The Brabham BT64B “Fan Car” was a feast of engineering excellence that was banned after it won one race. Fast forward to today, and the new Ariel Aero P uses a similar principle.
Reducing underbody air pressure and creating a ground effect were the ultimate crazes in F1 in the 1970s, and Lotus dominated with the 78 and 79 “John Player Special” models. However, in an attempt to counter the supremacy of the Lotus cars, Gordon Murray designed the Brabham BT48B with a large fan at the back, driven by the gearbox, which sucked the car on the road; moreover, like Lotus, it adopted a design that sealed the gap between the sides of the car and the ground.
These solutions served as inspiration for Ariel’s latest concept car. Nicknamed the Vacuum Cleaner, the Aero-P aims to minimize aerodynamic drag and reduce CO2 emission, while improving vehicle stability and safety at the same time.
Ariel says the project is still in development and remains confidential, but the company also uses it to study cooling and airflow management requirements for electric and hybrid vehicles, as it’s capable of developing downforce at any speed, and while standing still.
“Although it’s a large and complex project, covering a lot of areas, performance is core to us. We’re moving towards the point where traction and therefore acceleration, particularly from standstill, are limited by mechanical grip so were trying to come up with ways of overcoming this. One of our targets was to minimise or remove the need for aerofoils and have downforce when stationary”, said Simon Saunders, Director of Ariel.
Powered by two small, lightweight fans, the Aero-P has an additional extension, mounted to its tub, that creates a seal and generates downforce. However, the fans are only running when there’s a need for them, and for brief amounts of time.
Sadly, we won’t see something similar put into production (just yet), and we’ll have to accept the idea, but Ariel’s test mule just showed us a map of things to come.
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