F1 Most liked posts in thread: F1 - 2013

That's some beat up wheels!

 

A quick breakdown of part costs on F1 cars. I won't be buying one any time soon....

How much do Formula 1 cars cost? - F1 news | MSN Sport UK

 

Sauber F1 Team | Vertrag steht und erste Zahlungen sind erfolgt

So it's a "go" then.

 

I hadn't noticed that before. That seems kind of bogus to me, to be honest. Adrian Newey must be pitching a fit on that one.

 

100KG of fuel.......looks like a formula for a parade.

 

So here is a thought. And no, I did not stay at the Holiday Inn Express, I just drove by one. Could that 160 HP of KERS for 8 seconds a lap( or what ever) be used for fuel saving (and therefore carrying a smaller load) vs passing? Certainly we've seen slow (relatively speaking) and steady strategy pay off a few times. If teams get the math right, smaller fuel load, easier on the tires, etc.. could be food for thought?

Or am I too smart for my own good?

 

Or maybe not. The KERS is recovering energy that has been produced by the engine from fuel, and doesn't produce any energy on its own. So it's not an extra power source, just a way of getting more out of the existing fuel.

Teams do use a fuel-saving strategy at times - the simplest is a few seconds of coasting before applying the brakes, but you can tell the guys doing this, as they're the ones being passed.

 

I thought KERS was recovering braking energy, and the new ERS is some kind of turbine hooked to the turbo? I'm not really sure how that's supposed to work without leaching energy from the turbo pretty badly since the turbine will have a certain amount of resistance to being turned, which would reduce the turbo's effectiveness. But that aside, I think the braking energy portion would still be around somehow.

Actually, I'd really like to know a lot more about those systems. I know Williams uses some kind of mechanical flywheel for energy storage rather than batteries, but I really don't know as much I'd like to. I think they sold their flywheel design to Audi for Le Mans.

In any event, F1 has often been about managing some kind of resource, from engines to gearboxes, and currently tires. Next year maybe we'll get some more durable tires to offset the fuel managing? I dunno. We'll just have to see.

But yeah, being too fuel conscious sounds problematic for racing cars.

 

Yep, but braking energy is kinetic energy which only exists because fuel was burnt to accelerate the car up to a high speed. Similarly the turbo is running at high speed because fuel was burnt, producing an energetic (hot, high speed) exhaust flow. Reduce the fuel flow and there'll be less energy to recover.

And recovering much of the energy doesn't seem to be practical - things like road hybrids don't recover more than 10%. So using energy from the KERS to accelerate the car and then recovering most of that same energy back to the KERS system isn't a workable plan.

It's certainly interesting to see them recover energy from the exhaust, as it's not clear to me that this is 'free' - if the exhaust turbine has to be driven, it creates back pressure to do so, which reduces mechanical power output. But maybe it's six of one and only two twos of the other?

It'll be interesting to see how reliable these systems are, as doing all this at F1 weight levels, will be pretty clever. If like me you have experience of Magneti Marelli components mixed with water (in a road car), just look at where this generator sits - bang up against a glowing-red turbo:


Hands up all those who thinks its life expectancy is measured in minutes, not hours.....

 

I know everyone's seen Youtube vids of turbo engines with bright red glowing exhausts, but with water cooled center sections, that heat really isn't an issue for the turbo bearings and by extension the generator in the center, just like it's not an issue on our MINIs unless the cooling system fails, and if it does the engine's going to blow anyway.

And the turbo cools quite quickly on the overrun, that's part of the fuel management strategy too.

Still, any time you're introducing this much change in between seasons, the learning curve is huge! Those teams with the deep pockets like Big Mac, Mercedes and Red Bull will probably have a leg up on the rest, possibly for the whole first season - I don't know where Ferrari will shake out next season, but how this is a cost saving measure is sure a mystery to me.

But it does accomplish one goal, that of trying to make F1 tech more relevant to street cars......at least more so than the current tiny increments from aero tweaking.

I think it will be pretty much anyone's game next year, certainly in the first half season, and I'm looking forward to it.

 

/\Good stuff!!

Great track for the first race back for what seemed to be a loooooong break, I've missed my F1!!

 

Great pic history Steve. Thanks
Spa is one of my favorite tracks.

 

I am so looking forward to this one. Weather so far looks to be in the upper 70°'s. And since it's a low downforce course, I'm betting everyone's tires will last.

This is going to be full throttle fun!

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W2Hvvyjd68]Belgium 3D Track experience - YouTube[/ame]

 

Spa is the last of the great tracks. Wonder how the current cars would

handle the Masta Kink?!