Learn Everything: SEMINAR-3 [F1 CARS]

F1 CARS 25

1. INTRODUCTION

Car racing is one of the most technologically advanced sports in the world today. Race Cars are the most sophisticated vehicles that we see in common use. It features exotic, high-speed, open-wheel cars racing all around the world. The racing teams have to create cars that are flexible enough to run under all conditions. This level of diversity makes a season of F1 car racing incredibly exciting. The teams have to completely revise the aerodynamic package, the suspension settings, and lots of other parameters on their cars for each race, and the drivers have to be extremely agile to handle all of the different conditions they face. Their carbon fiber bodies, incredible engines, advanced aerodynamics and intelligent electronics make each car a high-speed research lab. A F1 Car runs at speeds up to 240 mph, the driver experiences G-forces and copes with incoming data so quickly that it makes Car driving one of the most demanding professions in the sporting world. F1 car is an amazing machine that pushes the physical limitations of automotive engineering. On the track, the driver shows off his professional skills by directing around an oval track at speeds

Formula One Grand Prix racing is a glamorous sport where a fraction of a second can mean the difference between bursting open the bubbly and struggling to get sponsors for the next season's competition. To gain those extra milliseconds, all the top racing teams have turned to increasingly sophisticated network technology.

Much more money is spent in F1 these days. This results highest tech cars. The teams are huge and they often fabricate their entire racers. F1's audience has grown tremendously throughout the rest of the world. .

In an average street car equipped with air bags and seatbelts, occupants are protected during 35-mph crashes into a concrete barrier. But at 180 mph, both the car and the driver have more than 25 times more energy. All of this energy has to be absorbed in order to bring the car to a stop. This is an incredible challenge, but the cars usually handle it surprisingly well

F1 Car driving is a demanding sport that requires precision, incredibly fast reflexes and endurance from the driver. A driver's heart rate typically averages 160 beats per minute throughout the entire race. During a 5-G turn, a driver's arm -- which normally weighs perhaps 20 pounds -- weighs the equivalent of 100 pounds. One thing that the G forces require is constant training in the weight room. Drivers work especially on muscles in the neck, shoulders, arms and torso so that they have the strength to work against the Gs. Drivers also work a great deal on stamina, because they have to be able to perform throughout a three-hour race without rest. One thing that is known about F1 Car drivers is that they have extremely quick reflexes and reaction times compared to the norm. They also have extremely good levels of concentration and long attention spans. Training, both on and off the track, can further develop these skills.

2. THE CHASIS

Modern f1 Cars are defined by their chassis. All f1 Cars share the following characteristics:

They are single-seat cars.

They have an open cockpit.

They have open wheels -- there are no fenders covering the wheels.

They have wings at the front and rear of the car to provide downforce.

They position the engine behind the driver.

The tub must be able to withstand the huge forces produced by the high cornering speeds, bumps and aerodynamic loads imposed on the car. This chassis model is covered in carbon fibre to create a mould from which the actual chassis can be made. Once produced the mould is smoothed down and covered in release agent so the carbon-fibre tub can be easily removed after manufacture.

The mould is then carefully filled inside with layers of carbon fibre. This material is supplied like a typical cloth but can be heated and hardened. The way the fibre is layered is important as the fibre can direct stresses and forces to other parts of the chassis, so the orientation of the fibres is crucial. The fibre is worked to fit exactly into the chassis mould, and a hair drier is often used to heat up the material, making it stick, and to help bend it to the contours of the mould. After each layer is fitted, the mould is put into a vacuum machine to literally suck the layers to the mould to make sure the fibre exactly fits the mould. The number of layers in the tub differs from area to area, but more stressed parts of the car have more, but the average number is about 12 layers. About half way between these layers there is a layer of aluminum honeycomb that further adds to the strength.

Once the correct numbers of layers have been applied to the mould, it is put into a machine called an autoclave where it is heated and pressurized. The high temperatures release the resin within the fibre and the high pressure (up to 100 psi) squeezes the layer together. Throughout this process, the fibres harden and become solid and the chassis is normally ready in two and a half hours. The internals such as pedals, dashboard and seat back are glued in place with epoxy resin and the chassis painted to the sponsor’s requirements.

3. COCKPIT

The cockpit of a modern F1 racer is a very sparse environment. The driver must be comfortable enough to concentrate on driving while being strapped tight into his seat, experiencing G-forces of up to 5G under harsh braking and 4G in fast corners.

GENERAL COCKPIT ENVIRONMENT

Every possible button and switch must be close at hand as the driver has limited movement due to tightness of the seat belts. The cockpit is also very cramped, and drivers often wear knee pads to prevent bruising. The car designers are forever trying to lower the centre of gravity of the car, and as each car has a mass of 600 Kg, with the driver's being roughly 70 Kg, he is an important factor in weight distribution. This often means that the drivers are almost lying down in their driving position. The trend towards high noses led one driver to comment that his driving position felt like he was lying in the bath with his feet up on the taps!

As the driver sits so low, his forward visibility is often impaired. Some of the shorter drivers can only see the tops of the front tyres and so positioning his car on the grid accurately can be a problem. You may see a mechanic holding his hand where the top of the front tyre should stop during a pit-stop to help the driver stop on his correct mark. Rear view mirrors are angled to see through the rear wing and drivers often like to set them so that they can just see the rear wheel.

Around the drivers head there is a removable headrest / collar. This was introduced in an attempt to protect the driver’s neck in a sideways collision. Some driver’s also wear knee pads to prevent their knees banging together during hard cornering.

