 Great
pains were taken to reduce the amount of protuberances from the
mechanical
package into the tunnel section. The AMR-1's entire engine,
bellhousing, and gearbox
were tilted 3°
to pick those volumes up out of the way of the
tunnel. The gearbox was a bespoke design, with the gearcluster
ahead of the rear wheel centerline, and designed so that it didn't
protrude into the tunnel volume. The leading edge of the Aston's
tunnels started about
where the monocoque ended, and the outer tunnel walls
were parallel to car centerline along the tunnel's entire length,
forming one long diffuser from the end of the tub to the tunnel exit. |
Originally
the AMR-1's exhaust exited the car ahead of the rear wheel. But a
later development introduced at Brands Hatch featured the exhaust
gas piped directly into the diffuser. This would have improved the diffuser's efficiency, but also possibly made
downforce throttle-dependent, leading to potentially destabilizing
balance changes on/off throttle.
The AMR-1's rear wing.
The
"flap" was unusual in that there was no slot gap. It is
effectively a single element wing with an adjustable trailing edge
extension.