearbox below the bottom suspension wishbone, channelling the hot air around the rear suspension and out the top side of the floor.

The disadvantage is that the suspension will get quite hot from the exhaust gases, so the team placed blue temperature sensors on the wishbones and the floor during testing to find out if it's too marginal to use.

In a comical and ultimately futile attempt to mislead rival teams and the watching media, the picture also shows that Red Bull placed a sticker of an exhaust pipe on the upper bodywork below the upper wishbone, where one would expect to see it!

And Ted goes on to explain further this week:

Want to know why the Red Bull RB6 is so fast? It's the exhausts.

We learned more about this area in the Barcelona paddock at the weekend and while it's not the only explanation for their speed, rival engineers estimate Red Bull's exhaust solution accounts for about half their performance advantage.

Regular readers of this column will remember that we featured the innovative Red Bull exhausts after they first appeared at the final pre season test in late February.

More traditional exhausts exit at the top of the rear bodywork, whereas the RB6 has them located low down, at the side of the gearbox and rear crash structure.

This is where it gets technical. Not only do the exhaust gases feed air into the double diffuser , giving extra downforce by sucking the car on to the track but, being positioned in this way, they help tidy up the airflow around the rear wheels and out of the back of the car.

The rear tyres are quite big, and the wake they produce is damaging to the airflow leaving the car. The exhaust gases meet the tyre wake and force that air outboard, neatly and cleanly round the outside of the car.

You could see this in action at the wet Chinese Grand Prix, when the moist air vaporised around the exhaust area and showed a visible vortice around the rear tyre.

I know it's hard to picture, but it's a crucial part of what makes the Red Bull so quick, so watch out for a feature explaining it visually with some CFD (computational fluid dynamics) data on our pre-qualifying show on BBC One soon.

 

[zed300]

I tend to think this is a bit of a story for the sake of a story, sure well directed exhaust will help tidy the air leaving the car, this is known as...drag yer. It doesn't do to much though, both RBR cars are always in the lower part of the speed trap times, sometimes 10 kph off McLaren who lead almost every session.
As for creating down force, that's only going to work if your on the power, right. So no aid under braking in the corner, no aid at the apex, and some on the exit, mostly on the straights....? under full power hmmm [sarcasm]that seems useful..[/sarcasm].
When Vettel's exhaust broke in Bahrain, Button could do nothing that even looked like passing. The broken pipe could not have aided in tidying the air or creating downforce, infact it would have done quite the opposite, it would have hindered. If the potential of the exhaust was damaged it would be obvious, Button would have blown past, Vettel was down on power too. So I conclude that the mechanical grip, diffuser and the all the other aero parts have far more effect than an exhaust.

But hey.. what would I know... the BBC's F1 reporter Ted Kravtiz, has been in the game longer than me and on the playing field, well sidelines anyway.

 

[Alex.]

I can't get my head around that picture, I have some idea as to how it works but it's taken from a confusing angle.

 

[The Outlaw]

Here's a larger picture of the RB exhaust exit