Dive planes in 2018 WRC rally cars

Snowbanks in the recent Rally of Sweden has put once again in trouble the refined aerodynamic design of the 2017 WRC cars. All teams have suffered at different moments from losing different parts. One of the most exposed, due to its location, are the dive planes. Pictures below show how all teams suffered from losing them during the rally.

AUTOMOBILE: WRC Sweden - WRC -15/02/2018picture by Michelin

M.Ostberg/T.Eriksen, Citroën C3 WRC, Rally of Sweden 2017, 6th

andreas nodive planes ir7at.jpgpicture by Harald Illmer – iR7.at

A.Mikkelsen/A.Jaeger, Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC, Rally of Sweden 2017, 3rd

ford no dive plane.jpgpicture extracted from WRC+ images

S.Ogier/J.Ingrassia, Ford Fiesta WRC, Rally of Sweden 2017, 10th

ott tanak no dive planes michelin.jpgpicture by Michelin

O.Tanak/M.Jarveoja, Toyota Yaris WRC, Rally of Sweden 2017, 9th

Although small in size, dive planes are essential for keeping the aerodynamic balance of the car, which translates into a good car handling. Losing any of these planes can convert a car into an undrivable machine, as downforce generated in the rear of the car becomes unbalanced, and the car can easily lose cornering ability (understeering) and power (traction).

This is the reason why they were introduced for the first time in rally cars in 2017, in pursuit of aerodynamic balance to fully exploit all the downforce generated, and thanks to the higher design margins engineers found on the new regulations approved in 2016.

Also known as dive plates or canards, the name of dive planes comes from its resemblance with the winged appendages on submarines. They consist in winglets usually made with carbon fiber reinforced plastic, and mounted on both sides of the front bumper, just ahead of the front wheel arches. They cannot protrude outside the existing outer line of the car body.

The picture below shows Montecarlo 2018 dive planes configuration for all WRC teams.

2018 dive planes.jpgpictures 1 and 2 by Nacho Mateo, 3 by @world and 4 by Honza Fronek

Comparative of dive plane configuration at the start of season 2018

In all cases, they have the shape of an inverted airfoil, at considerable angles of attack: the higher the angle, the higher the downforce generated by pressure difference, but also the higher the drag. That’s why engineers use the lift to drag ratio, as a measure of the gain in lift related to the drag impact.

Most of the teams use two dive planes, except Hyundai, who moved from two to one by the end of last season. Apart from supplying some extra downforce, the second plane can be very useful in case of damage of the other one.

Also, most of them are isolated, while Fiesta’s upper and Citroen’s lower planes connect with the fender, leading to dead ends which probably contribute to increasing drag.

al qassimi Cat17 signed

K.Al-Qassimi/C.Patterson, Citroën C3 WRC, Rally Catalunya 2017, 17th

They are a similar size in the case of Citroën and Hyundai, while Toyota uses longer planes. The upper dive plane of the Ford Fiesta WRC is the longest…while the lower is the smallest.

In some cases, they incorporate side lips (Toyota), to better channel airflow. Also note the presence of a small wing on top of the fender, in order to protect air exiting from wheels on top of the fender from airflow coming from dive planes.

yaris ondra beneda.jpgpicture by Ondra Beneda

Toyota Yaris WRC, Montecarlo Rally 2018

Other configurations have been used in the past season by Hyundai and Toyota, going into opposite direction: Hyundai removed one of them, while Toyota added a second one. Also, Hyundai removed the side lips, while Toyota added them.

paddon.jpgpicture by Hyundai Motorsport

H.Paddon/S.Marshall, Hyundai i20 Coupé WRC, Rally of Finland 2017, ret.

yaris lappi signed

J.Hännninen/K.Lindström, Toyota Yaris WRC, Rally Catalunya 2017, 4th

Citroën tested a modification of the upper dive plane in September 2017 tests. It consisted of a prolongated plane, up to the top of the fender. Such solution has not been seen in any other test session since then.

Loeb test sep20th bV.jpgpicture extracted from Jaume Soler video

S.Loeb/D.Elena, Citroën C3 WRC, Test in Spain, September 2017

The main advantage of dive planes is that they can generate downforce on both the front and rear of the car. On the front of the car, and due to their airfoil shape, downforce is generated by pressure difference on both sides of the plane (high on the upper side, lower below the plane), although at a certain drag cost.

But the presence of the dive planes has an additional effect: they generate a line of vortices that travel alongside the car, acting as a barrier that prevents air from entering under the car. The lowest the amount of air below the car, as we already saw in our previous post on undercar aerodynamics, the higher the downforce at the car rear. But, for this to happen, dive planes have to be designed so they send the vortices line in parallel to side skirts, while the orientation of most of the current dive planes suggest the line is sent upwards, and this effect might be not achieved.

Other minor contributions of dive planes are that they help to convert turbulent airflow reaching the front of the car into laminar (which is more effective for downforce generation) or they redirect air into top of the fenders or even into the rear wing (also generating additional downforce and reducing drag).

They can also have a negative impact, in case they are located too close to the front splitter, leading to the interaction of high and low pressure areas, which makes lose efficiency to both.

Further interesting info about dive planes can be found here, as well as from this video by Kyle.Engineers.


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