Renault set to stick with forward-facing exhausts for rest of season
By Edd Straw
Tuesday, August 23rd 2011, 09:46 GMT
Renault is set to stick with its innovative forward-facing exhaust system for the rest of the season.
The team ran an experimental rear-facing exhaust in both straightline tests and on Nick Heidfeld's car during free practice for the German Grand Prix in July.
But team principal Eric Boullier is confident that there is still more performance to come from its regular design, meaning that the team is likely to continue to use it rather than switching to a more orthodox concept.
"We believe that we still have potential on the forward exhaust even though we have made some wrong developments sometimes," Boullier told AUTOSPORT. "There are some good performance packages coming.
"So we will continue with it and it's likely that we will use it to the end of the season."
The rear-facing exhaust was developed because of the ban on off-throttle blowing of diffusers, which was introduced for Silverstone but then abandoned.
The team opted to try the rear-facing system on track to evaluate its potential, but has continued to work on its forward-facing design throughout this process.
"We spent a lot of time during the engine mapping discussions developing the rearward exhaust," said Boullier. "But at the same time we finished our windtunnel upgrade and kept developing our front exhaust."
Renault has struggled in recent races, but the team is confident that forthcoming upgrade packages will allow it to climb back up the grid.
Credit: AUTOSPORT.COM (www.autosport.com)
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