Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2019 i Racecar Engineering

Ray Harroun, an engineer born in 1879 who was nicknamed the ‘Little Professor’, maintained he only really raced so as to observe his designs being tested in the field. In 1911, for the inaugural Indianapolis 500-mile race, of the entire 40-car field his yellow Marmon – AKA the Wasp – was the only car to have just one person on board. All the others had a riding mechanic, a bit of a tradition from the previous years of racing on open roads where the early racing machinery, pretty much all prototypes, were prone to mechanical failure or punctures a long way from any assistance. Incidentally, in 1912 the riding mechanics were required by the rules and were then mandatory until 1922, and then returned again in 1930 until 1937. Time…

Chassis Moulded carbon fibre and honeycomb composite structure. Bodywork Carbon fibre composite including engine cover, sidepods, floor, nose, front wing and rear wing. Safety structures Cockpit survival cell incorporating impact-resistant construction and penetration panels, front impact structure, prescribed side impact structures, integrated rear impact structure, front and rear roll structures, and the Halo cockpit protection device. Power unit See page 18. Front and rear suspension Carbon fibre wishbone and pushrod-activated torsion springs and rockers. Transmission Gearbox; 8-speed forward, one reverse, unit with carbon fibre maincase; sequential, semi-automatic, hydraulic activation. Carbon plate clutch. Brakes Carbone Industrie carbon/carbon discs and pads with rear brake-by-wire. Brembo brake calipers. Steering Power-assisted rack and pinion. Electronics FIA standard ECU and FIA homologated electronic and electrical system. Instrumentation by McLaren Electronic Systems. Fuel system ATL Kevlar-reinforced…

In 2019 new regulations will be introduced into Formula 1 in an effort to increase overtaking, and further steps in this direction are set to come in 2021, but James Allison believes that a radical solution, harking back to banned cars of the past, could be the way forward. ‘I would like to see moveable aerodynamic devices return to Formula 1,’ Allison says. ‘You may remember the Brabham fan car, well I’d quite like to see that concept come back. I think it would be the solution to something which people care a lot about. The sport is marred by a lack of overtaking, caused by dirty air when two cars are close together. The main issue there is that the leading car steals all the air from the following…

This month we will examine further aerodynamic aspects of Oxford Brookes University’s 2018 Formula Student entry. The team was the highest placed UK finisher in the Silverstone-based competition in July, 2018, and its car, the OBR18, features an intricate aerodynamics package that had been developed with extensive use of CFD. In last month’s issue we saw how the baseline wind tunnel-derived data on OBR18 placed it in pole position among the Formula Student cars we have tested in the MIRA full-scale facility for our Aerobytes column. By way of a recap, the data on OBR18 are shown in Table 1 along with the numbers from the University of Hertfordshire’s 2013 car (UH15) and Bath University’s 2014 car (TBR14). Raising front ride height increased drag and decreased front downforce Despite somewhat…

The technology being developed by GreenGT for the H2 racer was also used in a parallel project for a utility vehicle for the Post office in Dole, Jura, in France, where a truck called Maxity H2 was put into service for one year, serving as a test for electric-hydrogen propulsion. The vehicle was equipped with a 20kW fuel cell and a lithium-ion battery to power the engine, and it had a range of about 200km. Its battery could be recharged in six hours. The fuel cell installed on the Maxity actually also used the heat that it released to warm up the passenger compartment, to avoid using the energy of the battery, and therefore to preserve the autonomy of the test. Commissioned in February 2015, the truck had, a year…

‘I was very sceptical of the concept at first, but the more that I researched it the more that I realised that the W Series was required’ Observant readers may have noticed that in Racecar’s feature on working in motorsport (November issue, V28N11) all those interviewed and pictured were women. It was our own subtle way of showing how it’s not so unusual these days to see a female race engineer, strategist or mechanic, even at the very highest levels. Yet that’s not so much the case in the cockpit. The number of women in professional single seater racing has reduced over the past 10 years, while at the highest level – Danica Patrick’s time in NASCAR being a notable exception – there has been no real female involvement, in…

The departure of Andreas Seidl from Porsche has led to a reshuffle within the company’s motorsport management team. Seidl, who led the Porsche Formula E project throughout 2018, is set to take an as yet unknown senior role in Formula 1. He was unable to say at which team when asked by Racecar, but it’s rumoured to be McLaren – although Ferrari has also been mentioned. In the wake of Seidl’s departure Former LMP1 vice-president Fritz Enzinger has now stepped in to take overall charge of Porsche Motorsport on a temporary basis. Enzinger, who is also the vice-president of group motorsport, a role that covers all the Volkswagen brands, insists this is an interim measure while Porsche looks for someone to fill the role fulltime, part of his duty now…

