Innehållsförteckning för February 2018 från Racecar Engineering

Fangio did not have to prove anything – five world championships with four different manufacturers did all the talking for him With the racing season now at an end, all the championships decided, we are in to the build and testing seasons for 2018. But it’s also a time to look back. Because, for me, the end of the 2017 season marked a fairly major milestone in my life, as my first race was the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, on 7 December 1957. Sixty years in racing has brought a huge cast of characters into my life, of the sort one does not usually meet in a conventional existence, racing being a high risk, high intensity sport, and like a circus – after which it is named – also highly…

In Formula 1 brake ducts are crucial engineering tools. They are complex carbon structures located on the inner wheel and they guide oncoming air into the brake system to cool the brake pads and discs, which can exceed temperatures of 1000degC. Brake cooling systems can also be designed to influence the tyre temperature, using the hot air coming off the discs. Establishing the optimum working temperature ranges of both the tyres and brakes and adjusting the set-up to get within these windows is one of many trackside headaches for a Formula 1 race engineer. However, get this right and not only does the tyre grip increase, but braking distances reduce; both contributing to saving several tenths of a second per lap. Of course, maximising these lap time gains from a…

‘We have always said, we race either a model we want to display, or relevant technology’ Has there ever been such a smorgasbord of categories for manufacturers to choose from as there is right now? On top of the usual fare of Formula 1, sportscars, touring cars and rallying, there is now also Formula E – which ticks the green box – and burgeoning customer sport formulae, which appeases the accountants. So options have to be weighed up and choices made, which means a clear grasp of what the company really wants from its racing programmes is imperative if you’re to succeed as a motorsport boss. While for Jens Marquardt, BMW’s motorsport director, the choice also has to be refined. The planned Le Mans Prototype programme was cancelled and shows…

Yusuke Hasegawa is no longer the head of Honda’s Formula 1 effort, following a management restructure within its F1 business by the Japanese manufacturer. Hasegawa,endured a trying 2017 season as the Honda power unit failed to deliver on both the performance and the reliability fronts, which ultimately ended in a split with McLaren – its partner for three seasons – and a deal with Toro Rosso for 2018. In his post at the head of the F1 project, Hasegawa was responsible for both engine development in Sakura in Japan and the firm’s operations at F1 races. This role now no longer exists, and the responsibilities have been split in to two. Toyoharu Tanabe is now F1 technical director and will concentrate on racing and testing operations, while it’s been reported…

It’s more likely the addition of works and customer engines, even teams, to F1 might well come from corporations that don’t produce cars at all Recently a touch of romance has been seen in Formula 1, with the return of the Alfa Romeo name to the sport, and now possibly Maserati, too. There are hard-headed business reasons, of course, for Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne’s decisions to badge the Scuderia’s power units as such and supply the former to the Sauber team and the latter, maybe, to Haas. Both of these legendary Italian manufacturers have struggled for decades to survive, let alone to do so profitably. Alfa has, especially, never cut it in the American market. With Liberty’s US ambitions for F1 this might be a shrewd decision for pepping up…

Formula 1 is exploring options for its future, especially regarding power units. Proposals for the 2021 power unit regulations suggest that, similar to Formula E, all cars will utilise identical batteries and control electronics. This has not proven to be universally popular. Here’s Andy Cowell’s take on it. ‘I think Formula 1 should be a technology development platform for key technologies in the automotive world. There is not a single motor manufacturer out there that is saying that battery development is unimportant, there is not a single government in the world that is saying that battery development is unimportant. ‘I personally feel that it makes sense to use the competitive ingenuity platform that is F1 to drive better development,’ Cowell adds. ‘This would see the energy density going up, the…

Fuel injector technology has progressed greatly in the automotive world in recent times, mainly from an emissions standpoint. And, inevitably, these advancements in technology eventually transition across to the motorsport environment. The main driver of their use in motorsport can vary between utilising base engine platforms that feature these technologies, or exploiting their benefits within motorsport applications. Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) is now widely used in motorsport across all sorts of applications and it is rare nowadays to find a port fuel injection (PFI) engine, but some engines also combine both port and direct injection technologies together. Four phases There are four distinct phases when configuring a GDI injector: • Pre-magnetisation phase – where the battery voltage is applied to the injector and modulated to wet the injector coil. No…

