Racecar Engineering – September 2019

24 http://www.racecar-engineering.com SEPTEMBER 2019

FORMULA 1 – TORO ROSSO STR14

rejectionnumbers,installationrequirements

anddifferentphilosophiesingeneral,’Egginton

says.‘Sothesecondyearwitha supplieris

a hugeopportunityforus.Intermsofthe

fundamentalsofthearchitectureofwhatthe

enginewantsthe 2019 Hondais fairlysimilar

tolastyear,thoughtheheatrejectionfigures

changeastheyfindmorepower.’

CoolforCADs

AccordingtoEgginton,gettingthemostout

ofthecoolinglayoutis notjustaboutthe

thermalmanagementofvariouscomponents

andsystems,butit canalsooffernotable

aerodynamicgains.‘Weareconstantlyreviewing

if thereis a moreefficientcooler,andlookingfor

coreswhichmightgiveusmoreefficientcooling

performance,’hesays.‘Minimisingradiatorarea

is criticalasyouwantfewerandsmallerholes

inyourcar.Ontopofthatyouneedtopackage

it ina waythattheductsworkwell.Youcould

doa brilliantpackagingjobbutif youcan’tget

enoughairmassoutthebackofthebodywork

it’sallfornothing.It’sa hugeloopofpackaging

andaerodynamicoptimisation,CFDandrig

teststotrytounderstandhowtogetthecooling

performanceyouwant.Onthiscarit wasa big

projectoneverycooler,coolingline,evendown

totheelectricalboxes,astheyneedcoolingtoo.’

Ofcourse,managementofthecooling

systemontheSTR14camebackonceagainto

theaerodynamicdevelopmentofthecar,and

it wasclearlyanareaofsignificantfocusforthe

ToroRossoengineers.‘Itwas,andis,aboutflow

management though the car,’ Egginton says.

‘You need the right amount of air to the right

part of the car, and you have to extract it too.

We have seen in the past Formula 1 cars with

fantastically small inlets but huge exits. At the

end of the day you need a balanced system.

The aerodynamic department know where

and how they want to operate the car, but if

you are having to open up the car for cooling it

creates a big deficit, so you have to operate on

the right part of the cooling curve without the

need to open up the bodywork.

‘You have various levels of bodywork, we

run the car a lot more open in Monaco than

we do at Silverstone, for example, you want to

ensure that you can run at the cooling level you

want at the different events,’ Egginton adds. ‘If

you see a car running massively open bodywork

in winter testing then you know something has

gone wrong, so we want to avoid that. If you

get it right there is a mass saving to be had too.

With STR14 it was a massive challenge and we

have learnt a lot, but we now need to move to

the next step as there are probably other teams

a bit further on than we are.’

Out on track

The STR14 took to the track for the first time in a

short shakedown run in Italy ahead of the main

pre-season tests in Barcelona. Notably this was

also the very first time one of the team’s drivers,

Alexander Albon, had ever driven a Formula 1

car. As the season has progressed the car has

shown strong pace and the team is largely

pleased with the STR14, if perhaps not the

number of points it has scored so far.

‘The general behaviour of STR14 versus

the STR13 is quite different, the drivers are

commenting a lot on the way this car is working

and reacting,’ Egginton says. ‘I think it’s operating

window has increased, you have more options

to set the thing up and that makes it easier for

the drivers. It is easier to get the car into the

operating window and keep it there. We have to

avoid the peaks and troughs in performance we

had with the STR13, especially with the midfield

battle so tight this year. With this car we can

get the performance out of it everywhere, and

that is the biggest achievement. We had quite

a lot of targets to hit with this car, mass targets,

stiffness targets, and getting maximum freedom

on the rear. The team ticked every box and I’m

really proud of what they did.’

Eighth wonder

At the time of writing Toro Rosso was joint-

eighth in the constructors’ standings, just seven

points behind sixth placed Alfa Romeo (sixth is

STR’s best result, in 2008), while Egginton is now

already working on improvements for its 2020

successor. ‘We have a long list of things about

the car we want to make better but I’m not

going to reveal what those are,’ he says. ‘With

every car there are things where you think that

you could do better, but on this car there is

one thing we really do need to improve, and

it’s a pretty minor thing, unless you are the

driver, and that is the drinks system!’

‘We have seen in the past Formula 1 cars with fantastically small inlets

and huge exits, but at the end of the day you need a balanced system’

The STR14 has proven to be a decent midfield runner and at the time of writing it was in joint-eighth in the constructors’ standings, with the team hoping for sixth by season’s end