4. AERODYNAMICS

One of the most important features of a formula1 Car is its aerodynamics package. The most obvious manifestations of the package are the front and rear wings, but there are a number of other features that perform different functions. A formula 1 Car uses air in three different ways introduction of wings. Formula One team began to experiment with crude aerodynamic devices to help push the tires into the track.

4.1 WINGTHEORY

The wings on an F1 car use the same principle as those found on a common aircraft, although while the aircraft wings are designed to produce lift, wings on an F1 car are placed 'upside down', producing downforce, pushing the car onto the track. The basic way that an aircraft wing works is by having the upper surface a different shape to the lower. This difference causes the air to flow quicker over the top surface than the bottom, causing a difference in air pressure between the two surfaces. The air on the upper surface will be at a lower pressure than the air below the wing, resulting in a force pushing the wing upwards. This force is called lift. On a racing car, the wing is shaped so the low pressure area is under the wing, causing a force to push the wing downwards. This force is called downforce.

As air flows over the wing, it is disturbed by the shape, causing what is known as form or pressure drag. Although this force is usually less than the lift or downforce, it can seriously limit top speed and causes the engine to use more fuel to get the car through the air. Drag is a very important factor on an F1 car, with all parts exposed to the air flow being streamlined in some way. The suspension arms are a good example, as they are often made in a shape of a wing, although the upper surface is identical to the lower surface. This is done to reduce the drag on the suspension arms as the car travels through the air at high speed.

The reason that the lower suspension arm has much less drag is due to the aspect ratio. The circular arm will suffer from flow separation around the suspension arm, causing a higher pressure difference in front of and behind the arm, which increases the pressure drag. This occurs because the airflow has to turn sharply around the cylindrical arm, but it cannot maintain a path close to the arm due to the speed of the flow, causing a low pressure wake to form behind it. The lower suspension arm in the diagram will cause no flow separation as the aspect ration between the width and the height is much greater, and the flow can maintain the smooth path around the object, creating a smaller pressure difference between the air in front of the arm and the air behind. In the bottom case, the skin friction drag will increase, but this is a minor increase compared with the pressure drag.

4.2 REARWING

As more wing angle creates more downforce, more drag is produced, reducing the top speed of the car. The rear wing is made up of two sets of aerofoil connected to each other by the wing endplates. The top aerofoil top provides most of the downforce and is the one that is varied the most from track to track. It is now made up of a maximum of three elements due to the new regulations. The lower aerofoil is smaller and is made up of just one element. As well as creating downforce itself, the low pressure region immediately below the wing helps suck air through the diffuser, gaining more downforce under the car. The endplates connect the two wings and prevent air from spilling over the sides of the wings, maximizing the high pressure zone above the wing, creating maximum downforce.

4.3 FRONTWING

Wing flap on either side of the nose cone is asymmetrical. It reduces in height nearer to the nose cone as this allows air to flow into the radiators and to the under floor aerodynamic aids. If the wing flap maintained its height right to the nose cone, the radiators would receive less air flow and therefore the engine temperature would rise. The asymmetrical shape also allows a better airflow to the under floor and the diffuser, increasing downforce. The wing main plane is often raised slightly in the centre, this again allows a slightly better airflow to the under floor aerodynamics, but it also reduces the wing's ride height sensitivity. A wing's height off the ground is very critical, and this slight raise in the centre of the main plane makes react it more subtlety to changes in ride height. The new- regulations state that the outer thirds of the front wing must be raised by 50mm, reducing downforce. Some teams have lowered the central section to try to get some extra front downforce, at the compromise of reducing the quality of the airflow to the underbody aerodynamics.

As the wheels were closer to the chassis, the front wings overlapped the front wheels when viewed from the front. This provided unnecessary turbulence in front of the wheels, further reducing aerodynamic efficiency and thus contributing to unwanted drag. To overcome this problem, the top teams made the inside edges of the front wing endplates curved to direct the air towards the chassis and around the wheels. Later on and throughout the season, many teams introduced sculpted outside edges to the endplates to direct the air around the front wheels. This was often included in the design change some teams introduced to reduce the width of the front wing to give the wheels the same position relative to the wing in previous years.

The interaction between the front wheels and the front wing makes it very difficult to come up with the best solution, and consequently almost all of the different teams have come up with different designs! The horizontal lips in the middle of the endplate help force air around the tyres, whilst the lip at the bottom of the plate helps stop any high pressure air entering the low pressure zone beneath the wing, as it is the low pressure here which creates the downforce.

The relationship between the front wing and the track is a delicate one, with the wing generally being more efficient the closer to the track that it is. A rule states that the wing must be 40 mm above the ground, This means that as the speed increased, a force was produced which bent the ends of the wings down towards the track, making the wind more efficient in high speed corners. The rules state that the wings must not be adjustable on the track got around this because there was no rule concerning the stiffness of the wings.

4.4 BARGEBOARDS

They are mounted between the front wheels and the side pods, but can be situated in the suspension, behind the front wheels. Their main purpose is to smooth the turbulent airflow coming from the front wheels, and direct some of this flow into the radiators, and the rest around the side of the side pods.

They have become much more three dimensional in their design, and feature contours to direct the airflow in different directions. Although the bargeboards help tidy the airflow around the side pods, they may also reduce the volume of air entering the radiators, so reaching a compromise between downforce and cooling is important.

4.5 DIFFUSER

Invisible to the spectator other than during some kind of major accident, the diffuser is the most important area of aerodynamic consideration. This is the underside of the car behind the rear axle line. Here, the floor sweeps up towards the rear of the car, creating a larger area of the air flowing under the car to fill. This creates a suction effect on the rear of the car and so pulls the car down onto the track.

