Innehållsförteckning för August 2017 från Racecar Engineering

The toilets overflowed on to the track, causing the race leaders to spin off Considering the time spent in paddocks, it is not surprising that a fundamental part of racecraft is to locate and inspect the track’s conveniences as soon as you have finished the first job of collecting the garage keys. Most tracks have now caught up with the 20th century, and in Japan even the 21st, and most F1 level tracks now have toilets in each and every pit. But for a very long time toilets really lived up to the English epithet, bogs. So much so that any hardcore racer developed an iron bladder and granite bowels, knowing that when one left the hotel bodily functions would be locked-down until the return, and in the case of…

These centring springs can easily be made as stiff or as soft as you desire QUESTION I recently saw a rear-engined Renault that had centring springs built into its steering rack. I’ve never seen that before. Why did they do this? Is this a good idea, or a crutch for bad design? THE CONSULTANT I don’t think they’re a bad idea. There are other ways to make the steering seek a vehicle centreline centre, but they aren’t necessarily better. The most common way is to use some front view steering axis inclination (SAI) combined with some positive front view steering offset (ISO term) or scrub radius (SAE term). This causes both front wheels to gain positive camber with steer and lift the car at the lower ball joints – or…

It was not unknown for Eric to disappear for a few days and then turn up with a wind tunnel model that he had crafted at home tucked under his arm My first love was aeroplanes, as a kid. Fast cars and racing cars were also on my radar but it wasn’t until I saw a picture in Autosport of the stunning, just-announced, Lola GT that racecars really took hold. It’s still amazing to me that 30 years later I became joint managing director of the company that produced the groundbreaking automobile that so grabbed my attention, working alongside Eric Broadley – its designer, Lola Cars founder and subsequently my co-managing director – who died in May. The Lola Mk6, to give the GT its correct model number, was the…

The future of Formula 1 power units is unclear. A new set of technical regulations is due to be introduced in 2021, but there remains great uncertainty about what shape they will take. Some in the sport have called for units which are far less complex, while others have even suggested a return to normally aspirated V8s. ‘The discussions, of course, are ongoing, but there are two things we are expecting,’ Hasegawa says. ‘Firstly, Formula 1 power units will still have a very high level of technology, it must remain the pinnacle of technology, and secondly the technology must also have relevance to production cars. If it is different to that and there is a very low level of technology we will be very disappointed. Having a hybrid system is…

On top of ECUs increasing their capabilities outside of engine management, recent developments in engine technology, such as Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI), have also increased the complexity of engines, demanding even more from ECUs. ‘GDI is injecting the fuel directly into the engine, rather than into the air inlet system and as a result the injection time has to be much shorter,’ says Mike Skinner of GEMS. ‘Therefore, you need high flow rate injectors which run at much higher pressure, such as 200bar instead of 5bar. The injectors also need to open very quickly and that’s achieved through having a high voltage. Approximately 80V allows a high rising current within the injector which enables it to snap open incredibly quickly and then you have the injection period.’ In a simple…

‘My goal is clear. We will finish on the podium at Le Mans in the next five years’ Dome’s DNA stretches back to 1965, when Minoru Hayashi built his first racecar, a Honda S600. Over the next decade he constructed a number of other competition vehicles until in 1975 he formally founded Dome. The company went on to become the leading private racecar constructor in Japan to the point that in the mid-1990s a very serious attempt to enter Formula 1 was made. In more recent years Dome has developed a series of Le Mans prototypes and Formula 3 cars and it was also responsible for the development of Honda’s GT500 Super GT cars up until 2013. But in 2015 it was announced that Hayashi would be retiring from…

Prodrive founder David Richards is to be the new MSA chairman, succeeding BTCC boss Alan Gow at the head of UK motorsport’s governing body. In this role, which Richards will take up on January 1 2018, he will be tasked with deciding the direction of the MSA, which represents over 30,000 competitors, 750 clubs and 10,000 volunteers and officials. Richards is boss of famed motorsport engineering concern, Prodrive, which he set up in 1984. Prodrive has been successful in the World Rally Championship with Subaru and has more recently run Aston Martin’s international sportscar racing programme. Before setting up Prodrive Richards was an international rally co-driver, winning the world championship sitting alongside Ari Vatanen in 1981. In his business career he has also spent time in charge of Aston Martin,…

