Formula One ... I had no idea!

[Eliems]

If the numbers in this article are true, these F1 cars must be like strapping in to a rocket. Anyone here ever been around the course in one?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula...r#Transmission

[DavidinDurango]

1300#, 800 hp, unmatched road holding, brakes from hell.

What's not to like?

Of course, in the day of the turbo cars . . . 1500hp in qualie trim. I heard the fastest lap record was set without using full throttle.

[LMH]

19,000 RPM too!
R & D, secrecy, testing... it's true auto racing. I've followed it for many years.
Sure isn't NASCAR for sure!
Larry

[eschaider]

F1 cars are the pinnacle of automotive engineering. They simply do it all both in terms of vehicle performance and also engine performance. 19,000 rpm is real and they live there.

The F1 acceleration is impressive. If you take about 620HP in a 2485lb car the 0 to 60 (96.5km) performance interestingly compares very favorably assuming you get hooked up. The F1 car's problem is getting hooked up at low speed. It can easily overpower the tires. Something Cobra owners are only too familiar with.

The 620HP 2485lb car can actually produce a 1.4 second 60 foot time in drag racing trim. This compares very favorably to a 1.9 second F1 time to 100 km/h (62 mph). The F1 is traction limited. Our bragging rights end right about here. Virtually any other dimension of performance you want to choose will find the F1 car margin of performance so great it would appear as if there were two different races being observed.

But if you would like to experience the spectacle of speed an F1 driver feels each time he stands on the loud pedal get a good set of tires for the back of the car and hang on. You're in for a thrill.

Pretty neat when you consider we can just drag these cars out of our garages and experience this kind of performance.

Ed

[Eliems]

The article mentioned G-forces of 5.5 for deceleration, forces so great in corners that the drivers have to weight-train shoulder and neck muscles and that most tracks run in one direction which gives the drivers uneven muscle development and great disadvantage in European tracks going the opposite way.


I gather a man in less than perfect athletic condition wouldn't last ten minutes in the passenger seat! (If there were a passenger seat).

[427sharpe]

Actually, McLaren made a car a few years ago WITH a passenger seat! The rider sat behind and slightly above the driver. Was made so that lucky guys could get to see what the cars could do with a top F1 driver at the wheel. One of the AutoWeek writers scored a ride with Mika Hakkonnen who was the #1 at McLaren at the time. His article was quite good, with his summary being that he now understood the difference between a racing driver and a driver racing.

[Trevor Legate]

Not only McLaren but Arrows and Minardi built two-seaters to give poor unsuspecting fools the ride of their lives...! I know a few people who shelled out circa $2000 to experience 3 laps of Brands Hatch. Although the g-forces under acceleration are amazing and cornering even more bizarre, nobody is ever prepared for the braking forces. This can only be compared to running into the side of a very solid building and this is what has destroyed F1 since the braking zones, even from 200+mph are just a matter of a yards, so passing under braking is all but impossible. Brilliant technology, but returning to steel brakes would actually (whisper it quietly) make for Better Racing. But that aint gonna happen, so we just have to watch the thrill of 'overtaking' during pit stops. Wow, lucky old us.
It seems the two-seaters rarely come out now as I think the teams got a bit fed up with passengers either passing out or throwing up. Also- they had no forward view, so the passenger could only look sideways which was a bit disconcerting and, of course, was so tightly srapped in, it was impossible to move at all.
Whatever, you do have to totally re-adjust your brain for an F1 car as they are like nothing else - they are fighter aircraft that don't take off. (Actually if they had wings that pushed the air up, they could fly. The downforce is such that, if the tunnel at Monaco was long enough, the cars could drive along the roof at anything above 150mph...now there's a thought.)
I've stood alongside an F1 car during a pitstop and that's an experience in itself. I was also watching this year McLaren trying to drive around the Mercedes test track at Brooklands last weekend, and the car really suffered as it couldn't stretch its legs - the traction control kept cutting in and it popped and banged around. The commentator was a long-time race driver who tested a 3-year old F1 car recently - he did three laps at what he thought was a fast pace and had to come in as his neck muscles had given up! If nothing else, those F1 guys are Fit!!!

[Bryan Wilson]

F1 Fireup
Cheers,
Bryan

[troll]

What else is important are the rules and points system.Cautions are real rare (unleess your in Canada this year)Crashes are rare.You make a 5 second error youve lost the race.Rain doesnt stop the races.You can count on when the race is going to be over.

[Excaliber]

I understand they have to weld the manhole covers in place for a street race. The F1 cars generate so much suction (down force), 1500 lbs or so, they could lift the manhole covers off the street.

I also found it interesting that at speed just lifting the throttle alone will generate 1g of braking force from aero drag on the car. 5g if you step on the brakes.