The diffuser consists of many tunnels and splitters which carefully control the airflow to maximize this suction effect. As the exhaust gases from the engine and the rear suspension arms pass through this area, its design is critical. If the exhaust gases are wrongly placed, the car has changed its aerodynamic balance when the driver comes on and off the throttle. Some teams have moved the exhausts so that they exit from the engine cover instead to make the car more stable when the driver comes on and off the throttle. The picture above shows what the complex arrangement of tunnels look like at the back of the car:

5. ENGINE

With ten times the horse-power of a normal road car, a Formula One engine produces quite amazing performance. With around 900 moving parts, the engines are very complex and must operate at very high temperatures. Engines are currently limited to 3 litre, normally aspirated with 10 cylinders. These engines produce approximately 900 - 850 bhp and are made from forged aluminum alloy, and they must have no more than five valves per cylinder. In a quest to reduce the internal inertia of the moving parts, some components have been manufactured from ceramics. These materials are very strong in the direction they need to be, but have a very low density meaning that it takes less force to accelerate them, ideal for reducing the fuel consumption and efficiency of the engine. A similar material, beryllium alloy has been used, but the safety of it has been questioned.

6. WHAT MAKES THESE ENGINES DIFFERENT TO ROAD CAR ENGINES?

You can often see road cars with engines larger than three liters, but these don't produce upwards of 750 bhp. So how do F1 engineers produce this amount of power from this size of engine? There are many differences between racing and road car engines that contribute to the large power difference.

F1 engines are designed to rev much higher than road units. Having double the revs should double the power output as there are twice as many engine cycles within a certain time. Unfortunately, as the revs increase, so doe’s friction within the engine, so eventually, a point is reached where maximum power will occur, regardless of the number of revs. Running engines at high revs also increases the probability of mechanical failure as the components within the engines are being more highly stressed.

Exotic materials such as ceramics as mentioned earlier are employed to reduce the weight and strength of the engine. A limit of what materials can be used has been introduced to keep costs down, so only metal based (ferrous) materials can be used for the crankshaft and cams. Exotic materials can reduce the weight, and are often less susceptible to expansion with heat, but there can be draw backs. Incorporating these materials next to ferrous materials can cause problems. An exotic material such as carbon fibre will not expand as much as steel for example, so having these together in an engine would ruin the engine, as they run to such small tolerances. Although only 5% of the engine is built of such materials (compared with roughly 1/3 rd Steel, 2/3 rds Aluminum) they still make a worthwhile addition to power output.

6.1 AIRBOX

Just above the driver's head there is a large opening that supplies the engine with air. It is commonly thought that the purpose of this is to 'ram' air into the engine like a supercharger, but the air-box does the opposite. Between the air-box and the engine there is a carbon fibre duct that gradually widens out as it approaches the engine. As the volume increases, it causes the air flow slow down, raising the pressure of the air which pushes it into the engine. The shape of this must be carefully designed to both fill all cylinders equally and not harm the exterior aerodynamics of the engine cover.

6.2 FUEL & FUEL TANK

The fuel tank, or 'cell', is located immediately behind the driver’s seat, inside the chassis. The cell is made from two layers of rubber, nitrate butadiene, with the outer layer being Kevlar reinforced to prevent tearing. The cell is like a bag, it can deform without tearing or leaking. The cell is made to measure exactly and is anchored to the chassis to prevent it moving under the high g-forces. The inside of this tank is very complex and contains various section to stop the fuel sloshing around, and there are up to three pumps sucking out the fuel so to get every last drop. These pumps then deliver the fuel at a constant rate to the single engine fuel pump. The link between the fuel tank and the engine is a breakaway connection so that the fuel flow is stopped automatically if the engine is ripped off the chassis in a large accident. Sizes of fuel tanks vary, but normally fuel cell holds 135 litres.

6.3 EXHAUSTS

Exhausts are important to remove the waste gases from the engine, but they also play a part in determining the actual power of the engine. Due to the complicated harmonics within the engine, exhaust length can directly alter the power characteristics as pressure waves flow through the exhaust and back to the engine. Making sure these pulses are in time with the engine will enable more air to be sucked into the engine, hence more power. Now Introduced exhausts that exited through the top of the engine cover above the gearbox (These are commonly called periscope exhausts due to their shape). Previously, all teams had the exhausts exiting through the diffuser, but this could alter the amount of downforce developed depending on whether the driver was on the throttle or not. Cars that use the periscope exhausts often have gold or silver film protecting the suspension and lower rear wing from the high temperatures of the exhausts gases.

Exhausts also play a critical role in determining the shape of the rear of the car. If the engine designers can make the exhausts as compact as possible, it allows the 'Coke Bottle' shaped part of the car to start nearer the front of the side pods, increasing the efficiency of the rear aerodynamics

6.4 COOLING SYSTEMS

F1Cars have two fluids that require cooling oil, water and have a radiator set-up for each. But as most race teams use radiators from their engine suppliers, there is little they can do about their design. And, with the cooling fluids pumped through at a rate specified by the engine company, all the teams can do here is concentrate on obtaining the best airflow through to the radiator which is achievable through duct design. The best position for a duct is in the side pods either side of the engine, which is where the radiators are positioned. Because Formula 1 cars rely on the airflow caused by their own motion for cooling, they do not have cooling fans when the car is not moving, however, the teams use small fans attached to bags of dry ice which are fitted to the front of the side pods. These fans can often be seen in action on the starting grid in order to maintain the optimum working temperature of the engine while the car is stationary.

