With their reveal, Franklin certainly showed their showmanship, but once you peel back the flashy layers, the JF-09 is unlike any car that Formula Virtual has ever seen. Let’s start with analysing one of the most obvious evolutions from the JF-08 to the JF-09, and that’s the addition of the V-shaped inlet on the nose of the car, which given its shape, has been aptly dubbed the ‘V-duct’. It appears as though the inlet is there to redirect the airflow from the centre of the nose to the sides of the cockpit to provide additional turbulent air for cooling. It’s certainly not the first time we’ve seen some kind of inlet on the nose, but its design is certainly something we haven’t seen before. The other quite obvious change is the additional sidepod inlets beneath the main ones. On the face of it, this could be providing additional cooling into the radiators to cool the engine. However, there have been rumours that these inlets serve a different purpose, as some suspect that Franklin are using them as Venturi tunnels to feed air to the rear diffuser. When asked about it, Franklin have been quite coy with their responses, giving further credence to the rumours. The JF-09 also appears to have done away with the traditional two plane front wing, now featuring multiple additions, which are likely there to aid in redirecting the airflow to the brake ducts and around the tyres. The aggressive approach, if it works as intended, would likely work very well in clear air, however there are question marks about whether or not this would make the car more susceptible to the turbulent air of other cars. Franklin also appear to have innovated with their wing mirrors, with yet more ducts, likely there to reduce the drag. It’s a minor change, and not something that would likely give a lot of lap time, but it’s the attention to detail that really makes you wonder just how focused Franklin are on returning to past form. Unlike the traditional barge boards we’ve become accustomed to seeing, Franklin have opted to add slots. The idea behind this would be to condition the flow for the rear of the car to stay attached around the sidepod to the diffuser. In addition to this, they’ve also added a winglet on the sidepod, which looks as though it may be taking some of that flow and producing additional rear end downforce. Finally, we have the rear wing slots. These are something that have become fairly commonplace in other formulas, but not something we’ve seen much in Formula Virtual. The idea here is to increase the effective width of the rear wing to further increase downforce. Overall, Franklin have taken an incredibly aerodynamically aggressive approach to the 2021 season. It’s no secret that their 2020 season was by far their worst, but in a year of new regulations, it seems as though they’ve come out all guns blazing for the season ahead.
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