Aston Martin has recruited ex-Ferrari engine chief Joerg Ross as it continues to evaluate an F1 engine project from 2021. Ross actually joined Aston in August to work on road car engines but has now moved within the organisation to lend his experience to the Formula 1 evaluation. He will work alongside Luca Marmorini, also a former Ferrari engine boss, who was taken on as a consultant (see January’s issue, V28N1) but has now been hired on a permanent basis. NASCAR outfit Richard Childress Racing (RCR) has appointed Andy Petree as its new vice president of competition while Dr Eric Warren is now its chief technology officer. Petree joins RCR on a full-time basis after he was brought in in an advisory role in October. Warren, who has served in…

There might only be 100 fans, yet there may be one million spectators Much has been made of the UK government initiative to ban the sale of internal combustion engine powered cars in 2040. But if you really read what was said, the majority of cars will have moved to a form of electrification by then, and that is an admission, but clearly they see electrification and electric power as the future. It does not mean that on that date all internal combustion engine cars will disappear. There is an acceptance that a form of hybridisation may go a further way than we imagine. Using an ICE in a smaller, more efficient form, coupled with faster charging and storage of electricity, is certainly on the roadmap. The target date is…

Over the past few months I have attended races on many different continents. From the final round of the IMSA United Sportscar Championship at Road Atlanta, to the Intercontinental GT race at Laguna Seca, then the Macau Grand Prix, and on to Formula E in Hong Kong. It has been a smorgasbord of racing, not only different disciplines but also different racing philosophies and powertrain solutions. The conversations in the paddocks have been as illuminating as the racing itself. There has been fan-focused racing (IMSA), racing pretty much for for a virtual audience (Formula E), manufacturer racing and customer racing. Then there’s been the contrast between gasoline and electric powertrains, too. The long-haul flights have given me time to ponder the sport and how it may develop in the future…

What the Model T really needs most urgently is some form of damping QUESTION Could you tell me how to determine the front and rear roll centre for a Model T Ford? Most modern books only talk about the SLA suspensions. The Model T has a buggy spring at both front and rear locations. The ends of each spring has one end of the spring shackle attached to it, and the other end of the spring shackle is attached to a perch that is attached to the axle. I do not know where to determine the roll centre from; the line through the spring shackle where it attaches to the spring or the line through where the spring shackle attaches to the spring perch? Or is there another factor used…

The response may have been partly due to blockage under the wing The UK’s 750MC Bikesports series is numerically dominated by Radicals, but a new car arrived in 2017, the two-seater Honda 1000cc-powered Aries Sabre. With body design input from Enrique Scalabroni, the Sabre has shown good intrinsic pace with a new Class C (up to 1100cc) lap record at Snetterton, in September 2017, where it also pushed for an overall podium place against the larger Hayabusa-engined Class A and B cars, until chain drive problems led to retirement. With up to 40 per cent less power than its bigger capacity category counterparts the aerodynamic emphasis on the Sabre is different. The car had been running a simple flat splitter, a ‘placeholder’ wing mounted high and forwards of the tail,…

This study throws up an interesting discussion point. While the non-Kevlar head restraint does soften a smaller blow to the head, which are far more common among drivers and according to Tota are regularly reported, it is actually a critical safety factor in the larger impacts that the headrests are designed for. The headrest is designed so that at full deformation the driver’s head does not strike a structural point of the car, but the peak load that the FIA regulation is designed for is 300g. Without the Kevlar, the Nomex foam would ‘bottom out’ faster and would therefore be of less use in a case of high impact, and may actually increase the severity of any injury. The peak load, as shown in this article, is actually higher. One…

Jean Todt was re-elected as president of the FIA at the body’s General Assembly in Paris in December. The former Ferrari F1 boss, whose career in motorsport started as a rally co-driver, stood unopposed and will now hold the post – which he has filled since taking over from Max Mosley in 2009 – until the end of 2021. FIA rules say only three terms as president are allowed, so this will be Todt’s final spell in charge. Todt was confirmed in the position with a show of hands at the General Assembly, following which he said: ‘It is gratifying to have such universal support. I would like to thank all of the member clubs of the FIA for their support. ‘I see this as a validation of the direction…