【技术回眸】红牛第一王朝（2）：巅峰

The advent of the hybrid power unit formula in 2014 lost Red Bull their previous dominance of F1 and paved the way for the Mercedes era. It took a long time for Red Bull to regain their status as F1’s top team but that era is now firmly in place as Max Verstappen chases his third consecutive world title…

2014年，混动动力单元的出现终结了红牛先前对F1的统治，同时为梅奔时代铺平了道路。红牛花了很长时间才重拾F1霸主地位，但随着维斯塔潘开始追求三连冠，又一个属于红牛时代已稳稳到来……

（书接上回）

2011赛季——RB7

19场大奖赛/12胜/27台/18杆/车手车队年度双冠

For this first year of Pirelli tyre supply (and the Drag Reduction System), the double diffuser had been banned, so exhaust blowing around the new single diffuser became even more important.

2011年是倍（不）耐力成为新轮胎供应商的第一年（同样也是DRS系统的第一年）；同样是这一年，双层扩散器被禁。因此，围绕着单层扩散器的吹气研发就变得越发重要。

On the RB7, the exhausts exited low, ahead of the rear wheels. This energised the tyre-squish area, redirecting it to the diffuser, giving a huge downforce increase which even offset the losses incurred by the double diffuser ban.

在RB7上，尾气从后轮之前较低的位置排出。这些废气激活了轮胎和地面相互挤压的区域（下图黄色区域），改变废气流方向并使之流向扩散器。这使得下压力大大增加，甚至抵消了双层扩散器被禁造成的下压力损失。

The gains were maximised by the blowing continuing off-throttle. The throttles were kept open even off-throttle – pumping the gases through to the diffuser regardless – and control of the power was done electrically, with spark plug cut.

即使松开油门时，引擎节流阀依旧开启，源源不断把气流抽向扩散器，最大化了气动收益。而对动力的控制通过断开火花塞，以电动方式达成。

译者注：对冷吹扩散器的详细解释，可以参看老耿头在维特尔传第6章：维特尔传第6章：神之RB7！神之2011！5分30秒至6分45秒的说明

Red Bull’s engine partner Renault Sport developed some super-intricate software, which later encompassed hot blowing, whereby fuel injected into the exhausts off throttle was ignited, increasing its blowing velocity, though Red Bull didn’t use it until late in season as the rear tyres were the limitation.

红牛的引擎伙伴雷诺开发了一系列极为复杂的软件系统。其中就包括热吹系统。原理如下：松开油门踏板时，燃料会注入尾气中，再进行点燃。这加快了尾气排出的速率。不过红牛并未第一时间亮出这套杀手锏。直到赛季后期后轮磨损限制赛车表现，这套系统才投入使用。

This was the first Red Bull with a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (though with only 60% of the permitted battery size for packaging reasons). The car only failed to score pole once all season and won 12 races. It even won at the low-drag venues of Spa and Monza, previously bogey tracks.

另外，这还是红牛第一款搭载KERS（动能回收系统）的赛车。然而由于装配原因，他们的电池体量只有规则允许的六成。整个赛季RB7仅丢掉一次杆位，并拿下12场大奖赛胜利。这其中甚至包括从前他们的弱势赛道——低阻高速的斯帕与蒙扎。

The car carried so much downforce it could overwhelm the Pirellis on fast, long-duration corners. The team had to sometimes take downforce off the car just to get good stint lengths.

RB7下压力实在太大了，以至在高速长弯中十分吃胎。为了在正赛中保证每个stint长度，红牛有时必须故意减少赛车下压力。

2012赛季——RB8

20场大奖赛/7胜/14台/8杆/车手车队年度双冠

For this season, there were big regulation restrictions on exhaust blowing, causing Red Bull – which had gone further down the exhaust blowing route than anyone else – some difficulty. There were also tighter front wing flexibility tests. The more extreme of the trick engine software had been outlawed as well.

2012赛季，规则对吹气扩散器做出了严格的限制。红牛在这条路上比其他车队走得都远，因而规则的限制向他们提出了挑战。其他方面，对前翼柔性的检测变得越发严苛。更极限的引擎软件也被绳之以法。

The regs defined where the exhaust could exit, much further forwards than before, theoretically destroying its blowing effectiveness. This led to the Coanda-effect exhausts, exiting at the bottom of the sidepod ramps.