In traveling through the duct, the air will pass through five areas. The first is the inlet, which is designed to allow just the right amount of air to enter the duct. They have to be side mounted due to the positioning of the radiators, and with a low centre of gravity required, the lower to the floor these heavy items are, the better the car will handle.

The air which has entered the duct is then expanded in a 'diffuser' which increases in cross sectional area, and is steered in the direction of the radiator. A splitter is used in this section to bleed off the energy flow that develops on the car body ahead of the inlet (the boundary layer) and grows as the air travels along the surface. The diffuser must also be designed so that very little boundary layer develops inside, as this will reduce the cooling potential at the edges of the radiator. Once the high energy flow reaches the radiator, the airflow undergoes the heat exchange, after which it is accelerated in a 'nozzle' which increases in area before returning the air to the airstreams at the duct exit.

The positioning and size of the duct exit determines how much cooling air gets through the side pods, and many teams have 'side outs' of adjustable size. Once again, the type of track determines how big these need to be, as a circuit with slower average speeds such as Internal aerodynamics is one of the most important and overlooked aspects of racing car design. If the team doesn't put its engine in as kind an environment as possible, its chances of lasting the race are much reduced.

6.5 TRANSMISSIONS

Just like in your family road car, F1 cars have a clutch, gearbox and differential to transfer the 800 bhp into the rear wheels. Although they provide the same function as on a road car, the transmission system in an f1 car is radically different...

6.5.1 CLUTCH

The engine is linked directly to the clutch, fixed between the engine and gearbox. Some manufacturers produce Carbon/Carbon F1 clutches which must be able to tolerate temperatures as high as 500 degrees. The clutch is electro-hydraulically operated and can weigh as little as 1.5 kg.

They are multi-plate designs that are designed to give enhanced engine pick-up and the lightweight designs mean that they have low inertia, allowing faster gear changes. The drivers do not manually use the clutch apart from moving off from standstill, and when changing up the gears, they simply press a lever behind the wheel to move to the next ratio. The on-board computer automatically cuts the engine, depresses the clutch and switches ratios in the blink of an eye. In F1 cars, clutches are 100 mm in diameter.

6.5.2 GEAR BOX

F1 car gearboxes are different to road car gearboxes in that they are semi-automatic and have no synchromesh. They are sequential which means they operate much like a motorcycle gearbox, with the gears being changed by a rotating barrel with selector forks around it. The lack of a synchromesh means that the engine electronics must synchronize the speed of the engine with the speed of the gearbox internals before engaging a gear.

6.5.3 GEAR RATIOS

Each team builds their own gearbox either independently or in partnership with companies. The regulations state that the cars must have at least 4 and no more than 7 forward gears as well as a reverse gear. Most cars have 6 forward gears, although there is the start of a trend towards using seven. Seven speeds are used if an engine has a narrow power band, having more ratios in the gearbox keeps the engine working in this ideal band. The gearbox is attached to the back of the engine via four or six high-strength studs, with both the engine and gearbox being fully stressed members of the car. The suspension for the rear wheels bolts directly onto the gearbox casing, carrying the full weight of the rear of the car. As a result, the gearbox must be very strong, and so it is normally made from fully-stressed magnesium. Now, they produced gearbox casings made from carbon-fibre. This helped weight distribution but caused many problems related to heat and the forces imposed by the suspension arms. Titanium having advantages of a 5 kg decrease in mass when compared with forged magnesium.

Gear cogs or ratios are used only for one race, and are replaced regularly during the weekend to prevent failure, as they are subjected to very high degrees of stress. The gear ratios are an important part of the set-up process of the car for each individual track. The teams will adjust the final gear (sixth or seventh depending on how many gears their gearbox have) so that the car will just be approaching the rev limit at the end of the straight. (For the race it will be a few revs less than the limit to allow for the revs to rise in the slipstream of another car.) Next, the lowest gear needed on the track will be adjusted to give the best acceleration out of that corner, and then the other gears will be chosen so that they are spaced out equally between the two pre-determined gears.

F1 cars have a reverse gear, but these are designed to satisfy the regulations rather than being of much practical use. Most teams build a very small and flimsy reverse gear on the outside of the gearbox to help keep the weight of the gearbox down, as reverse gear is seldom used Each gear change is controlled by a computer, taking between 20-40 milliseconds. The gearbox is built to enable the mechanics to easily change the ratios, as they can even be dependent on the wind direction.

6.5.4 DIFFERENTIAL

To enable the rear wheels to rotate at different speeds around a corner, F1 cars use differentials much like any other forms of motorized vehicle. Formula One cars use limited-slip differentials to help maximize the traction out of corners, compared to open differentials used in most family cars. The open differential theoretically delivers equal torque to both drive wheels at all times, whereas a limited slip device uses friction to change the torque relationship between the drive wheels. Electro-hydraulic devices are used in F1 to constantly change the torque acting on both of the drive wheels at different stages in a corner. This torque relationship can be varied to 'steer' the car through corners, or prevent the inside rear wheel from spinning under harsh acceleration out of a bend.

A Moog valve will constantly adjust the friction between the two shafts around the track to maximize the performance of the car dependent on what characteristics have been entered into the on-board computer. The Moog valve opens and closes depending on what the software is telling it to do, but the valve must work to the same set of conditions that are pre-programmed whilst the car is in the pits. This means that the driver cannot actually alter the characteristics of the differential due to a change in tracks conditions for instance.

