Tag: f1

How to save F1

Posted by Shane – May 14, 2009

For those who haven’t been keeping with the wacky world of F1 politics, here is a short primer:

First you must understand the current geography of F1. There are three major bodies involved, the FIA (the rules), the FOM (the money) and the FOTA (the teams). All three would like to reduce the costs associated with operating an F1 team, but they don’t necessarily agree on how to go about it. Currently the FIA and FOM have put forth rules that will allow teams to operate based on one of two strategies. Either you get to have unlimited budgets but limited technical freedom, or you can have a limited budget with more freedom from technical regulations. This may seem like a best-of-both worlds strategy, but I don’t think that it is.

Imagine an F1 world where Renault, Ferrari, McLaren, BMW and Toyota are spending upwards of $200 million dollars a year to compete with teams who have budgets of only $60 million dollars. The big boys will be spending enormous amounts of money, constrained by an overburdened set of technical regulations while the budget teams may be able to beat them with their greater technical freedoms. I can’t imagine Ferrari would be to happy with Lola coming into F1 and being able to run circles around them for a fraction of the cost.

So why wouldn’t the big boys want to run under the currently proposed budget cap? Well, I suppose it doesn’t seem like a worthwhile effort to them. The big name teams are in F1 to express their technical expertise on the world’s grandest motorsports stage. This season in particular has proven to the F1 world that pouring money into your team does not guarantee success. BrawnGP and RBR have begun to run away with the championship lead while the traditional front-runners are floundering. It isn’t because BrawnGP or RBR have spent more money, it is because they are simply doing it better. They are what F1 is all about. A dedicated team of engineers, mechanics and drivers that have crafted a car capable of amazing feats of speed, endurance and reliability.

So how does one fix the current debacle? Easy, at least I think it is easy. Simply begin to transition the cost savings measures from a technical regulation model to a budget cap model. Over the course of a number of seasons allow the teams more technical freedom in exchange for reduced budget caps. But don’t start with $60 million dollars, perhaps that number is attainable in five or more years, but the teams simply cannot be forced into it next year.

One thing I would love to see in F1 is a removal of technical regulations regarding the engine, in conjunction with a reasonable overall budget cap. Currently the engines are 2.4 Liter V8s, limited to 18,000 RPM. Additionally, development on these engines has been frozen for 5 years. That doesn’t seem very F1 to me, F1 is all about development. I would rather the FIA mandate a maximum amount of fuel per race and a restrictor plate. Allow the teams to use any displacement and configuration they want to achieve maximum performance from a specific amount of fuel and air. The size of the restrictor plate should be equal to the current intake volume of the 2.4 Liter V8 running at 18,000 RPM. That way a team could use a 4 cylinder, turbocharged boxer engine if they felt that it provided the best performance, or a supercharged 1 liter, inline 3 cyclinder. The point being that engine development would be a primary differentiator in performance. One other added benefit would be that the teams would be focusing a massive engineering effort on efficiency and fuel economy, something that the motoring public would directly benefit from.

USF1

Posted by Shane – February 24, 2009

via: Autoblog

USF1 has officially announced plans to compete in the 2010 Formula One series. There has been a bit of speculation throughout the interwebs of late regarding this, but nothing official until now. The team will be based in Charlotte, NC and they plan to operate more like a skunk-works than a traditional F1 team. Seems reminiscent of Super Aguri, which saw limited success with a tiny (comparitively) budget.

Of particular note is their intention to be open and accesible to their fans. Traditionally, F1 is a super-secret society, shielding all news and developments from prying eyes. It will be interesting to see just how open they will be.

Amazing F1 Battle!

Posted by Shane – November 6, 2007


Rain Heroes from FUROBOT on Vimeo.

