Post by XRF Formula1 on Oct 13, 2020 1:07:41 GMT
Most Notable Driver: Mario Andretti
In early 1976, spurred on by the disappointing lack of pace of the ageing Lotus 72 the previous season, and the indifferent performance of the current Lotus 77, Chapman wrote a 27-page document detailing his ideas on low drag air penetration. After he had studied a de Havilland Mosquito fighter bomber, he paid close attention to its wing mounted radiators, and the hot air outlets that were designed to induce lift. Chapman realised that such a system inverted could give significant downforce. Careful examination of Bernoulli's principle of fluid dynamics confirmed his thoughts on the effects of an upturned aeroplane wing profile fitted to the car, and gave the document to his head of engineering Tony Rudd.
Rudd appointed a team to work on the project: chief designer Ralph Bellamy, vehicle engineer Martin Ogilvie and aerodynamicist Peter Wright. Rudd and Wright had previously worked for BRM, and before joining Lotus in 1970 had done a design study into the possibility of an inverted wing profile fitted to one of their cars. Rudd had tested a number of scale models, but lack of the right testing methods and BRM's declining fortunes meant development had never got beyond the experimental stage. However, Wright remembered their work and brought it into the project.
Wright then set about experimenting with F1 car body shapes using a wind tunnel and a rolling road, when by happy accident he began to get remarkable results in one of the models. Closer inspection found that as the rolling road's speed increased, the shaped underbody was being drawn closer to the surface of the road. Wright experimented with pieces of cardboard attached to the side of the model car body, and the level of perceived downforce produced was phenomenal. The results were presented to Colin Chapman, who gave the team free rein to come up with an F1 chassis design.
After a round of design sketches and engineering drawings, and further work in the wind tunnel at Imperial College the car was put into production. Five examples were built, codenamed John Player Special Mk. III, otherwise known as the Lotus 78 which appeared in July 1976. Mario Andretti wanted to introduce the car early, possibly at the Dutch Grand Prix that year but was overruled by Chapman, as he didn't want other teams discovering what Lotus had achieved.
The 78 was introduced at the first race of 1977, and proved to be the class car of the field that season, winning five races. The car proved relatively easy to set up and modify, with particular attention paid to the undercar aerodynamics and their interaction with the track surface, hence a stiffer suspension design which was required to maintain the aerodynamic effects.
The 78 was loosely based on the Lotus 72, sharing the same basic wedge shape and internal layout, but featuring detailed aerodynamic improvements, better weight distribution and a longer wheelbase. It had a slimmer, stronger monocoque made from aluminium sheet and honeycomb, which was developed from the 77. The bodywork was made up of fibreglass body panels with aluminium used to strengthen the chassis at points. The car created quite a stir when it first appeared, and outwardly seemed ahead of its time. Internally of course, it was a quantum leap ahead. Andretti worked hard with the car, testing for many thousands of miles at the Lotus test track in Hethel.
Based on Bernoulli's discoveries, the underside of the sidepods were shaped as inverted aerofoils, in the same vein as conventional wings but on a much larger scale. Wright and Chapman had discovered that by shaping the floor of the car in this way, they could accelerate the air passing through the gap between the ground and the underside, thereby reducing the air pressure under the car relative to that over it. This created a partial vacuum, effectively sucking the vehicle down which forced the tyres harder onto the track.
Copying the Mosquito's radiator design, the radiators were positioned so that the hot air escaping would pass over the upper bodywork of the car, creating even more downforce. To make the suction effect as great as possible, the monocoque was slimmer, forcing the air passing through between the ground and the inverted wing shape cover as much as possible.
The greater force downwards on the tyres gave more grip and thus higher cornering speeds. This ground effect had the great advantage of being a low drag solution unlike conventional wings, meaning that the increased cornering ability was not compromised by a decrease in straight-line speed. If anything, because of the decreased air resistance, the top speed of the car also increased accordingly.
To begin with, brushes were fitted to the base of each sidepod to keep the low pressure area under the car. When these proved insufficient, Lotus tried plastic skirts, but these abraded very quickly, until finally moveable rubber skirts were developed which proved very effective. The sliding skirts sealed the gap between the sides of the cars and the ground and prevented excessive air being sucked into the low pressure area under the car and dissipating the ground effect. Andretti described driving the 78 as if it were 'painted to the road'.
The fuel tanks were three separate cells, with one behind the driver and one each in the midsection of each sidepod. The sidepod tanks could be controlled from the cockpit by the driver and could be used to fuel the engine separately or together, improving performance and weight bias in cornering. The suspension set up from the previous Lotus 77 was used, with the suspension designed for quick changes in geometry. This helped set the car up for a specific circuit when required.
