What happens when a single-seater designer Formula 1 has the opportunity to give life to a real car? The answer is the Red Bull RB17designed by Adrian Newey, considered by many to be the most successful designer in the history of the Circus.
Our colleagues at Motor1 US at the Goodwood Festival of Speed had the opportunity to talk to him, Christian Horner, team manager of Red Bull Racingand Rob Gray, Head of Red Bull Advanced Technology, to understand what it was like to design this special super car.
A unique opportunity
During the interview, the first to intervene was Newey himself, who explained that the main objective of the project was to create F1 emotionsbut in a package accessible to everyone, from amateurs with a bit of track experience to a Max Verstappen.
To achieve this, the project required being equipped with a huge powera huge deportationand weight minimum and an aesthetic package that would make the final car look like an F1 single-seater but with more bodywork.
As an engine, in this regard, an unprecedented Cosworth V10 was chosen 4.5 literscapable of delivering approximately 1,000 HP at 15,000 rpm and combined with a 200 HP electric motor.
During the interview Newey himself explained:
“Over the years I’ve been fortunate enough to drive many different cars, from classics from the 1960s to relatively modern Formula 1 cars. And don’t get me wrong, I love driving classic cars, I love it, but if you drive a modern Formula 1 car, the excitement, the speed, the adrenaline and so on are on another level.”
Adrian Newey with the Red Bull RB17
But that’s not all. The designers also focused a lot on the study of new active suspensionwhich are different from traditional car suspensions, as they are able to return a counterforce to the bodywork autonomously.
Rob Gray explained that some devices have been installed inside them active elements which control the sway (essentially the ride height) and the rolland each can be adjusted multiple times in curve.
Active suspension, more generally, is a huge plus for a high performance car. deportationbecause when dealing with very elaborate aerodynamics, it is necessary to keep the platform stable, to avoid aerodynamic imbalance. Without active elements, the body movements would be controlled with ultra-stiff springsbut you would get the kind of porpoising seen in F1 cars in 2022.
Shortly after, Gray went into more detail about the car’s setup, which included:
“You can set the car up to be strong – and you can do that from the cockpit, without having to plug in a laptop – or slightly understeer, certainly neutral, but not harsh. It’s a bit slower, but it’s something that will help people understand how to drive this car in the first place.”
From left: Rob Gray, Adrian Newey, Christian Horner
Gray stated to Motor1 US that the active aerodynamics are controlled by movable elements in the front and rear wings and the rear diffuser. Newey then explained that the car starts to reduce downforce as speed increases, as downforce increases with the square of the speed. Without the ability to reduce downforce on the fly, the RB17’s tyres would compress too much.
And speaking of andfor the RB17 Red Bull has worked closely with Michelin to propose three different options: a tyre with a marked tread pattern on 12-hole rims 20″ which serves as both a “medium” weather tire and a more accessible option for dry racing, with characteristics similar to those of a road car tire. Then two slick options, one intended to increase speed while remaining accessible, and a “confidential” tire.
Similar to that used in Hypercar of Le Mans, the “confidential” tyre is, as the name suggests, composed of a mysterious mix that only Michelin knows about. This is the fastest tyre for the RB17 and, if you want to race with it, the French company will be there and will take the train back once the session is over.
Red Bull
Newey himself later explained why the RB17 was designed with a two-seater cockpit:
“What I had in my mind, rightly or wrongly, is that if you take up a new sport, say golf, you go to the golf club, hit some balls and they fly all over the place,” Newey said. “You enjoy the day but you also want to get better, so you get a caddie to practice and get better, and that’s the same philosophy.”
This is also why the RB17 is a two-seater. The owner can hire a pilot to sit in the right seat, or bring along a friend or partner.
“With the adaptability I described earlier, you can go from a car that is enjoyable to drive and develop it to a performance level that you feel comfortable with and a speed that you feel comfortable with.”
Built like single-seaters
Also during the interview conducted at Goodwood, the three designers explained that the RB17 is built like a Formula 1 car, with Red Bull itself making most of the components in-house and using the same material suppliers for the parts not built in-house.
For the assembly of the engine, the company relies on Cosworth, strong in the successful collaboration with Newey for the Aston Martin Valkyrie.
The choice of engine, according to what our American colleagues reported, was dictated by Newey himself, who wanted 1,000 hp of power and a maximum weight of 150 kg, and this led Red Bull and Cosworth to choose a 4.5-liter V10 with a limit of 15,000 rpm, combined with a gearbox with XTrac components in a groupset built and designed by Red Bull.
Source: it.motor1.com