There is something about the new LMP1 and Formula 3 regulations that has led me to a question; has motor racing become so expensive that it can no longer afford to be the place of experimental technologies? There are so many tools in the box of an engineer that the regulations have become more and more restrictive, while maintaining the illusion of technology development. And it is just that, an illusion. The batteries and hybrid systems that are used in LMP racing, or in Formula E, bear no relation to those in production cars. Energy management does, clearly, and that feeds into production car development, although after years of competition at Le Mans, Toyota has now mastered this in racing terms to the point that no one else can hope…

KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid – is a useful acronym. It is seldom applied, however, in F1. The FIA’s 2020 through 2023 F1 tyre supply tender document is as far away from that desire for simplicity as one could imagine. It comprises 19 pages, of which only six and a bit cover contractual matters. The new tyre requirements that comprise the remainder appear as if some analytical geek in a darkened room, hunched over an array of books and downloads on every aspect of tyre design, materials, chemical properties and molecular structures, drew these up. With no relevance to real-world racing. Of course, this is surely not true. I have no doubt that the FIA has gone to great pains to ensure that input from race tyre manufacturers and…

Engine Four-stroke gasoline engines permitted. The engine of the make must be based on an original engine. An engine may be used as an original engine on the following conditions: • At least 25 identical engines identical to the ones destined for the series production car homologated for road use equipped with this engine must have been produced. • One complete engine is deposited with the FIA/ACO. • At least 25 identical series production car homologated for road use equipped with this engine are produced by the end of the year of the first season this engine is competing in. • At least 100 identical series production car homologated for road use equipped with this engine are produced by the end of the year of the second season this engine is competing in. • The…

Chassis Dallara-produced carbon monocoque complying to FIA F3 2019 safety standards; Halo fitted. Engine Bespoke Mecachrome 6-cylinder 3.4-litre naturally aspirated; 380bhp at 8000rpm. Fly by wire throttle system. Transmission Hewland-designed 6-speed longitudinal gearbox; Magneti Marelli electro-hydraulic command via paddleshift from steering wheel. Suspension Double wishbone front and rear; dampers and springs. Aerodynamics Optimised to facilitate overtaking. Very low ride height sensitivity and wide range of suspension set up possibilities; DRS; front and rear wing made out of carbon composite material. Electronics All in one ECU-GCU; high speed data acquisition system but no telemetry. Electronics supplied by Motorsport Ltd. Tyres Pirelli, with three specific compounds originally developed for GP3.…

Major accidents and the responses Ronnie Peterson (Monza 1978): CFRP monocoques; energy absorbing structures and medical services. Ayrton Senna, Roland Ratzenberger (Imola 1994) and Karl Wendlinger (Monaco 1994): Wheel tethers; helmet; ADR. Mika Hakkinen (Adelaide 1995): HANS; high cockpit sides. Soames Langton (Nogaro 1996): roll cage padding. Michael Schumacher (Silverstone 1999) and Carlos Sainz (Sochi 2015): high-speed barriers. Marco Campos (Magny-Cours 1995) and Mark Webber (Valencia 2010): open-wheel anti-launch. Alex Zanardi (Lausitzring 2001): single seater anti-intrusion panels. Michele Alboreto (Lausitzring 2001): LMP anti-launch aerodynamics. Felipe Massa (Hungaroring 2009): visor/helmet. Felipe Massa (Hungaroring 2009) and Henry Surtees (Brands Hatch 2009): the Halo. Michael Park (WRC, Rally GB 2005): Closed car seat; rally side impact package. Ashley Cooper (Adelaide 2008) and Allan Simonsen (Le Mans 2013): racing nets. Jules Bianchi (Suzuka 2014):…

Performance Average autonomy up to 200km (100km from the batteries); maximum speed of 90km/h Motor Asynchronous electric motor: 400V / 47kW (robotic gearbox) Batteries On-board energy: 42kWh lithium-ion technology / iron phosphate (Valence Technology); four battery packs with a total weight of 400kg. Full recharge time including battery equalisation phase: seven hours. On-board charger allowing charging on a single three-phase power supply Hydrogen Fuel cell On-board energy: 45kWh; hydrogen cell: 20kW. Two 75-litre hydrogen tanks, allowing storage of 4kg of H2 at 350bar pressure. Total weight of the hydrogen unit: 300kg…

The goal of every powertrain department in all forms of racing is to extract the maximum amount of power from the engine. This is done by increasing engine torque, as shown in Equation 1, which consequently depends on several other engine variables shown in Equation 2. Assuming that the variables relating to the fuelling and combustion remain constant (ηf , Qhv and F/A) there are essentially three main ways of increasing the engine torque: 1) Increase volumetric efficiency; 2) Increase the swept volume of the cylinders; 3) Increase the intake air density. Volumetric efficiency can be improved through clever fuel injection strategies as well as tuning of intake and exhaust manifolds, and also valve lift timing. But in most categories of racing the type of fuel injection and the swept…

