Innehållsförteckning för September 2024 från Racecar Engineering

The fact Edith Cowan University (ECU) transported its car from Australia to the UK by air freight shows just how seriously it took this year’s Formula Student contest at Silverstone. Not wanting to lose weeks of vehicle access to a time-consuming sea freight voyage, the Perth-based institution chose the more expensive, but much quicker, option of flying. The car arrived two weeks prior to the competition, giving enough time for customs checks and preparation by the team. ECU last contested the British version of the inter-university racecar design competition in 2016. Its return came after winning Formula Student Australia with the WR-7, an internal combustion engine-powered car sporting wings for downforce and a unique rear suspension layout. Being able to then compete against electric and hybrid-powered cars in the British…

Before Richard Hilleman established himself as a big name in the computer gaming industry, as co-producer of the renowned Madden American football series, he was a motorsport fanatic. His obsession with all forms of motorsport, and its emphasis on cutting-edge technology, dovetailed nicely with his ambitions as a gaming pioneer. After releasing nearly 40 titles in the mid-1980s, Hilleman helped expand the then tiny sphere of racing games as producer of 1989’s Indianapolis 500: The Simulation, hailed as the first to move the racing video game away from the arcade and towards the budding world of realism. Some 15 years later, he made his first foray into real-life motorsport by electrifying a CRG go-kart with a motor from an electric motorcycle. Putting this new powertrain in a lightweight, proven package…

British engine manufacturer, Cosworth, has been selected to provide the engine for Red Bull’s RB17 Hypercar, which made its debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. Development of the 90-degree, V10 engine started in 2023, and is lifed to 24,000km, due to the imposed 15,000rpm rev limit. The engine uses the same air valve technology as grand prix racing engines, and meets the Euro 6 vehicle emission standard. Cosworth’s latest engine sits alongside the 6.5-litre V12 that powers the Aston Martin Valkyrie, the 3.9-litre V12 in Gordon Murray’s T.50 and the 8.3-litre V16 power unit in Bugatti’s Tourbillon. ‘Developing this V10 for a multiple Formula 1 world championship-winning business such as Red Bull is fantastic for the Cosworth brand, especially when we can let this one ring out…

FORMULA 1 – MCLAREN MCL38 The numbers say it all. McLaren has produced one of the biggest turnarounds in form during Formula 1’s current four-season regulation cycle, which started in 2022 and concludes at the end of next year. In the first season of the rules, the British team scored 159 points, finishing a modest fifth in the World Constructors’ Championship table. At the midway point of the current campaign, it had already registered 295 points, and was right behind Ferrari in second. Even without factoring in sprint races, which have grown in number since 2022 and offer more chances to score points, McLaren was 127 points better off after 12 races this season than it was after all 22 races two years ago. In that time, the team has…

Some years ago, Patrick Depailler, the rather wild but very quick Formula 1 driver, tried a superkart out for size. After a few laps he pitted and declared he could ‘put one of these on pole at the Monaco Grand Prix.’ Or words to that effect, in French. Whether or not that was true is up for discussion over a beer, but what’s not in doubt is that these spectacular little machines are very fast indeed. How fast? These days, 0 to 60mph is around 2.3 seconds for the top class, while they can hit speeds of close to 145mph on some circuits. However, it’s on the tight and twisty tracks they really come into their own. Places such as Cadwell Park in the UK, where a superkart holds the…

The humble fuel cell (the petrol holding device rather than the proton exchange membrane, hydrogen-eating type) rarely makes it into the headlines unless something spectacular happens. Romain Grosjean’s fiery escapade at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix being the perfect example. Most of the time the unsung hero that is the fuel cell goes about its business, keeping drivers safe from an inferno, despite being subjected to incredible forces during high-speed crashes. It is a testament to the high specification of fuel cells that the regulations governing their construction have remained largely unchanged since 1999. That’s right, FIA standards FT3, 3.5 and 5-1999 have been around for a quarter of a century, but work is currently (albeit slowly) under way to update the standard, as detailed in the sidebar on p57.…