规则对排气孔位置做出定义，使其大大前移，从理论上破坏了吹气扩散器的表现。这引出了利用科恩达效应的新排气，排气孔位于侧箱下斜处的底部。

译者注：科恩达效应(the Coanda-effect)指流体总倾向于沿壁面流动，这也是为何倒饮料时总洒到桌上。

Red Bull’s were more sophisticated than others, with a letterbox channel to direct airflow from the bottom of sidepod to an opening ahead of the diffuser, with the Coanda-effect exhaust flow coming in over the top. Also, there was a triplane of wings around the driveshaft-beam-rear wing arrangement.

红牛的设计依旧比对手们复杂。他们用一个信箱形状的通道引导气流从侧箱底部流向扩散器前的一个开口，尾气则在科恩达效应下流过扩散器顶部。另外，在传动轴-梁翼-尾翼结构周围还有一个三面翼。

This allowed the RB8 to regain a reasonable proportion of 2011’s rear grip. It wasn’t such a counter intuitive car to drive, so Mark Webber was much more competitive against Sebastian Vettel, who had mastered the technique to fully exploit exhaust-blowing.

这使得RB8重拾了一部分2011年的后部下压力。这辆车开起来并不“违反直觉”，因此机长相对歪头变得更有竞争力——在压榨吹气扩散器性能方面，后者颇有心得。

The enhanced inlet tunnels seen from Valencia onwards meant that as the diffuser began to stall at the lowest ride heights, the floor sucked harder on the inlet tunnels instead. From Singapore onwards the car had a double DRS system, with channels inside the rear wing endplates which were revealed when DRS was activated.

从瓦伦西亚站开始，红牛推出了升级版进气通道。在低行驶高度下扩散器会开始失速，因此底板会转而紧紧吸附于进气通道。新加坡站，红牛又为RB8带来了双DRS系统（DDRS）。当DRS被激活时，尾翼端板内的通道便会显露出来。

译者注：DRS打开后，便会暴露出藏在端板内的通道（下图蓝色虚线）。气流从通道入口（下图左上圆圈内的黄色部分）流进通道，从梁翼上的小开口（下图红色箭头处）流出，达到双重DRS效果

The car worked brilliantly at all ride heights because of the inlet system and this allowed the DRS gain to be bigger. It enabled the team to get back onto the high-rake route and by India was working almost like the 2011 car despite the regulation restrictions.

得益于进气系统，RB8在各种行驶高度都表现自如，这也使DRS收益变得更大。以上种种设计使车队又能回到2011年RB7的高前倾角思路上。到印度站，尽管这一年规则针对车队做出种种限制，但RB8已经几乎能达到去年RB7的水准。

2013赛季——RB9

19场大奖赛/13胜/24台/11杆/车手车队年度双冠

This car worked the delicate 2013 Pirellis too hard in the first half of the season and it was only occasionally a winner in that period. But after the Silverstone tyre blowouts Pirelli reintroduced the stronger 2012 tyres and, from then on, the RB9 was unbeatable.

赛季前半段，RB9的吃胎属性令倍儿不耐力的轮胎不堪重负，只能偶尔赢下一两场比赛。但银石爆胎门后，去年的倍儿耐力配方重新回归。此后，RB9便开启暴走模式，无人能敌。

On this car the exhausts exited from a more sharply descending sidepod ramp and it retained the airflow inlet tunnels below. Renault Sport made a map which varied off-cylinder cut from one bank to another according to which way the steering was turned.

RB9的尾气从更加下斜的侧箱排出，而下方的进气隧道也被保留。雷诺为红牛设置了一套新的引擎模式/映射(map)，依据赛车转向情况改变两排气缸的开闭和喷油情况。

译者注：对引擎映射的解释，可参见【中字 Chain Bear F1】“引擎映射/脉谱”及其对赛车表现的影响

Sebastian Vettel secured the title in India, with three races still to go, and radioed to his team, 

歪头在印度站提前三站拿下了自己的第四罐。在TR中，他对车队说：

Remember these days. They won’t last forever！

请铭记这段光辉岁月吧。命运不总眷顾一人！”

It would be another eight years before a Red Bull driver won the title again.

确实，此后红牛便陷入蛰伏，直到八年后才重返王座……

（完）

摘自F1官网

翻译：mrysdy