Motors The Official bit-tech F1 2011 Thread

Bit of a dull race to watch, but hey....have a finger McLaren

 

Going silverstone with some friends of mine for the race we have beckets seats, I just hope Button and Hamilton can get the speed from new parts in the UK to make it worth the price.

 

Well, it seems the Beeb can shed some light into what seems to have happened to Mclaren in Valencia:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/formula_one/13935658.stm

Goes well with Lewis' comment about "It should be a bit cooler there [in Silverstone], which might play into our court" (paraphrasing).

I still wear my tin-foil-hat and maintain that the reason for slow upgrades from McLaren is the massive package coming to Silverstone. That Front wing (IMHO) makes little sense, given that the issue is mostly rear grip, and with the ban on off-throttle blown diffusers, that issue will become more substantial. The new front wing makes mroe sense if it's the first part of a package that considers that ban...

 

The thing is that you've got to look at the whole car as a package now - the aero is a lot more connected front to rear under the post-'08 regs, a front wing can have a decent affect on rear downforce now, as opposed to the previous years when front and rear were very much a separate thing.

[edit]
Also, apparently the new engine regs are going to be rubber-stamped by the FIA today. Summary:
1.6L V6 turbocharged, direct-injected etc etc, rev limit upped to 15k apparently after various tracks started bitching about the sound not being sufficient to keep the crowds coming to see the spectacle. (woot!)

Personally I think it's a decent idea - while the V8 will die (consigned to the same corner as the epic V10) it's moving the tech a bit more towards practical sense, yet retaining the unattainable tech for road car element that I love.

 

Yeah... V6's are a good idea.
In that light, there's this:
http://en.espnf1.com/fia/motorsport/story/52832.html

4-pots were apparently Audi's idea.

As for the front wing: Yes, it's possible to gain rear downforce from a new front, especially considering those extreme sidepods on the Macca, this makes sense to an extent.
I don't see McLaren building a million-dollar upgrade that disregards the upcoming rear work that's inevitably going to come in next week.

 

Yeah on the F1 Forum Newey was talking about it and basically said "Audi said they'd come into the sport if we went to 1.6 turbos but they backed out".

Audi and go and fornicate with themselves.

 

Audi would do to F1 what they did to Rallye: DESTROY it to a point where they ban audi...

 

Quattro wasn't that dominant when you actually look at the results it achieved - the Lancia Delta was far more successful...

F1 is a game of budgets - if Audi wanted to join they would want to be challenging for wins, and that means €200m+ per year, plus the undisclosed cost of developing the 2nd fastest LMP1 every year... Big money.

OT: Judging from past results, how long do we think Newey's designs will be dominant? In particular the RB7/8/9? No major aero reg changes coming for several years now...

 

Fixed

 

Good question.
a mate of mine and myself are talking similar things lately.
Newey is something close to an aero-god.
I think his big weakness is his attitude of Aero>all.
Hence the issues early this season with the RBR KERS.
With new engines and KERS being (AFAIK) wound up to 120kw (rather than the current 60), he will need to cater for those.

Time will tell, I suppose.

 

Well this will be the first time in 5 years that I won't be attending the British GP, due to a recent addition to the family. I remember the 1st time I went back in 2000 (a rather wet and muddy April), the sound echoing across the Dadford road campsite was truely memorable, I can remember how loud the cars were as I approached the west gate behind Club corner, running up the grass banking to catch my first glimps of an F1 car. The sound was deafening, each gear change felt like someone was thumping you in the chest.

If the changes go ahead with the engine regs, no amount of exhaust tuning will bring back the sounds of those epic V10 banshees. The V8's seem pretty good but as Brundle mentioned, they are pretty gutless and have as much torque as some of the wheel guns.

 

I remember crossing the track on the metal bridge when a Renault V10 tore under it. You could actually feel each individual concussion, from your feet all the way up your body, it was such a visceral experience. The amount of energy generated, and controlled by every aspect of an F1 car is nearly incomprehensible, but it's why I love it. Used to be able to hear this haunting whine from the cars from my house in Towcester when I was a kid (early eighties). I used to have a polaroid of me sitting in a Lotus John Player Special in Milton Keynes shopping centre, probably taken between 1980 and 1982.

 

Looks like Narain will be replaced - at least for one race - by a rookie that's said to be quicker than Alguersuari and Buemi...
http://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/mo...for-perth-driver/story-e6frg26l-1226085114066

 

He'll be in Alguersuari's seat in no time, although I think Alguersuari did a superb job at Valencia and is a very straight talking sort of guy.

 

I give it a 50-50 between Buemi's and Alguersuari's seat.

Buemi has been outdriving Jaime this season, but he's been at STR for what? 3 seasons now? 4? And he's still a slightly sub-par driver.

STR was to my understanding set up as a feeder team to F1 in general, and RBR specifically. As such, they should be testing new talent regularly. They did so with Jaime, and he still deserves another season to show what he's got. He drove better than Buemi a few times last year.
Buemi on the other hand... noone wants him, he seems to have reached his potential... move on, kinda thing.

I'm just speculating, though... could go either way, and it could go that the new Australian can't handle F1 and goes away as quickly as he came.

 

Shame really, I think Alguasuari's got a decent turn of speed in him. Buemi is proving pretty unspectacular though.

Either way Karthikeyan isn't bringing much to Hispania, let's just hope Ricciardo's career isn't stifled by driving an absolute dog of a car.

 

Looks like we are going to say goodbye to the 2.4 litre V8 and in its place a more 1.6 litre V6 turbo. They say that the BHP will stay the same, but the RPM will be reduced to 12k - 15k. http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2011/6/12237.html

 

WHY ARE THEY BRINGING REVS DOWN?!

I f**king hate this "green" rubbish that the FIA is so keen to wrap itself around. I want hellraising hairiness, goddammit!

 

Thing is, F1 is a spectator sport. The world is going green, and people might feel guilty for watching the environment get thrown with exhaust gases rubber and noise for two hours.

The rationale makes half-sense. To me, it's about innovation. I want high-revving engines, preferably V10s, big turbos, ground effect, all of that... I am sure that quite a few viewers see it similarly, though others may not...

 

And those people are free to watch golf. Petrolheads, tho, want the revving and the noise