F1 USGP

Posted by Shane – June 18, 2007

Fernando Alonso at the 2007 USGP

Formula 1 racing returned to the United States this weekend. While always enjoyable, this race typically leaves quite a bit to be desired. The design of the track forces the teams to set their cars up for high speed runs through a portion of the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While it is great to see these marvels of engineering hurtling down the track, I prefer to watch them battling through the infield. Unfortunately, the infield racing at Indy is less than spectacular. The trade-offs the teams have to make to achieve high speeds down the straights mean that they have to remove a majority of the aerodynamics that provide the necessary down-force for high speeds throughout the rest of the track. I think it would behoove the FIA to find a track in the United States that better lends itself to the spectacle that is F1 racing. They need a more balanced track. If I wanted to watch cars going fast in straight lines, I would watch an IRL race, or even NASCAR, but I don’t care about that kind of racing. I want to see cars slicing and dicing through tight corners and high speed arcs, not flying down a straight road.

F1 Going Green?

Posted by Shane – May 28, 2007

The governing body of Formula 1 (F1), the FIA, has prescribed a roadmap for engine development in F1 that would have the teams use smaller engines running on bio-fuels in the 2010 racing season. This was decided as a result of the FIA’s decision to have the research and development of the F1 teams provide a more direct impact on the automotive industry. F1 teams have enormous development budgets, if even a small percentage of this is spent helping to increase fuel mileage, or alleviate the dependence on fossil fuels, then I am all for it.

Hopefully, this decision by the FIA will lead to some significant advancements in the automotive industry. I for one think that this is definitely the direction the FIA should be taking. In addition to these changes, I would like to see a few more changes to the rules that I think would benefit the driving public even more:

  1. Decrease fuel cell size to a point where 4-5 pit stops would be required to get through a typical race with current fuel mileage ratios. This would help to increase the miles/km that the cars achieve in order to reduce the number of pit stops that a driver must make to get through a race.
  2. Reinstate a number of the electronic assistance devices that have been removed from the cars. This would help the motoring public immensely by providing safer cars as a result of advancements in traction control.
  3. Remove the mandate of the use of the V-8 engine configuration, but keep the displacement restrictions in place. By allowing the teams to use any engine configuration imaginable they would be using their enormous development budgets to figure out which engine they can squeeze the most power out of.
  4. Allow hybrid technologies in F1 racing! Notice that I said “allow” not mandate. If an F1 team can develop a car that performs better while utilizing some hybrid technologies, then why not allow it? If they decide that storing energy from regenerative braking is worth the extra weight of a dual drive system and batteries, then why not let them do it?

F1 Weekend

Posted by Shane – July 6, 2006

Oh how I enjoy Formula One. I am not an insane fanatic of sports. I enjoy Football (U.S.A. style) and racing, especially F1. I also watch basketball, soccer, rugby, and a few other sports as well. I typically do not plan my life around any sporting events though. I will, however, record an interesting football game occasional. The one sport that I will plan my Sunday around is F1. So, if you have nothing to do on Sunday, watch the Grand Prix du Canada, I know I will.

Formula 1

Posted by Shane – May 22, 2005

I just watched the Grand Prix de Monaco, and I can’t get over how amazing those cars are. They are quite simply the absolute apex of automotive engineering. I find it hard to believe that man is able to engineer a machine that is capable of going as fast as these cars go and for as long. They traveled a total of 260.5km (162 miles) in 1 hour and 45 minutes. That works out to an average speed of 148kph or 92mph. The engines in these cars are 3.0 liter V-10’s that operate at up to 20,000rpm. Now compare this with the average car that operates around 5,000rpm and you can see that these engines revolve an amazing four times faster. The cars produce so much downforce at speed that they would literally be able to drive on the ceiling of a tunnel. Absolutely amazing!

One criticism that I have of Formula 1, and of racing in general, is that there is little emphasis on fuel economy. The FIA (the governing body for F1) has made a number of rule changes coming into the 2005 season, but none of them are aimed at improving fuel economy. The current generation of F1 cars gets, at best, .66 liters per kilometer (3.5 miles per gallon). Now, I am not a proponent of radical rule changes altering the nature of F1 racing, but I would like to see some minor changes to help improve fuel economy. I look at most forms of racing as, first, a very exciting sport but then as a testbed for automotive development. F1 has been absolutely instrumental in advancing the safety of vehicles, increasing horsepower, advancing aerodynamics and improving handling. The budgets of the top F1 teams probably equal budgets of most major automakers. I think it is time, especially considering the current strain on oil reserves, for F1 to pour some development money into improving fuel economy.