Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2016 i Racecar Engineering

Its appearance at the test caused a lot of mirth in opposing teams I have always been fascinated by extreme racing cars, probably a sign of that inner six-year-old. Not for me the humdrum, run-of-the-mill spec racer, and probably the spectators think likewise, if we look at what captures their imagination. Let us wind the time machine back to 1970. Emerson Fittipaldi had just captured the British Formula 3 championship and was back in Brazil. Meanwhile, at the Fitti team an Alfa Romeo 2-litre 4-cylinder engined sports-prototype was being built, with the intention of it being ready for the 1000km race in Rio at the end of the year. So far, so good, until the castings didn’t arrive in time and, worst of all, due to the opening of import…

The racecar’s wheel speeds are key to identifying the wheelspin One of the main areas where a driver can lose time is on the exit of a corner. And one of the biggest causes of this is often wheelspin. It is very common on a lot of race circuits where a slow speed hairpin is then followed by a long straight, and even a small amount of wheelspin on the exit of a hairpin can have a dramatic effect on the acceleration and consequently the top speed by the time you are at the other end of the straight. Car wheel speeds are key to identifying wheelspin. Figure 1 shows all four wheel speeds of a car overlaid, with throttle position across the bottom. You can see that the rear…

Dynamic Flow Solutions Ltd is an aerodynamics consultancy led by director Miqdad Ali, ex-MIRA aerodynamicist, who has performed design, development, simulation and test work at all levels of professional motorsport from junior formula cars to World and British touring cars, Le Mans prototypes, up through to F1 and Land Speed Record cars. Contact: miqdad.ali@dynamic-flow.co.uk web: www.dynamic-flow.co.uk…

In a move that looks set to massively shake up the motorsport media market, Haymarket Media Group has agreed to sell its motorsport brands, which include Autosport , F1 Racing , Motorsport News and LAT photographic, to US-based Motorsport Network. The sale will mean that Motorsport Network, the Miami-based owner of Motorsport.com , will also take over the Autosport International Show and Autosport Engineering. The deal includes a commitment to keep on around 70 Haymarket employees, who will now transfer to Motorsport Network along with the titles and their related businesses. Zak Brown, chairman of Motorsport Network, said of the deal: ‘This milestone in acquiring the businesses that Haymarket has grown over decades will be recognised by everyone in the…

‘My opinion is that it is a good decision to postpone the introduction of the new GP2 car’ When Spaniard Adrian Campos was a grand prix driver, in 1987 and 1988 with the Minardi team, Formula 1 was not a big sport in his native country. Now, thanks to the exploits of one Fernando Alonso, F1 is very big indeed in Spain. As Campos says: ‘Fernando changed everything; every Monday after the race, at the bar taking coffee, people spoke about the football still, but also about Formula 1.’ But Campos is responsible for F1’s rise in popularity in Spain himself in one respect, as in his second racing career as a team owner it was his organisation, Campos Racing, that launched Alonso on to the single seater stage back…

In sacrificing power unit performance for chassis improvement it seems to me that Sauber has just swapped one aspect of performance-limitation for another When assessing the next-year potential of the fourth oldest team in F1 versus the youngest entrants, I was very surprised to learn that Sauber F1 will be retaining 2016 Ferrari power units in 2017, despite having picked up ‘substantial backing’ via new owners Longbow Finance SA. On top of announcing that the team will rely on paying drivers for next season, one has to question the validity of the business model to which Sauber/Longbow is working. There is nothing here to suggest that the team can expect to be a regular points-scorer come next season, unless several other teams get their 2017 racecar design sums badly wrong.…

For once our quest will not be about chasing downforce and balance The exposed exhaust system is obviously disrupting airflow along the left side of the car Woody Allen is reputed to have said he lived in New York because he didn’t trust air he couldn’t see. Maybe that city has improved its pollution levels since then, but with his throwaway line Allen (presumably) unwittingly hit upon a problem for anyone wanting to visualise how the air moves around a racecar: we need to make it visible so we can see where it flows. And if we can do that we can then develop a better understanding of how we might be able to influence things to improve aerodynamic performance. Our new mini-series then goes back to basics…

Mercedes has secured a Formula E entry for the 2018/19 season, signing an agreement that gives it the right to race in Formula E from the electric racecar series’ fifth season. Formula E intends to switch to single-car races in 2018/19, and is likely to expand from 10 teams to 12, and one of those slots is now reserved for Mercedes. Toto Wolff, Mercedes motorsport boss, said of the deal:‘We have been watching the growth of Formula E with great interest. At the current time, we are looking at all the options available in the future of motor racing, and we are very pleased with an agreement that secures us an opportunity to enter the series in season five. ‘Electrification will play a major role in the future of the…

Formula 3 wind tunnel ban Amongst changes to the sporting regulations of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, aimed at improving ‘the value proposition for drivers and teams’, is a ban on wind tunnel testing, the FIA has announced. Meanwhile, there is also to be a prize money pool of €500,000 which is to be split between drivers and teams, with a portion of this earmarked for rookies. Drivers will now also be able to compete in four seasons of Euro F3, one more than the previous three-year limit. Rebellion quits LMP1 Crack World Endurance Championship privateer team Rebellion Racing is stepping down from the top level prototype class next season. The Anglo-Swiss squad, which has won the privateer laurels for the past four seasons, now intends to mothball its…