7. TYRES AND WHEELS

7.1 TYRES

F1 tyres must be able to withstand very high stresses and temperatures, the normal working temperature at the contact patch is around 125 degrees Celsius, and the tyre will rotate at about 3000 rpm at top speed. The tyres are filled with a special nitrogen rich, moisture free gas to make sure the pressure will not alter depending on where it was inflated. The tyres are made up of four essential ‘ingredients’: carbon blacks, polymers, oils and special curatives. During a race weekend, the teams can choose between two compounds of dry tyres to use during qualifying and the race. Normally, a hard and a softer compound tyre will be brought to the rack, with the teams deciding before qualifying which compound to use for the rest of the weekend. The softer tyre will give a bit more grip, but will wear and blister more quickly than the hard tyre.

The picture on below shows the three types of tyres that can be used.. The dry tyre has four circumferential grooves to reduce the 'contact patch' that decreases cornering speeds. The wet tyre can only be used when the track is declared officially 'wet' by the Stewards of the race. This tyre type must have a 'land' area of 75% (the area that touches the track) whilst the channels to remove the water must make up the remaining 25% of the tyre area. The intermediate tyre is used during changeable conditions when it is still slightly damp. If a wet tyre is used when the track is not actually very wet, the tread overheats, losing grip. An intermediate choice channels out water without overheating as much as a wet tyre.

Tyres are of paramount importance on a racing car as they are the sole suppliers of grip. Each tyre has about the area of an adults palm touching the ground, (this area is called the contact patch) and this area must be maximized by the suspension to create as much grip as possible. The set-up of the car's suspension is designed to maximize the contact patch during cornering, acceleration and braking. Although there are some variables involved with the tyres, most of the factors that control the behavior of the contact patch are induced by the suspension set-up.

The pressure of the tyres is a critical factor in the car's performance. As well as determining the amount of lateral movement of the tyre, the pressures are critical to the movement of the suspension. As the tyre walls are so large, about half of the vertical movement of the car comes from the squashing of the tyre walls, with the rest in the springs or torsion bars in the suspension.

F1 tyres, as with most tyres today are radial in design. These are advantageous over bias design tyres as the side walls are allowed to flex, keeping the contact patch of the tyre stuck to the ground. This can lead to adverse handling as they may break away from traction quickly. Early race cars used bias tyres as they were more predictable in their handling characteristics, but technology has advanced and radial tyres have developed into a much better design and are used commonly.

Current F1 tyres must have four grooves around them to comply with the rules which were issued as a way on controlling the cornering speed of the cars. The picture above shows the dimensions of the grooves:

7.2 WHEELS

F1 wheels are usually made from forged magnesium alloy due its low density and high strength. They are machined in one piece to make them as strong as possible, and are secured onto the suspension uprights by a single central locking wheel nut. This 'lock' is quickly pushed in to release the wheel during a pit stop, and the tyre changer then pulls it again to lock the wheel once the tyres have been changed.

. Once at the track, teams deliver their bare wheel rims to the tyre manufacturers’ truck where the tyres are put onto the rims with special machines. The tyres are then inflated and delivered back to the teams.

7.2.1 WHEEL TETHERS

F1 cars have had to fit wheel tethers connecting the wheels to the chassis. This rule was introduced to try to stop wheels coming free and bouncing around dangerously during an accident. The tether must attach to the chassis at one end, with the other end connecting to the wheel hub.

The tethers used in F1 are a derivative of high performance marine ropes, made especially for each car. They are made from a special polymer called polybenzoaoxide (PBO) which is often called Zylon. This Zylon material has a very high strength and stiffness characteristic (around 280GPa) much like carbon, but the advantage of Zylon is that it can be used as a pure fibre unlike carbon which has to be in composite form to gain its strength. The drawback of Zylon is that is must be protected from light, so it is covered in a shrink wrapped protective cover. The tethers are designed to withstand about 5000 kg of load, but often they can break quite easily during an accident, especially if the cable gets twisted by the broken suspension members. The teams normally replace the tethers every two or three races to ensure that they can withstand the loads put on them during an accident.

8. THE SUSPENSIONS

The setup of a cars suspension has a great influence on how it handles on the track, whether it produces under steer, over steer or the more useful neutral balance of a car. On an F1 car, the suspension must be soft enough to absorb the many undulations and bumps that a track may possess, including the riding of some vicious yet time-saving curbs. On the other hand, the suspension should be sufficiently hard so that the car does not bottom out when traveling at 200 mph with about 3 tons of downforce acting on it.

Most of the team's suspension systems are similar, but they take two forms. The first is the traditional coil spring setup, common in most modern cars. The second is the torsion bar setup. A torsion bar does the same job as a spring but is more compact. Both forms of suspension are mounted on the chassis above the driver’s legs at the front of the car, and on top of the gearbox at the rear. The pictures below left show the typical suspension setup and the spring and a torsion bar:

A bump is absorbed by the spring compressing, and then contracting. A Torsion bar absorbs a bump by twisting one way, then twisting back.

8.1 SPRINGS & TORSION BARS

The springs or torsion bars are the parts of the suspension that actually absorb the bumps. In simple terms, the softer the suspension on the car, the quicker it will travel through a corner. This has the adverse effect of making the car less sensitive to the drivers input, causing sloppy handling. A harder sprung car will have less mechanical grip through the corner, but the handling will be more sensitive and more direct.

