Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2019 i Racecar Engineering

For a moment I would like you to think of tutus. That’s right, those frilly, abbreviated ballet skirts. They are more about image than necessity but are integral to the public’s perception of the art form. In fact, a collector of such things once paid a whopping $94,800 for the one Margot Fonteyn wore in Swan Lake. Why would tutus be of interest to Racecar readers? Well, think of how Formula racing cars have exposed wheels and an open cockpits, obeying Keke Rosberg’s definition: ‘Toilets have doors, a racing car you get in from the top’. There are reasons for an open cockpit, but why the exposed wheels? It is certainly not for aiding performance – those four cylinders sticking out produce massive amounts of drag – rather they are…

What’s it like to drive a Top Fuel car? ‘It’s hard to put into words how I’m feeling when I am accelerating from zero to 100km/h in less than half a second,’ says Anita Makela. ‘It’s you who has to control the speed of the car, not the other way around, the car doesn’t take control of you, but of course it’s not the 300mph-plus top speed that is dangerous – it’s the sudden stop if something goes wrong. But I don’t even think about that.’ The thrill of drag racing lies within those big top speeds, which means that both the driver and the car all have to perform instantaneously, and operate correctly. Unlike circuit racing where a mistake during a lap doesn’t necessarily mean your race is over,…

Your results will appear as a set of numbers on a spreadsheet or a printout (see Figures 1 and 2 on the right). The abbreviations used are explained in this glossary CD (or CX): drag coefficient CY: side force coefficient CL (or CZ): lift coefficient (negative for downforce) CMX: aerodynamic roll moment coefficient CMY: aerodynamic pitch moment coefficient CMZ: aerodynamic yaw moment coefficient CYF: side force coefficient at front axle CYR: side force coefficient at rear axle CLF: lift coefficient at front axle (negative for downforce) CLR: lift coefficient at rear axle (negative for downforce) XCP: centre of pressure location along x-axis as percentage of wheelbase…

Rob Smedley will no longer be a part of the Williams Formula 1 operation as it goes into the 2019 season, having decided to leave the team at the end of 2018. Smedley has been head of performance engineering at Williams since 2014, when he joined the Grove outfit from Ferrari, and his departure comes at the end of a difficult year for Williams, which has languished at the foot of the championship table for much of the season. Other high profile figures have also left the team throughout the year, with Dirk de Beer (head of aerodynamics) and Ed Wood (chief designer) leaving in May. Smedley’s Formula 1 career started 17 years ago with Jordan and he then went on to join Ferrari in 2004. At Williams he helped…

Greenpower Education Trust The Greenpower Education Trust, which is in to its 20th year, continues to promote education in sustainable engineering and technology for young people across the globe. The Greenpower challenge to design, build and race a single-seat electric car provides young people with a unique, hands-on opportunity to engage in engineering. The Education Trust’s aim is to demonstrate the importance of engineering to solve problems faced by societies, particularly involving sustainability, and to help address the UK’s need for 830,000 new engineers by 2020. Stand E181 www.greenpower.co.uk Lifeline In readiness for the 2019 season, Lifeline Fire and Safety Systems has developed a range of new safety harnesses (top). This new product line up from Lifeline will be available in a variety of styles to suit both…

While we march (uncertainly) towards what was supposed to be radical new F1 technical regulations for 2021, the process increasingly reminds me of the similarly-convoluted negotiations – which will inevitably end in a fudge – concerning Brexit. The old adage that trying to please everybody ends up pleasing nobody has seldom been more pertinent than in these two examples. However, as motor racing is the subject of this column, there will, I promise, be no further mention of the B word. But talk of fudges there will be, for I suspect, sadly, that where will be a dumbing-down of the massive revamp that was promised for 2021. Along with power unit revisions, the most concerning fudge is likely to be with the aerodynamics. In order to facilitate overtaking, we have…