Any GT3 series able to boast an average grid of more than 50 cars for over 10 years has to be deemed a success, and that’s precisely what the GT World Challenge Endurance Cup has achieved since 2011. This is backed up by large grids in other GTWC series run by the same promoter, SRO Motorsports Group. However, there are several threats to the GTWC global structure, which also operates in Asia, America and Australia. The first is the prevalence of GT3, which became part of the FIA World Endurance Championship this year. Not only has this increased pressure on the competing car manufacturers (and on where they spend their marketing budgets), but it also has also led to scheduling issues. Talking the torque One of the main challenges, though,…

French tyre company, Michelin, which has the contract to supply the top classes of the WEC and IMSA, has delayed by one year the introduction of a new tyre that was originally set for 2025. First reported by Endurance-Info, the new tyre’s test programme has been blighted by poor weather, first at Portimão in March and then at a back-up test at Austin in late July. This restricted Michelin’s real-world data and meant it couldn’t produce the final tyre in time for official series tests at the end of the year. A new schedule includes testing in Bahrain after the WEC season finale in early November, and at various rounds next year to allow teams to prepare fully for the new tyre in 2026. The new product aims to increase…

HYDROGEN RACING – EXTREME H Hydrogen has been part of the future fuels debate in motorsport for a while now, but its stock will rise considerably next year when the first hydrogen racing series kicks off. Hydrogen-fuelled demonstrator cars have appeared in series such as Le Mans Cup and Super Taikyu, but those have been individual cases. By contrast, the FIA Extreme H Championship will pit identical hydrogen-fuelled cars against each other over the course of a five-round international season. The series is the latest brainchild of Alejandro Agag, the Spanish politician and businessman who introduced us to Formula E a decade ago. Extreme H will supersede Extreme E, the all-electric off-road series that, during its four-year lifespan, has held races in locations where the damaging impacts of climate change…

Aston Martin has begun track testing its Valkyrie AMR Pro-based LMH car in preparation for the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA seasons. Aston Martin factory drivers have tested the car at Silverstone and Donington ahead of next year’s opening round of the IMSA series at Daytona in January. The Valkyrie features a version of the carbon tub taken from the road car, and a lean-burn development of the Cosworth V12 engine that has been de-tuned to meet the FIA’s performance window. The aerodynamics have also been re-designed to fit within the lift / drag window prescribed by the regulations. ‘The Valkyrie AMR-LMH sets its own standard as a thoroughbred endurance competition car,’ says Adam Carter, Aston Martin head of endurance motorsport. ‘While it is very early in the…

The FIA has launched a pair of new classes, collectively called TC Lite, aimed at providing a low-cost entry point into touring cars by utilising an existing rally car architecture. TC Lite will sit below the global TCR platform and will consist of two tiers: TCL4 and TCL5. These will share base technical regulations with the Rally4 and Rally5 classes. The convergence means that Rally4 and Rally5 cars, such as Ford Fiestas and Renault Clios, can race on the track as TC Lites with only minor modifications, which will be laid out in an appendix to their rulebook. The minimum weight will be reduced to take into account the loss of a spare wheel, hand-held fire extinguishers and other tools that are carried in a rally car. TC Lite versions…

McLaren Applied’s VCU-500 vehicle controller, ATLAS data analysis software and tyre pressure monitoring systems have all been selected for the latest generation MissionH24 concept that aims to develop hydrogen technology for endurance racing. MissionH24 revealed its latest iteration of the car, which is based on an LMP3 chassis, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, and it is set to run during the event next year. The project is not intended for competition, but rather as a test bed in preparation for the top-class cars that will compete in 2029. The likelihood is that the class will run with hydrogen as a fuel in an internal combustion engine after rumours abound that manufacturers are moving away from the fuel cell idea in technical working group meetings. ‘Our VCU-500…