To gain more grip, the engineers cannot simply soften the springs all round. This may increase grip up to a point, but there are many adverse effects that will occur. Firstly, the car may bottom out when under the influence of aerodynamic load when traveling at high speed. Secondly, the car will suffer body-roll in the corners which will influence the angle of the tyres with the road, reducing overall grip. The final point is that the car will pitch forwards and backwards under the influence of hard acceleration or braking. This effect the cars aerodynamics, especially the grip obtained from the airflow under the car.

8.2 DAMPERS

Often called shocks absorbers, dampers provide a resistance for the spring to work against. The purpose of this is to prevent the spring from oscillating too much after hitting a bump. Ideally, the spring would contract over a bump, and then expand back to its usual length straight afterwards. This requires a damper to be present as without one the spring would contracted expand continually after the bump, providing a rather horrible ride The way that dampers operate can be tuned to alter the handling. The 'bump' and 'rebound' characteristics can be altered to control how quickly they contract and expand again.

8.3 PACKERS AND BUMP RUBBERS

Packers or bump rubbers can be used to prevent the springs or torsion bars compressing too far. This allows the suspension to be soft, but it means the bottom of car can only get a certain distance towards the ground until the springs hit the bump rubbers down a straight. Cars often run on these bump rubbers under the influence of high speed aerodynamic load, but they must not come into play around a corner. If the suspension is soft enough for the car to ride the bump rubbers around a corner (not just a flat out curve) the movement in the suspension cannot give the wheel the desired grip, so the car's handling in the corner is compromised. They are useful on modern cars to preserve the wooden plank under the car, the rules stating that no more than 1 mm can be worn during the race.

8.4 ANTI - ROLL BARS

Anti-roll bars are used to stiffen the way the cars roll in a corner. As speeds increase, the gravitational effect of a change in direction wants to roll the body off the car towards the outside of the corner. As the body rolls, the suspension contracts on one side and expand on the other to keep the wheels touching the road. As the suspension is mounted on the body, now at an angle, the whole system is rotated to one side. This produces a cambered effect on the tyres, with the contact patch being reduced, cutting grip. Diagram 1 below shows the car on a straight, while diagram 2 shows the car in a corner. The body roll can be reduced by installing anti-roll bars. These connect the left hand suspension to the right hand suspension so that the springs can only move together. This prevents the body roll, as now one side cannot contract while the other side extends as in diagram 2 below. These are adjustable to give different amounts of movement, and can be adjusted to give various handling characteristics.

DIAGRAM 1 DIAGRAM 2

The pitch situation is very difficult to over come. It is unfeasible to link the front and back together in the same way as the two sides of the suspension are linked as in anti-roll bars. In general, longer wheelbase cars are less pitch sensitive.

9. THE BRAKES

F1 cars use disc brakes like most road cars, but these brakes are designed to work at 750 degrees C and are discarded after each race. The driver needs the car to be stable under heavy braking, and is able to adjust the balance between front and rear braking force from a dial in the cockpit. The brakes are usually set-up with 60% of the braking force to the front, 40% to the rear. This is because as the driver hits the brakes, the whole weight of the car is shifted towards the front, and the rear seems to get lighter. If the braking force was kept at 50% front and rear, the rear brakes would lock up as there would be less force pushing the rear tyres onto the track under heavy braking.

For qualifying, when longevity of the brake discs is not important, teams often run thinner discs to reduce the weight of the car. Race discs are 28 mm thick (the maximum allowed) where the special qualifying discs are often as thin as 21 mm. Teams often run either very small or in some cases no front brake ducts during qualifying to gain an aerodynamic advantage.

The rotating discs are gripped by a caliper which squeezes the disc when the brake pedal is pushed. Brake fluid is pushed into pistons within the caliper which push the brake pads towards the disc and pushes against it it slow the wheel. The discs are often drilled so that air will flow through and keep the temperature down.

These master cylinders contain the brake fluid for both the front and rear brakes. The front and rear systems are connected separately so if one circuit would fail, the driver would still have either the front or rear system with which to slow the car. Also visible is the steering rack and the plumbing for the power steering system.

9.1 BRAKE MANUFACTURE

These brakes are extremely expensive as they are made from hi-tech carbon materials (long chain carbon, as in carbon fibre) and they can take up to 5 months to produce a single brake disk. The first stage in making a disc is to heat white poly acrylo nitrile (PAN) fibres until they turn black. This makes them pre-oxidized, and are arranged in layers similar to felt. They are then cut into shape and carbonized to obtain very pure carbon fibres. Next, they undergo two densification heat cycles at around 1000 degrees Celsius. These stages last hundreds of hours, during which a hydrocarbon-rich gas in injected into the oven or furnace. This helps the layers of felt-like material to fuse together and form a solid material. The finished disc is then machined to size ready for installing onto the car.

Carbon discs and pads are more abrasive than steel and dissipate heat better making them advantageous. Steel brakes are heavier and have disadvantages in distortion and heat transfer. Metal brake discs weigh about 3 Kg; carbon systems typically 1.4 Kg. Metal brakes are advantageous in some aspects such as 'feel'. The driver can get more feedback from metal brakes than carbon brakes, with the carbon systems often being described like an on-off switch. The coefficient of friction between the pads and the discs can be as much as 0.6 when the brakes are up to temperature. You can often see the brake discs glowing during a race; this is due to the high temperatures in the disc, with the normal operating temperature between 400-800 degrees Celsius.