McLaren has said that the dispute it’s been embroiled in with Toro Rosso over the future of Formula 1 designer James Key has now been resolved and that he will join the Woking outfit at some time during the 2019 season. It was announced in the summer of 2018 that Key would be leaving Toro Rosso, where he was technical director, to join McLaren, but the Italian team then insisted he was under contract and would not be released early. Key had been at Toro Rosso since 2012. Jed Copham, the owner of NHRA-hosting drag strip Brainerd International Raceway (BIR), has died at the age of 46 after a swimming accident. Copham and wife Kristi bought BIR in 2006 and he had been responsible for many improvements at the venue…

With Formula E entering its fifth season and the automotive industry increasingly looking toward mass market electrification many are asking if the future of F1 is also electric. FIA president Jean Todt has rubbished this suggestion, but engineers like James Allison think differently. ‘I think F1 will go all electric,’ he says. ‘Put yourself forward 20 years and there will be no internal combustion engines on the road, so it is inconceivable to think that we will be banging away with pistons, sparks and petrol in Formula 1. By then it will be possible to make ridiculously fast cars which are just electric. It’s going to be inevitable that F1 goes that way, and it will be fun and exciting, but it’s a question of what is the road map…

Engine Capacity: 1600cc maximum (the exact capacity has not been disclosed). Cylinders: six. Bank angle: 90 degrees. Valves: 24, pneumatically actuated. Max speed: 15,000rpm. Fuel injection: direct, one injector per cylinder, max 500bar. Turbocharger: split single stage compressor and exhaust turbine on a common shaft, 125,000rpm max exhaust turbine speed. Fluids: Petronas (bespoke). Weight: 145kg. Hybrid system Energy store: Lithium-ion cells in composite casing, minimum 20kg weight. Energy storage per lap: 4MJ (max). MGU-K: Max speed 50,000rpm, max power 120kW, 2MJ max recovery per lap, 33.3s average deployment per lap. MGU-H: mounted on common shaft with turbocharger, max speed 125,000rpm, unlimited recovery and deployment.…

Dallara has worked hard to reduce the aerodynamic impact of the leading racecar on the front wing of the following car The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix saw the FIA launch its new International Formula 3 car, designed by Dallara and built on the platform of the GP3 car that it replaces. The target of this car is to be faster than the GP3 racecar, and also for it to provide better racing with more overtaking, thanks to its aerodynamic design. The introduction of the new F3 car means that the FIA’s pyramid is now complete, with a clear path to Formula 1 for aspiring drivers. The series will race on the same circuits as F1, which the FIA hopes will allow Formula 1 teams to see the up-and-coming drivers in…

I would like to start out with a correction. In the December 2018 issue (V28N12) I said that the planks in Bob Bolles’ experimental roll simulation rig were bowed slightly. They do look that way in the picture, but I will confess that I didn’t notice it on the day the picture was taken, and Bolles insists that this is to do with the camera lens. He sent me a picture showing a taut string stretched atop one of the boards, showing it was straight. I accept that proof, and I stand corrected. Also, I wrote then: ‘It is true that only the height of the roll centre matters, but taking the force line intersection (the so-called kinematic roll centre) as the roll centre is not correct and there are…

Cyril Abiteboul, the managing director of the Renault F1 team, has stated that the departure of Renault chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn will have no immediate impact on the race team’s future. Ghosn, seen by many as a key figure behind the return of the Renault team to F1 in 2016, was forced to give up his position at the head of the Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi alliance following his arrest in Japan on charges pertaining to financial irregularities. Chief operating officer Thierry Bollore has now taken over as CEO at Renault on an interim basis. But Abiteboul insists that this change at the top should not affect the F1 team. ‘My message is simply that there is a continuity plan of all the operations of the Renault group, as…

Can you handle just one more dose of political content? With EU politicians threatening the future of motorsport through the Vnuk issue, and the UK Prime Minister battling to make a sensible Brexit deal, you may ask what else politicians can do to motorsport. There was a time when they left us alone. Things changed when politicians, seeking to extend their careers by securing votes from the public, recognised the emotional value and importance of a car, and its future, to a family. Over the last two decades we’ve seen politicians directly influencing powertrain choices of automotive OEMs so they win votes by reducing CO2 . By them pressing and rewarding consumers to buy diesel cars, sales went through the roof benefiting motorsport demonstrating power and efficiency of diesel at…