Attempting a Car Upside-Down Drive

Project Inversion: Most Ambitious Automotive Yet.

An ex-professional racer and a squad of technicians are plotting to evaluate one of the most renowned aged F1 racing theories by constructing and driving a vehicle inverted inside a tunnel. Scott Mansell of the Driver61 YouTube network distributed a video with the extraordinary declaration that he will actually accomplish what countless drivers and engineers have proclaimed their cars could do for many years. Dubbed Project Inversion, it will place him and everyone involved in the annals of history, however, the journey to make this happen seems anything but easy.

For the past many years, Driver61 and related YouTube channels have been providing first-rate Formulation 1, Motorsport, and Racing Engineering material. This venture was begun by Mansell out of enthusiasm back in 2016, with the primary channel claiming more than a million supporters and having accumulated over 200 million views! It is possible this project could send the brand to sky-high heights, unless it all comes tumbling down.

I'm Going to Drive an F1 Car UPSIDE DOWN (really)

The goal of this undertaking is to create a car able to move when upside down effectively independently using its own airflow. This means there won’t be any add on downforce-producing tools, such as the dual fans applied on the McMurty Speirling, since that goes against what the project is aiming to accomplish. Even so, understanding the concept is naught too difficult. It is often stated that today’s F1 automobiles produce twice their weight in aerodynamic force at speeds of greater than 130 mph – thus all that has to be done is make use of this and discover a method to make it work under an inverted condition.

It appears that an F1 vehicle would not be the ideal beginning point. A firm such as Red Bull, which is known for its daring endeavors, would no doubt be excited to promote something like this; nevertheless, it turns out that an F1 car would not be suitable. Presently, F1 cars are much heavier than in the past. The median weight of 1,700 lbs may make for a great typical road automobile, but for an attempt with these aims it is too much, even considering the air resistance and power associated with such cars.

The world-renowned Willem Toet, a veteran of aerodynamics engineering, has been appointed the lead engineer for this project. He has an illustrious past of being Head of Aerodynamics for Benetton, Ferrari, and Sauber F1 teams, and hols the title of Professor of Motorsport from the University of Bolton. He has the unbeatable ability to get cars to adhere to the surface. Not only does the automotive need to be robust, efficient, but it should also have copious amounts of downforce! Therefore, hill climb cars are the ideal choice.

Toet noted the advantage of hill climb cars having “very few restrictions”, allowing them to be as powerful, light, and wide as necessary to reach the summit in the shortest amount of time. After assessing the various possibilities, they eventually chose the Empire Wraith as their starting point. This car weighs just 685 lbs yet, according to Toet, “We can relatively easily, because of different rules, create something that despite being a much lighter car has more downforce than a Formula 1 car would have at the same speed.”

The organisation hopes to aim for more than double the car’s weight in downforce, to guarantee there is absolutely no margin of mistake. It may appear that significant velocity would be necessary to achieve this aim, but fairly it is not. Initially they mentioned that with a speed over 100 mph, they could get the mandatory downforce, yet countless hours of labour have shrunken that velocity to just 80 mph.

Having a motor vehicle that produces adequate downforce is noteworthy; having one which can achieve this feat while ascending a curved wall is something else entirely. This car was crafted with this particular mission in mind, and accordingly is even more odd-looking than the average motorsport cars we’re normally accustomed to seeing. To sum it up, its camber and aerodynamic components are such that it makes any decrepit Honda Civic/Subaru WRX at the regional car gathering look like a snooze by comparison.

The crew must determine a way to power their car, as engines usually perform poorly upside-down. A potential solution is an electrical powertrain; however, its heaviness makes it quite problematic. As of now, the group has not yet announced whether they have addressed this difficulty or what their answer may be. How would you go about tackling such a quandary?

The final chief challenge that has to be dealt with is the tunnel’s structure. If you ever took a trip through one and looked up, it can become clear why they refuse to function in this situation – without the concave sides or plane ceiling it is impossible to complete. The organisation may modernise a tunnel to make it functional, yet there is still no access to manipulate the tallness and virtually no space for spectators – which is obligatory.

So, what’s the plan? Constructing your own tunnel! The current process is still at its beginnings, allowing for appreciation from a few spectators. To guarantee success in meeting the challenge, the exactitude of the bank and height will be precisely regulated. It has been revealed that 24.6-foot in diameter was the perfect dimension. Unquestionably, it will cost an extensive amount of money, with over hundreds of thousands already invested and more needed. Thus, the collective is actively searching for additional resources.

It’s presently on a hunt for colleagues and backers to guarantee it succeeds, and that is why these YouTube recordings are turning out. The initial two recordings in the Inversion project have been transferred, with two more anticipated. They will flaunt the whole thought process and, ideally, animate some fearless people and businesses to go along with them. There’s significantly more to the plan than we could depict here, so look at the magnificent recordings to really comprehend how they will accomplish this.