10. STEERING WHEEL & PEDALS

A sophisticated steering wheel with all the information that was usually mounted on the dashboard fitted to the front of the steering wheel it made from carbon-fibre with a suede grip. Due to the tight confines of the cockpit, the wheel must be removed for the driver to get in or out, and a small latch behind the wheel releases it from the column. The picture on the right shows Ferrari wheel complete with all the buttons and switches. On the front of the wheel are mounted items such as rev lights, fuel mixture controls, speed limit button, radio button and more complicated functions like electronic differential settings

Levers or paddles for changing gear are located on the back of the wheel. Most drivers use the left-hand paddle to change down and the right to change up. And some uses his right hand only to change gear, pushing the paddle away to change up, and towards him to change down. Below the gear paddles are located the clutch levers. There is one on each side although they both perform the same function. Some uses a large paddle on the left of the wheel to control his clutch. These paddles can be seen on the some wheel to the left. Paddle 1 is the up shift whilst paddle 2 is the downshift. The clutch levers are located below the gearshift paddles. Having the clutch on the steering wheel allows the pedal box of the car to be less cluttered and makes it easier for drivers to left foot brake.

The pedals of an F1 car are usually designed specifically for each driver. Some like large brake pedals and small accelerators, others have small lips on the side of the pedals so each foot is held in position on the pedal. Most drivers use left foot braking and so have just two pedals, while those that use their right foot to brake will have small foot rest for their left foot to help support themselves under braking.

1. Regulates front brakes

2. Regulates rear brakes

3. Rev Shift lights

4. 5 lap time display

6. Neutral gear buttons

7. Display for Gear, engine RPM, water & oil temperatures

8. Engine cut-off switch

9. Place to add small map of track with sector breakdowns

10. Activates drink bottle pump

11. Brake balance selector

12. Manual activation of fuel door

13. Air / fuel mix selector

14. Power steering servo regulator

15. Specific car program recall

16. Engine mapping selector

17. Selection 'enter' key

18. Electronic throttle regulators

19. Change menus on display

20. Pits to car radio activation

21. Pit lane speed limiter activation

11. TECHNICAL TELEMETRY

OVERVIEW

Every one of the 22 Formula One cars on the grid is dependent upon sophisticated electronics to govern its many complex operational systems. Each Formula 1 car has over a kilometer of cable, linked to about 100 sensors and actuators which monitor and control many parts of the car. Rarely a race goes by without a car retiring with electrical problems, indicating the important role that this technology has in modern F1 cars.

11.1 ENGINE MANAGEMENT

The 800 bhp of a modern F1 engine is largely a result of a complex electronic control unit (ECU) that controls the many systems inside an engine so that they work to their maximum at every point around the lap. Engine mappings can change completely from circuit to circuit depending upon the nature of the track. For instance, the engine control system will help the driver have more control on the throttle input by making the first half of the pedal movement very sensitive, and the latter half less sensitive. This means that the driver can have great control on the throttle for the twisty corners, so that it is easier to limit the acceleration out of corners so not to spin the wheels. The accelerator will be set so that only a small movement will result in full engine acceleration. It is also possible to iron out any unplanned movements of the throttle such as when a driver travels over a bump and his foot may move slightly. The engine control system can cut out the jumps of the throttle and keep full throttle down the straight, even on bumpy tracks. This is all possible because there is no direct link between the engine and the accelerator. The accelerator position is sensed using an actuator, and this signal is then sent to the engine control system, from where it is passed onto the engine. An engine ECU is much more than a device for making the throttle more or less sensitive. The ECU controls the inlet trumpet height, fuel injection among other things to try to get the maximum torque out of the engine. In the modern world of electronics, the ECU monitors many of the engine parameters including RPM, to control the torque output from the engine. This means that the modern day F1 accelerator acts more like a torque switch than a simple fuel input controller. F1 engines are so complex that they are designed to run in a small power band between 15000 - 18000 rpm, and the electronic monitoring and controlling of the engine parameters are crucial in keeping the engine in this working region. This working region is where torque is virtually constant, and letting the engine get below the lower limit would see a sudden drop off of torque, until the engine began to rev in the working region, where the torque would come in suddenly again, probably promoting wheel spin.

11.2 OTHER ROLES OF THE ECU

The ECU also controls the clutch, electronic differential and the gearbox. The clutch is controlled by the driver to start the car from rest, but not during gear changes. Although the driver modulates the throttle like on a road car (although with his hand) there is no direct link to the clutch - it is all electronic. The ECU engages and disengages the clutch as the driver moves the paddle behind the steering wheel. The ECU will also depress the clutch if the car spins to stop it stalling. They introduced the anti-stall device to prevent cars stalling after a spin and being left dangerously i the middle of the track. The ECU is also responsible for changing gears in fewer than 100 milliseconds. The electronics allow the driver to keep his foot flat on the throttle during up-shifts, and blip the throttle on down-shifts to match engine speed with transmission speed to prevent driveline snatch. The final area controlled by the ECU is the differential. Modern F1 cars have electronic differentials which monitor and control the amount of slip between the rear wheels on entry and exit of corners. This is often adjusted for different driving styles to try to keep the rear end of the car in control during all phases of a corner.

