BerniModels

Red Bull Racing RB07 - 2011 Formula One World Champion


Project Introduction - aims


After having finished the Renault R26 project, I decided to start looking to a follow up. The aim of building the scale models always had  the objective of building as many parts by myself as possible to get a realistic  looking (and functional) car. I started back in 1999 with the McLaren, which featured a sheet metall monocoque and cast iron V8 non-running engine. Then, with the F2004 model a new genere of RC-model was created as a combination of an external realistic car with RC car internals that could be raced. The car was made in glass fiber with some metal fabricated parts. The next car, R26 was an evolution rather than a revolution in the sense that there was little phylosophy change in the goal of the project. However, all parts of the car got improved and the package was much more complete.

With the input received from the Youtube comments and other online sources, I feel that some people out there is more focused on the performance, rather than in the aesthetics. All these comments are welcome and every input is valuable. Having said that, it was never the intention of the R26 model to be a good racing car for RC standards but a realistic dynamic show car, on the basis of an F1 car at 1:5 scale.

The state of the art in RC models is moving more and more to highly sofisticated electronic vehicles that carry cameras, data acquisition systems, auto-pilots, etc onboard. This is preety cool and allows the user to add extra functionality to its model, creating a more realistic experience. At the moment, all this technology is more applied onto planes but it is definelty something very intresting for a car.

The scope for the new project was set to incorporate extra functionality (with onboard cameras, real time telemetry, more pilot-to-car interaction) and a trully focus on performance. All that, on the basis of previous models philosophy: self builfing a Formula 1 1/5 car model.

Most of the electronics are like add-ons onto your car, with little impact on the design. However, in order to improve performance to higher level, a radical change had to be made on the design. It was clear that the current engines used (1/8 engine on a 1/5 car) even thou suit very well the aestetics of the car, allowing for a very tight rear end, cannot deliver enough torque to move a +6kg car as a normal 1/8th RC car would. No available RC engines suit this requirements and therefore a new engine has to be self designed and buit. The only way to obtain higher power and keep the realism of the car is to run a multi cylinder engine, that can be packed together with the chassis and driveline inside the rear bodywork. That will bring extra realism and value to the scale model and at the same time make the project extremelly challenging.

Car choice

By mid 2011, the Formula 1 season was well underway and the championchip was almost decided. At the end of the season, with both titles secured for two years in a row by Red Bull, it is the strongest team at the moment and leads the technical development of Formula 1. The car looks phenomenal and presents many technical details that differ from the previous cars I had built. Here are some examples: pull-rod suspension, moveable rear wing, larger front wing and narrower sidepods and rear end. All this combined with the new slick tires and cleaner aerodynamic features.

Here are some of the interesting details featured by the Red Bull RB07 (all of them are taken from 2010 RB06, Owners' Workshop Manual, Ed. Haynes):

Engine showing the oil tank, that is mounted behind the chassis. Note the exhaust point down to create the blown difuser effect.

Front suspension assembly with multimatic dampers (bottom tilted and horizontal top). Antiroll bar horizontally mounted.

Gear box core exposed. It actually belongs to the RB4. Each gear is 12 mm wide.

To complete the literature review, here are two good sources that for sure will prove usefull:

RedBull Racing F1 car (RB06 2010) Ed. Haynes: quite some interesting book with detail pictures of F1 internals. Most of them are from old Red Bull cars but are still valuable. It is interesting that the pull - rod suspension and gear box area are not shown at all through pictures or diagrams.

Minichamps Miniature Models - Red Bull RB06 (2010): There is no model available of the Red Bull RB07 that can be purchased at a reasonable price. No big changes are found between the 2011 and 2010 cars in therms of chassis.