Do • Plan and prepare well • Forward the car’s track and wheelbase dimensions to the wind tunnel in advance of the session • Pre-fit parts where possible • Have a means of clamping the brakes on • Ensure all temporary parts are securely affixed • Predetermine exact effects of ride height adjustments • Have packs of tyre shims to alter ride height if required • Be methodical; work through your schedule a step at a time • Have one person to take notes and photos • Have one person to make decisions • Have a small group to make changes • Always have materials and tools ready for the next configuration change • Test a baseline set-up periodically • Allow time for flow visualisation • Run repeats on key…

Question: what has Colin Turkington in common with Keke Rosberg and Mike Hawthorn? Answer: winning a championship with just one race victory. In fact, Turkington’s 2018 BTCC title success is even more extraordinary than Rosberg’s 1982 and Hawthorn’s 1958 championship triumphs, as they were from 16 and 11 grands prix respectively, while the BTCC is a 30-race season. But then the BTCC is a vastly different place to Formula 1 in any era; you never have had and never will have 17 different winners in Formula 1, as the BTCC did in 2018, for a start. This amazing statistic was largely down to the success ballast that’s an integral part of the BTCC, but this has also meant that winning the championship is possibly more about consistency than it is…

Mari Hulman George, the chairman of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) and Holman & Company – owner of the fabled race track and the IndyCar Series – from 1988 until 2016, has died at the age of 83. Hulman George’s father, Tony Hulman Jr, saved the speedway from almost certain demolition after World War II, when he bought the facility, but she was much more than just an heir to the family business; she was also a successful race team owner in the 1950s and 1960s, while beyond racing she was a well-known philanthropist, particularly in the spheres of the arts, healthcare and animal care. For decades, Hulman George hosted the famous ‘Racers Party’ on the opening weekend of the Month of May – the prolonged qualification process for the…

Just how do you measure, compare and improve racing drivers? In this new series we will be addressing that very question; looking at driving style and how this relates to driver performance. This first article will discuss the drivers’ steering wheel smoothness, and our first stop is with the data acquisition. Data acquisition A vehicle’s data acquisition system is composed of an electronic memory device that stores values measured from the vehicle’s sensors as a function of time. The data acquired can then be processed for further analysis. The data collected can be divided into three main categories: the vehicle’s vital signals, vehicle performance, and driver performance. The vehicle’s vital signals are all the channels related to reliability. The channels that are typically included are: engine oil pressure and temperature,…

• Heavy gauge card • Medium to low-density tooling block or builders PU insulation foam panel • Aluminium foil tape (various widths and gauges) • Race tape (lots of) • Quick set super glue gel • Foam sealing tape (lots of) • Fasteners • Aluminium sheet • GFRP sheet • MDF, plywood • Flow vis fluid, which can comprise paraffin coloured with a little copper grease or talc • Tools to work with the above: check your wind tunnel workshop has band saws, guillotines, folders etc.…

The Supercars series has appointed Adrian Burgess as its new head of motorsport, a role that will see him overseeing the future technical and sporting direction of the premier Australian motorsport category. The former mechanic, engineer and team principal, who has worked in Formula 1 in the past, has been involved in Supercars since 2006, usually as a team manager. He replaces David Stuart in the role, the latter having accepted a position with the Confederation of Australian Motorsport (CAMS). Taylor Kiel is now general manager at IndyCar outfit Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (SPM), having been promoted from the post of team manager. Kiel succeeds Piers Phillips in the position, the latter having left SPM after three seasons with the team. Piers Phillips (see above) is now team president of Rahal…

There was a chill that descended on to the press room in Macau as the first images of Sophia Floersch’s F3 car having cleared the catch fencing at Lisboa came in. We all knew this was a high speed impact, but then the images of the accident were shared on social media, and the full extent was clear. One journalist who saw the accident was almost in tears, and said ‘you don’t want to see it.’ He was right, I didn’t, but everyone was on their phone, watching it, and displaying various emotions, including shock to sadness, so it was a bit difficult to ignore. Then the news started to filter through; she was alive, and conscious. Given the severity of the accident, that was blessing enough. That she has…