[troll]

I wish they would let some info out about them cars.They all have pneumatic valve springs so whats the big deal with letting info out.It would be interesting reading.

[Igofastr]

The interesting thing about the 19K RPMs being pulled by the motors is that it is a MANDATED upper limit. They COULD do more, but to keep costs down, they aren't allowed.

Went the the US GP a couple of years ago (yes, that one!). The cars are amazing. Nothing close to anything any of us will ever drive. Not your cobra, not your drag car, not your formula atlantic/mazda. Not like anything. Period.

[Richard Hudgins]

Troll,

The pneumatic valve springs were first used by Renault quite a few years ago. There has been many articles and detailed descriptions about them.

See:F1 valves

Del West has been supplying systems since 1997. Del West USA

Also see Pneumatic_valve_gear

The systems are a total loss design. The cars carry a nitrogen bottle that powers the "Springs". You will often see the teams, in particular BMW, attaching a hose to the side pod during pit stops to charge the system.

Don't want to run out of pressure as then the lump will go "KA-BLAMO" as Steve Matchett always says.

[Trevor Legate]

I have just posted a couple of snaps of Alonso's F1 McLaren in My Gallery. Should anyone be interested.

The current F1s are amazing examples of cutting edge engineering - but they lack 'soul' that F1 cars used to have. They are weird, ugly things - why does any 'car' need over thirty aerodynamic devices sprouting from its bodywork? Which is why I no longer attend Grand Prix and watch Historic racing instead, where cars have gear levers, clutches and variable roadholding. Racing is not just about ultimate speed.

[Durt]

Ferrari brought an F-1 racer (Schumi's back up car from the previous season) to the Monterey Historics a couple of years ago. They were going to try to set the Laguna Seca lap record. Just setting the car up was fascinating. Diagnostic computers hooked up to every inch of the car (looked like it was in ICU.) Tires in hot bags that were installed at the last minute. When they fired it up, it sounded like one of those gas engined model airplanes - blasting through ZZ Top's PA system.
The acceleration out of the pits was Star Wars stuff. It went so fast, so quicky, you just had to laugh. The driver had to struggle to keep it lit. These cars are meant to run flat out ... period.
The sound bouncing off of the rolling hills as it wound around the back of the circuit was surreal - like a swarm of giant bees. I was sitting in the straightaway grandstands & the driver went through the gears as fast as he could pull on the levers. It was deafening - but I didn't plug my ears. I loved it. I don't think he broke the record, but at the end of his run did a series of smoky doughnuts. Crowd went nuts.
But I must admit - for sheer volume & power, nothing beat the start of the afternoon Trans-Am group full of Mustangs, Camaros, & Javelins. THAT made you poop your pants.

[ALF]

Check this link:
http://www.bmw-sauber-f1.com/en/index.html

It is the Internet page of the Swiss BWM Sauber Team.

Have a look under the section CAR. It is amazing how many information you can find!

Regards from Switzerland
ALF

P.S.
But I prefer to drive Hill- Climbing Races with my Cobra 289!

[yamoda]

Watch this for a laugh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APiApBXkzJc

[Kzof]

You aint seen nothing until youve seen one of these http://www.theaccelerationarchive.co.../of_a_run.html

[troll]

Last year they were playing Symphonies and national anthems with the engines,(I think ,not sure because of the secert)They change RPM's with a key board to play the tune.That was on the Renault's web site.All these major changes have only really come about in about the last 15 years or so.Before that they were just fast cars.Really its the rules that keep me watching.Dale jr cant win when he runs low on gas,sets a full coarse yellow,then runs down below the line and just barley has enough gas to drive slow under full coasre yellow to take the checkered flag.They use the black flag for that crap.As a rule they just pull over and get out of the way and let the race continue.A yellow flag means no passing.If you do then you have one lap to surrender it back.Or your out with the black flag.
None of this driving your wheaties ad around in low gear.

[Wayne Maybury]

I have been going o the Canadian Grand Prix for quite a few years now. These cars are absolutely amazing. They brake from 300 km per hour to almost zero in little more than 100 yards. They do everything at warp speed and they are safe.

This year a Sauber BMW lost control at 280 km per hour (170 mph) and hit a concrete wall at a bad angle. The driver had a slight concussion and a sprianed ankle. He experienced 75 Gs when he hit the wall, yes 75 Gs and he was basically unhurt.

A couple of years ago, Montoya and Jeff Gordon did a promotional deal at which time they drove each other's car. Both said the handling was good and they were impressed by the power but the most interesting comments were about the brakes. Montoya said a NASCAR race car has no brakes and Gordon said that he thought that his eyes were going to pop right out of his head the first time he pressed on the brakes in the F1 car.

Wayne