Don’t get distracted by inaccurate waffle from politicians, media, polls or pessimistic forecasters – focus on finding the positives What a great start to the summer: exciting, close racing in Formula 1, stunning battles at Le Mans, the BTCC just getting better all the time and M-Sport leading the World Rally Championship. We could even enjoy the fun of Alonso getting close to success in the Indy 500. This kind of action will certainly bring back the fans, giving motorsport a great future. Now for UK motorsport businesses: what on earth are we doing to ourselves in the UK? This started when the Brexit vote split the country and brought about a change in Prime Minister. The recent General Election then showed another clear split in the political choice –…

Society will demand a transition to what is called Transport-as-a-Service (TaaS) It may be unusual to write a column in this magazine that is nothing to do with motorsport. However, the subject of this piece does have massive implications for the technologies and businesses of racing, and I feel it is better for the readers of RE to make up their own minds about how it will ultimately affect them. The subject is a report titled: Rethinking Transportation 2020-2030 – The Disruption of Transportation and the Collapse of the Internal-Combustion Vehicle and Oil Industries, by James Arbib and Tony Seba. The authors are both academic specialists in the field of disruption technologies and have developed methods for modelling them. In applying these techniques to transportation and energy, they come to…

Here’s an insight into the mind of Neil Oatley, who was the chief designer behind five championship winning McLaren’s during the 1990’s and is now the director of Design and Development. ‘The quicker we can iterate, the faster we will be. One of my biggest challenges is to convert ideas into real parts in the shortest time available. In the ’80s, we used to manufacture one front wing a year and now we manufacture five completely new designs. It’s unlikely that the wing will remain the same from one race to another. Using rapid prototyping and 3D printing we can bring components to the car quicker.’ In January this year, McLaren joined forces with Stratasys, global leaders in 3D printing. Under this partnership Stratasys revamped McLaren’s suite of 3D printing…

With 1000bhp available drag was not a primary issue with this car Our current MIRA full-scale wind tunnel project car, the Nissan R35 GT-R of London-based Australian Anthony Gaylard, will be used to attempt a sub-seven minute lap of the Nurburgring’s Nordschleife circuit. The car is road legal and has been assembled and developed by UKbased Litchfield Motors, featuring 1000bhp, Ohlins-tuned suspension, Alcon brakes and an aerodynamics kit based on NISMO GT3 components. But with uncertainty about the car’s actual aerodynamic characteristics – in particular its front to rear downforce balance – prior to coming to the wind tunnel, our session provided valuable data and insights on attaining that all-important balance with the highest possible downforce level. The previous instalments, in our June and July issues, examined the GT-R’s baseline…

Formula 1 chairman Chase Carey was the official starter for this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours. F1’s new owner, Liberty Media, has made it clear it would like to see greater cooperation between international motorsport series, especially when it comes to avoiding calendar clashes for big events. The ACO said Carey’s role as starter symbolises the start of a new relationship between it and F1. Former McLaren Formula 1 CEO Jost Capito has rejoined Volkswagen, where he had led its all-conquering WRC team until 2016 as head of the motorsport division. He is now managing director of Volkswagen R and Volkswagen Zubehor. The former is VW’s competence centre for design- and performance-oriented products, while the latter develops and markets vehicle accessories. Australian Supercars outfit Mobil 1 HSV Racing has terminated…

Eric Broadley, the founder of Lola and a visionary racecar designer in his own right, has died at the age of 88. A former quantity surveyor, Broadley was a self-taught engineer with a hands-on approach. His first car, the 1100cc Mk1, was an instant success and from there Lola went on to build cars for just about every formula you might care to mention. Among these were iconic sportscars such as the luscious T70, a bevy of spectacular Formula 5000s, and a host of other racecars for everything from Formula Ford to Group C and Formula 1. There was plenty of success, too, including three Indianapolis 500 wins – the first of these with Graham Hill back in 1966. And while it’s always supposed Lola didn’t quite crack Formula 1,…

The 85th edition of the Le Mans 24 hours was, to my mind, a classic. There was drama in the failures of the manufacturer cars, there were the usual accidents, there was an incredible pole position lap from Kamui Kobayashi and, at the end of it, a strategic decision based on risk management delivered Porsche victory over the LMP2 privateers. Yet post race the talk was all about how complicated these cars have become and that the technology should be dragged back somehow, that the manufacturers should hang their heads in shame and it’s someone’s fault at the ACO and in the FIA that there were technical issues. Sorry, but all I can say to that is, bullshit. The technical changes since 2016 have been mainly aero, and what happened…