Unfortunately after first tests were done, the low pressure area under the car was found to be too far forward, requiring a very large rear wing to be designed resulting in a lot of drag at high speeds. This was especially noticeable on fast tracks such as Hockenheim and the Österreichring, where the Ferraris and McLarens were much faster than the 78. To compensate, Ford provided development versions of the Ford Cosworth DFV, increasing the car's speed but also sacrificing reliability. Andretti had no fewer than five engine failures in 1977, costing him the world championship to Niki Lauda, even though he had won four races and taken six pole positions to Lauda's three wins. Eventually a smaller wing was designed in time for the Italian Grand Prix (see above picture), which cut the drag factor significantly, and allowed Andretti to take a popular 'home' victory.
Another problem was with the rear suspension, which although slightly modified to allow clearer airflow from the rear of the sidepods, it was still directly in the path of the exiting air, which affected the stability of the back of the car, causing oversteer.
~Wikipedia
Races will be held on Wednesday evenings with the lobby opening at 4:00pm US Central/5:00pm Eastern/10:00pm UK time with the following format to be used:
One lobby with a max of 16 drivers.
AI - Nien
ROUNDS - 17
Qualifying - 20 minutes
Race Duration - LAPS in 60 mins (3600 (seconds in 60 minutes) divided by Average lap time in seconds).
In game times will be as follows:
Qualifying - 11:00am
Race - 13:00pm
Time Progression - OFF
Season & Date - Based around the real life F1 1977 World Championship from January 13th, 2021 to August 25th, 2021
Weather - The weather for each event will be released with each signup.
Weather Progression - OFF or SYNC TO RACE
Start Type - STANDING
Formation Lap - NO
Mandatory Pitstop - YES
REALISM SETTINGS
Allow auto start engine - YES
Force Interior View - YES (NO when our friend Boothy116 races with us)
Force Driving Line Off - YES
Force Default Setups - NO
Force Realistic Driving Aids - YES
Damage Type - FULL DAMAGE
Mechanical Failures - YES
Allow Ghosted Vehicles - NO
Force Manual Pitstops - YES
Pit Stop Errors - YES
Tyre Wear - AUTHENTIC
Fuel Depletion - YES
Force Cooldown Lap - YES
POINTS SYSTEM
Points are awarded based on finishing positions. No points for retirements or disqualifications.
The best eight results from the first nine rounds and the best seven results from the last eight rounds will be retained. For the constructors, every race only the top scoring driver from each team will score points towards the constructors title.
1ST: 9Pts.
2ND: 6Pts.
3RD: 4Pts.
4th: 3Pts.
5th: 2Pts.
6th: 1Pt.
SPECIAL RULES
-TYRES
You may select the Slick, Historic, or Wet tyre for use in your setup.
-NO PIT LANE SPEED LIMIT
Pit limiters & Pit Lane Speed Limits didn't exist in 1977 so you need not worry about them.
-BLOCKING/OVERTAKING
You may make as many blocking attempts as you would like. Please be respectful when wheel to wheel racing. Honestly everyone could be a little more aggressive when blocking 
-RETIRING
If you have to retire your car and can't make it back to the pits, you must pull off to the side of the track and shut your engine off. The only exception is if you're completely stuck and blocking the raceway, then you must retire to the paddock.
-TRACK & PIT LIMITS
Turned off because of the above rules but they will still be enforced through trust and stewardship with time penalties. We review the races but can't catch everything.
-RACE RESTARTS
If there is a major accident involving multiple vehicles near the start of the race, the race will be restarted.
Depending on the circuit, 1 lap will be added and we will do a formation lap to reform the grid and do a manual standing start if possible. Otherwise the leader will call the start of the race on the first major straight once the grid is reformed.
-CONNECTIONS
If multiple people have connection issues (i.e. disconnects or can't connect), the race may be restarted with the remaining amount of laps when the connection is good, or postponed until the following week, depending on circumstances and what everyone agrees upon.
It's also recommended that everyone resets their router, modum, and reset their Alternate Mac address prior to every lobby.
How to reset your Alternate Mac address:
1. Press the Xbox guide button
2. Go to settings
3. Go to Network settings
4. Go to advanced settings
5. Go to Alternate Mac address
6. Select Clear
7. Wait for your Xbox to restart
8. You now have a fresh connection to Xbox Live
Shneeb108 said:
It's not good for one to have lag and such, but when it really affects the others it is less than desirable.
If anyone is trying to test or determine what to do for better web performance you need the real data first. This site has a great set of tools that can provide that data. The Speed Test is an overall check, and the Line Quality Test will show you How much delay and hops you make to get to your server.
Speed Test and Line Quality Test: