French term (edited): devent�

Les voitures de course F1 de nos jours créent beaucoup de turbulence. Une voiture qui se rapproche de trop de la voiture qui la précède risque d'entrer dans cette turbulence qui modifie l'écoulement de l'air sur les ailerons etc. qui "plaquent" la voiture par terre à haute vitesse. "Déventée", la voiture perd de l'adhérence, ne peut plus freiner efficacement, ne peut plus virer efficacement, et - comme dans le cas de ce cher Nicolas - se plante dans le paysage.

<<One of the things about F1 is that a much slower car can hold you up and be very difficult to pass because of the turbulence they create which means you lose a lot of downforce. I’ve been trapped behind slower cars before, so it was good to be able to take my chances, get past and race at my own speed."

Of course part of this is just the nature of racing on a road course. In F1, another part is that the cars aerodynamic package produces great turbulence behind the cars, so it’s impossible for cars to be close.


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Note added at 55 mins (2004-08-10 16:51:16 GMT) Post-grading
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Le GROS problème des F1 modernes c\'est.......l\'AERO........c\'est le point crucial des perfs. Et si on s\'approche trop de la voiture qui précède, on est totalement déventé et on perd une GRANDE partie de l\'éfficacité de l\'auto----------> les dépassements se font de plus en plus difficilement.

Il faudrait éffectivement limiter un maximum le package aérodynamique........revenir à des slicks...........des roues plus larges et des F1 aux voies plus larges également.

<<Felipe Massa est déventé dans l\'avant-dernière courbe par Frentzen et mord légèrement dans le gravier. Il contrôle de justesse sa monoplace et se relance>>
http://f1.racing-live.com/fr/index.html?http://f1.racing-liv...

Clean air: Air that isn\'t turbulent, and thus offers optimum aerodynamic conditions, as experienced by a car at the head of the field.

Downforce: The aerodynamic force that is applied in a downwards direction as a car travels forwards. This is harnessed to improve a car\'s traction and its handling through corners.

<<the spin by Michael was caused by the turbulence behind Barrichello’s car. Michael got too close in a fast curve and both back wheels suddenly lost traction – not a situation that traction control can manage.>>

<<This said, even in cars that are near identical in pace where a good scrap can happen, the trailing car dare not get too close or run the risk of completely losing enough airflow over the car and have the car understeer straight off. This makes it very difficult to get close enough and stay close enough to make a strong enough move to take over the spot. Unless your significantly faster, a side by side move through a higher or medium speed corner is very risky, the leading car has the clean airflow and the trailing car is losing some of his downforce from the sidedraft off the leading car. These two factors are by and large the biggest problems with why there is not enough passing in F1, and hard tyres is not going to fix either one alone>>