22 replies to this topic

[PaulTodd]

I have been visiting this forum for a few years now and never felt like joining in the war of words. But this being my first post I wanted to ask you guys if you know why the Lotus cars are starting to spark?

I was watching Hamilton and as he hits a bump in the road a plume of dust from the plank came up from the back of his car. As Kimi went over the bump it sparked. Now I'm just wondering how Lotus are doing this without any sign of dust. I watched both Lotus cars and they both spark I'm just wondering how they do this with no effect to the plank.


It's almost like the 80's and 90's when the cars used to spark like crazy.

[Mc_Silver]

Yeah I realized that during the race as well. Especially Kimi's car was sparkling like hell

[Rikhart]

Again?? They are not "starting" to spark, they were doing the exact same thing all of last year! It´s nothing new!

[mymemoryfails]

And it struck me that the cars were "sparking" very late in the race, obviously with low fuel levels.

I'm old fashioned and not be able to understand. I suppose its a bumpy road but how did they cope with full fuel?

mymemoryfails

[V3TT3L]

Yeah I realized that during the race as well. Especially Kimi's car was sparkling like hell

Whaaat ? Is Kimi F1's Prince Sparkle Pony

[SR388]

I was happy to see the sparks back. I wish they would spark like they did back in the 80's and 90's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SR388]

Again?? They are not "starting" to spark, they were doing the exact same thing all of last year! It´s nothing new!

Pics?

[Slartibartfast]

I have been visiting this forum for a few years now and never felt like joining in the war of words. But this being my first post I wanted to ask you guys if you know why the Lotus cars are starting to spark?

It's a tribute to Flavio Briatore.

[weareracing]

Definitive answer for Albert Park, Melbourne?
It's a road in real life with a crown.
As the cars move around the circuit/road they pass over the crown, this causes the plank on the underside of the tub to scrape the tarmac which produces the sparks

[John Player]

The strange thing is that it was still sparking a lot even by the end of the race, when the car was already very light on fuel.

[vhayduk]

Unless things have changed for 2013 (rules-wise)... There is supposed to be a "legality plank" that is the first thing to hit the ground. Basically, it's a glorified piece of wood/plywood. It is designed wear when the car hits the ground. At the end of the race, the inspectors measure the wear. There is a wear limit and if you're beyond that limit bad things happen (I can't remember if its a disqualify or fine or what). This is supposed to prevent teams from running the car too low. Too low = too much wear = bad things.

In the past, teams used to run wear plates that the car would bottom on. They were metallic (Ti ???) hence the nice spark shows. The planks have resulted in the dust you see coming off cars in recent times. So the question is: why is the Lotus sparking? Obviously the wood plank won't spark. So either Lotus has positioned the plank fasteners in such a way that they create a spark show or they have managed to find a way to make something other than the plank "bottom out". Interesting...

Vince

[tjkoyen]

I noticed it too, but only on Kimi's car. Romain's might have been but I barely saw it during the race. But didn't see sparks from any other team's car.

[muramasa]

maybe kerb hitting carbon part of floor directly, or not.

[Peat]

Titanium skid-plates should be mandated soley on the fact that the sparks look frickin cool!

[Jimisgod]

I noticed it too, but only on Kimi's car. Romain's might have been but I barely saw it during the race. But didn't see sparks from any other team's car.

Kimi didn't have a **** before the race and was therefore carrying more weight.

[PaulTodd]

youtube
Found this on youtube.

I was happy to see the sparks back. I wish they would spark like they did back in the 80's and 90's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rob]

Titanium skid-plates should be mandated soley on the fact that the sparks look frickin cool!

Absolutely.

[Longtimefan]

I love sparks, cars of the late 80's and early 90's were awesome for sparks!

Bring them on

[muramasa]

I imagine sparks are actually annoying to drivers

[F.M.]

I have been visiting this forum for a few years now and never felt like joining in the war of words. But this being my first post I wanted to ask you guys if you know why the Lotus cars are starting to spark?

I was watching Hamilton and as he hits a bump in the road a plume of dust from the plank came up from the back of his car. As Kimi went over the bump it sparked. Now I'm just wondering how Lotus are doing this without any sign of dust. I watched both Lotus cars and they both spark I'm just wondering how they do this with no effect to the plank.


It's almost like the 80's and 90's when the cars used to spark like crazy.

It's a leftover feature from the time Flavio was teamboss. He wanted the cars to spark as he believed it would make them faster.

[BillBald]

Unless things have changed for 2013 (rules-wise)... There is supposed to be a "legality plank" that is the first thing to hit the ground. Basically, it's a glorified piece of wood/plywood. It is designed wear when the car hits the ground. At the end of the race, the inspectors measure the wear. There is a wear limit and if you're beyond that limit bad things happen (I can't remember if its a disqualify or fine or what). This is supposed to prevent teams from running the car too low. Too low = too much wear = bad things.

In the past, teams used to run wear plates that the car would bottom on. They were metallic (Ti ???) hence the nice spark shows. The planks have resulted in the dust you see coming off cars in recent times. So the question is: why is the Lotus sparking? Obviously the wood plank won't spark. So either Lotus has positioned the plank fasteners in such a way that they create a spark show or they have managed to find a way to make something other than the plank "bottom out". Interesting...

Vince

It sounds like they are up to something dodgy.

Didn't they have an engineer come from Red Bull recently...

[wepmob2000]

It's a leftover feature from the time Flavio was teamboss. He wanted the cars to spark as he believed it would make them faster.

Lol Seriously though, the sparks were cool, I'd like to see more cars doing that!!

[F.M.]

Lol Seriously though, the sparks were cool, I'd like to see more cars doing that!!

True story though

Edited by F.M., 21 March 2013 - 15:48.