11.3 DATA ACQUISITION - TELEMETRY

Every aspect of the car, whether it be speed, brake and engine temperature, suspension movements, ride height, pedal movements and g-force are measured and controlled from the pit whilst the car is out on the track. Teams usually take over 30 kg of computer equipment to help the drivers and engineers to find the right set-up and cure any car problems. An F1 car has two types of telemetry: The first is a microwave burst that is sent to the engineers every time the car passes past the pits. This data burst can contain around 4 megabytes of information giving the engineers a vital insight into the state of the car. Another 40 or so megabytes can be downloaded from the car when it returns to the pits, so no part of the car goes 'unwatched'. The information is downloaded by plugging in a laptop computer to the car, in a socket usually located in the sidepod or near the fuel filler. The second type is a real time system which transmits smaller amounts of information, but this time it is in 'real time'. This means the car is constantly sending out information such as its track position and simple sensor readings. The telemetry is sent to the pits via a small aerial located on the car, usually located on the sidepod nearest to the pits. Some teams have placed the transmitter in the wing mirror that passes closest to the pits to do away with an extra aerial. When the cars returned to the pits, a small box was put over the wing mirror to prevent anyone being harmed by the radiation given out by the transmitter. This telemetry data is vital to the engineers both during the race and practice. A huge bank of computers at the back of the garage will process the information sent by the cars whilst they are on the track, and from this complex information, the team members can quickly tell whether the car is operating correctly. During a race for example, readings such as the engine temperature and hydraulic pressure are carefully examined lap by lap to ensure the car is not about to suffer any major failure. If any of one of these readings becomes varied from the normal operating state, the engineers can tell the driver to use less engine revs or drive more steadily to try to prevent a failure. Teams use software that will display all of the gathered information on a screen that can be easily interpreted by the engineers.

11.4 THE RADIO

One of the hidden aspects of F1 Car racing is the radio system used both in the car and all around the race course. At a typical race there are several thousand one-way and two-way radios sharing the airwaves. They transmit data from the car and the driver, allow the teams to communicate with one another and even let the tires transmit their pressure to the onboard data computer. A typical car has as many as eight radios in operation at any one time:

The driver's two-way radio

The telemetry system's radio

The radio(s) for on-board television cameras

The radios for the tires

12. COSTS

HOW MUCH DOES AN F1 CAR COST TO MAKE?

This is one of the most commonly asked questions by spectators and this section will try to get an overall total to design and build one Formula 1 car. The table below outlines the main parts of the car and how much each part costs:

Each part costs:

PARTS AMOUNT SINGLE PRICE (€) AMT. NEEDED TOTAL(€)

Monocoque 112 360 1 112,360

Bodywork 8026 1 8,026

Rear Wing 12842 1 12,842

Front Wing 16051 1 16,051

Engine 240770 1 240,770

Gearbox 128411 1 128,411

Gear Ratios (set) 112360 1 112,360

Exhaust System 9631 1 9,631

Telemetry 128411 1 128,411

Fire Extinguisher 3210 2 6,420

Brake Discs 964 4 3,856

Brake Pads 642 8 5,136

Brake Callipers 16051 4 64,205

Wheels 1124 4 4,496

Tyres 642 4 2,568

Shock Absorber 2087 4 8,346

Pedals (set) 1605 1 1,605

Dashboard 3210 1 3,210

Steering System 4815 1 4,815

Steering Wheel 32103 1 32,103

Fuel Tank 9632 1 9,632

Suspension 3210 1 3,210

Wiring 8026 1 8,026

GRAND TOTAL €926,490

In addition to the build costs, thousands of pounds will be spent on designing the car. Design costs include the making of models, using the wind tunnel and paying crash test expenses etc. The cost of producing the final product will be € 7,700,000

13. Random Facts

-In an F1 engine revving at 18,000 rpm, the piston will travel up and down 300 times a second.

-Maximum piston acceleration is approximately 7,000 g (humans pass out at 7-8 g) which puts a load of over 3 tons on each connecting rod.

-The piston only moves around 50 mm but will accelerate from 0 - 100kmph and back to 0 again in around 0.0025 seconds.

-If a connecting rod let go of its piston at maximum engine speed, the piston would have enough energy to travel vertically over 100 meters.

-If a water hose were to blow off, the complete cooling system would empty in just over a second.

Modern engines have a mass less than 100 kilograms and are deigned to be as low as possible to reduce the overall centre of gravity of the car. The engine must be as light as possible, but also as stiff as possible. This is because the only thing connecting the rear of the car to the chassis is the engine, so it must be able to take the huge cornering loads from the suspension and aerodynamic forces from the large rear wing. The engine is fixed to the chassis with only four high strength suds, and is connected to the gearbox with six of these studs. There is a new trend in engine design, opening up the V-angle beyond 100 degrees. This allows the engine to sit lower in the car, reducing the centre of gravity, but the unit is currently suffering problems due to vibration and lack of stiffness.

14. CONCLUSION

Handling a Formula1Car is nothing like a normal automobile the goal is to adjust all of these variables in concert with one another to create the perfect setup. The car’s engine, suspension, aerodynamics, tires, etc. determine how fast they go. But that the sanctioning bodies of these race series are, trying to slow the cars down in an attempt to maintain safety and reach a good level of competition. Working in a F1 group requires precision, incredibly fast reflexes and endurance obviously this is not easy because all of the variables have interrelationships with one another. Getting the car tuned and keeping it in a state of perfection is two of the team's most important tasks during the season. On the day of the race, the team hopes that everything with the car and the driver is perfect and that the result of all of this preparation is a win.

The engineering of materials, cooling system aerodynamics, heat insulation, and the high temperature structural stiffness of Formula 1 components is leading-edge technology. Even equipped with all this advanced systems engineering, however, the driver experiences problems in controlling the powerful system during the 2-3 seconds in which he slows the car and sets it up for a corner. The problem is currently at the forefront of the minds of Formula 1 engineers

part costs:

Design costs include the making of models, using the wind tunnel and paying crash test expenses etc.
The cost of producing the final product will be €7.700.000,-. Better start saving...