Jean-Baptiste Pinton has replaced Damien Clermont as the chief administrative officer at the FIA. Pinton, who joined the FIA at the beginning of July, is now responsible for the strategic direction of the FIA Support Services and coordinates the everyday administrative and financial activities of the organisation. He reports directly to the FIA president, Jean Todt. Todd Parrot has taken over the crew chief duties on the No.95 NASCAR Sprint Cup car run by Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing, replacing Dave Winston in the post. Winston is now working as a race engineer at the same organisation. Parrott has more than 20 years of experience in the Sprint Cup and won the title with driver Dale Jarrett back in 1999. NASCAR Camping World Truck Series crew chief Gere Kennon was fined…

Luke Spalding, a talented 18-year old Australian race driver, has lost his battle with cancer. Matt Chapman, Spalding’s race engineer, said of the former Australian F3 driver, who more recently was competing in the V8 Utes Racing Series: ‘Luke lived to race. There have been times when he has had surgery and then less than a week later was racing at the national level. He has been an inspiration to a large portion of Australian motorsport.’ Tim Keene has joined IMSA outfit Michael Shank Racing as its general manager. Next season the Ohio-based team will move from the prototype classes to GTD, running a two-car programme for Acura Motorsports. Keene most recently worked as team manager at DeltaWing Racing. IndyCar race engineer Jeremy Milless has left Ed Carpenter Racing, where…

Japan has the fastest national single seater championship in the world. Super Formula features cars which can lap Suzuka at speeds fast enough to qualify for the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix (well, within the 107 per cent time). Known until 2012 as Formula Nippon the series is organised and promoted by Tokyo-based company JRP. Earlier this year former Honda F1 project leader Hiroshi Shirai stepped down as president of JRP and handed over the reins to Akira Kurashita, a former baseball player. ‘I don’t really know why I was appointed to become the president of JRP’ Kurashita says. ‘I worked for Fuji Television’s sports division for more than 20 years, so several times I had to go to London and negotiate the broadcasting rights for F1 with Bernie Ecclestone. Those…

This would be an unusual rear axle, but I don’t see any reason why not QUESTION I’m a pavement Sprint car guy that went road racing this season for the first time (in American Sedan) and I have completely fallen in love with it. I now want to marry the two disciplines, so to speak. I want to take a Sprint car and turn it in to a road racer, or at least a decent track day car. Our track here in Michigan, Waterford Hills, is a short road course at approximately 1.45 miles, so one can get away without having a gearbox. One of the guys I race with is geared to never shift out of third once we go through the rolling start. So I’m not worried about…

Prodrive Racing (Australia) is developing its business to include a performance arm which will be known as Tickford – the historic automotive brand which has links to Prodrive both in the UK and Australia. Tickford last operated as a business in Australia in 2001, before being taken over by UK automotive and motorsport engineering giant, Prodrive, which then created Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) from the Tickford business and at the same time set-up Ford Performance Racing (FPR), which is the former name of the Prodrive Racing Supercars team. Prodrive Racing (Australia) and Tickford CEO Tim Edwards said: ‘The choice of Tickford for the name of our automotive aftermarket business was a natural one for us based on our ownership history. We are the direct descendants of Tickford’s previous operations in…

Zak Brown has announced that he is to step down as CEO of the CSM sports marketing and entertainment group. Brown founded Just Marketing International group in 1995, which became the world’s largest motorsport marketing agency, before being acquired by CSM, a division of Chime Communications, in 2013. The former professional racing driver, who competed in the British F3 Championship and Indy lights during the 1990s, said of his decision to quit the organisation: ‘I feel privileged to have been part of an extraordinary team during my tenure. I’m satisfied that we have achieved what I set out to do, from the successful integration of JMI into CSM through to preparing a strong business for a successful future.’ There has been speculation that Brown is now set to join Liberty…

Racelogic (Hall 7, Stand 7535) Racelogic’s latest camera system, the VBOX Video HD2, which is designed to be simple, yet powerful enough to be used at the highest levels of motorsport, is sure to attract many to the company’s stand at the NEC in Birmingham. One notable feature of this product is the lifetime support provided free of charge by Racelogic. The Video cameras are designed in-house and make use of the latest Sony Exmor HD sensor, which gives superb colour reproduction and great night sensitivity, Racelogic says. They are also small, waterproof, and come with a 3m cable allowing remote mounting. Racelogic says this is its most rugged video recorder yet, with high grade motorsport connectors and a super-capacitor power back-up system. The real-time graphics engine produces full colour…

There is a lament among engineers that racing is not what it used to be The word ‘control’, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, means the power to influence or direct people’s behaviour or the course of events. It has positive connotations when applied to oneself; to exercise control is to stop one running out of it. However, when it is applied to others, we come up with all sorts of reasoning why, but ultimately it leads to stopping another person from doing what they want, or need, to do. At the World Endurance Championship race at Fuji, it was hard to have a conversation in the paddock without someone talking about control. It actually became a sport within itself, trying to have a conversation without the other party bringing…