Innehållsförteckning för August 2020 från Racecar Engineering

Adam Baker studied engineering in Melbourne, Australia, where he also completed post-graduate studies in law. His career began at Holden in 1998, working on high-performance road car projects for Holden Special Vehicles (HSV). His work there introduced him to the parent company, Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR), who offered him the chance to work in motorsport full time. He started at TWR in 2001, working in the IndyCar series in the United States. In 2002, he switched to Cosworth, moving to Formula 1 and spending one season each with Arrows, Jordan and Jaguar. In 2005, he joined BMW in Munich and worked in a number of roles within BMW-Williams, and later BMW-Sauber, finishing as head of the Race & Test department for F1 powertrain. After eight seasons working trackside in F1,…

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the financial, sporting and technical regulations for the 2020 season and beyond have seen some significant changes, all with the aim of securing the future of the Formula 1 grid. The headlines are that the ‘revolutionary’ 2021 technical and sporting regulations, aimed at reducing costs and generating closer racing, will now be delayed until 2022. However, the new financial regulations that specify the details of the budget cap will still come into effect at the start of next year. As a result, this year’s cars will be carried over to the 2021 season, along with some slightly tweaked technical regulations. For whatever is left of the 2020 season, teams will no longer be able to work on their 2021 (now 2022) chassis For…

‘I’m looking at a video of racecar I’m not allowed to touch until I get to the track’ says Cliff Daniels of Hendrick Motorsports, crew chief to Jimmie Johnson who drives the no.48 Chevy. So it was that NASCAR led the motorsport world back to racing after the Covid-19 lockdown. But the way teams must operate in the current environment is very different to how it was when they downed tools in March. Fortunately, racing is the sort of industry that attracts flexible individuals, and this adaptability has placed NASCAR teams in good stead during the current situation. They have had to handle both social distancing protocols in their race shops and at the track, which has necessarily changed the dynamic between various team members. In the case of Hendrick’s…

Earlier this year, the UK government announced that the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles would be banned from 2035 onwards, five years earlier than initially planned. Other countries continue to follow suit as the world pushes towards the targets set out in the Paris Agreement, which aims to keep the global average temperature increase below 2degC per year. With both countries and car manufacturers continuing to ban internal combustion engine vehicles from their repertoire, the reliance on electric vehicles (EV) is growing. Experts are now predicting there could be over 140 million electric cars on the world’s roads by 2030. This expected boom will leave us with over 11 million tonnes of used lithium-ion batteries that need to be recycled between now and 2030, so researchers across…

It is all well and good expending millions in search of motorsport safety, but what about real world relevance? The FIA is, after all, charged with two pillars of responsibility – Sport and Mobility – and safety is an essential element of both activities. The neck brace, when it comes to fruition, provides one example of the crossover between the two, while a low-cost, safe motorcycle helmet provides another. There are approximately three million motorcycles on the world’s roads, 80 per cent of which are in Asia – a region that has notoriously lax safety standards. Working with Spanish helmet manufacturer NZI, FIA safety engineers refined a helmet design that could be produced at an affordable price and pass UN safety tests. A prototype was completed at the end of…

For young engineers, once they are through education, I believe there is a huge amount of opportunity Motor racing has undergone a dramatic change in the past two decades. Breeding grounds for young engineering talent such as Lola and Reynard have closed in the UK, racecar builders such as Van Diemen have been soaked up by larger companies while, at the other end of the spectrum, motor manufacturers are unsure as to what will be the next propulsion fuel, and are therefore cautious about making investment in any race series, particularly one featuring immature technology such as hydrogen or electric. In the feeder formulae, standardised parts reduce the variety of component suppliers, while long homologation periods for top level cars has rather limited the options. Unsuccessful applicants for a tender…

Sportscar racing just had its mid-engine revolution, which opened many new avenues for creative engineers to exploit For many racing enthusiasts and engineers alike, the original Can-Am series, which ran between 1966 and 1974, has gained near mythical status. Known officially as the Canadian-American Challenge Cup, the series was run for Group 7 Sportscars and benefited from a sizeable purse provided by Johnson Wax. The Group 7 regulations stipulated that a car had to have (room for) two seats and feature covered wheels. Sportscar racing just had its mid-engine revolution, which opened many new avenues for creative engineers to exploit. Aerodynamics also became increasingly important. Above all, the engines fitted grew in size and power substantially, which contributed to Can-Am’s appeal. From an engineering perspective, arguably Can-Am reached its peak…

‘People call that era ‘the good old days’, but they were the bad old days…’Sir Jackie Stewart During Formula 1’s formative years, the sport’s protagonists generally adopted cavalier approaches to safety. Contemporary photographs of Ferrari’s first world championship grand prix winner, Froilan Gonzales, show him racing to victory in the 1951 British Grand Prix in short sleeves, head topped by a yellow helmet bearing two rows of holes – the Argentine punched these into his ‘half lid’ to provide a modicum of cooling. Fast forward a decade and standards were little better. The 1961-’65 Formula 1 regulations include the following paragraphs: ‘Protection against fire: The car shall be equipped with a general circuit-breaker either operating automatically or under the control of the driver.’ Continuing; ‘A fastening system for a safety…

‘The reality is you cannot build a Formula 1 car and a Formula 1 team in half a year’Peter Bayer, FIA general manager – sport Formula 1 is close to reaching the solution to a conundrum that has bothered the series for more than a decade. How to make the category accessible to the very best new teams, without compromising the quality of the existing grid? The category has 10 teams on the grid this season, providing 20 cars using power units from three suppliers. The numbers are encouraging on the face of it and there is certainly strength in numbers, but there are threats to the established competitors that have highlighted to the FIA the importance of opening up the possibility for new teams to join the series. For…

We can win Le Mans. I am not saying we will, but we canJim Glickenhaus Two Glickenhaus 007C LMP-Hypercars will line up on the grid for the Le Mans 24 hours in 2021 after the US team completed the sale of a chassis to a customer, and recently confirmed it was in negotiation to sell a third chassis in time for the big race next year. The identity of the customer team has yet to be revealed, but a press release issued early in June confirmed there would be a two-car factory team at Sebring, Spa and Le Mans. Jim Glickenhaus, who has driven his company’s name forward in racing circles in GT3 racing (see Racecar Engineering V30N6) announced in 2018 he would prepare a Hypercar for the new generation…