Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2025 i Racecar Engineering

The 2022 rules were a big step towards closer racing but, after three years of development, the 2026 aerodynamic framework aims to correct the trajectory Alack of overtaking, and races where the finishing order mirrors the starting grid, has been one of the main concerns for both Formula 1 fans and promoters in recent eras. During the period of extreme aerodynamic development, as thrilling as it was from an engineer’s perspective, the problem became increasingly worrying. It’s well known that overtaking is virtually impossible at certain tracks. Monaco, for example, has earned a kind of mystique because passing is so rare, so anyone who pulls off a move earns respect across the grid. However, watching cars struggle to follow closely, failing to close the gap below 1.5s, even when clearly…

Factory Kahne Racing Shocks started as a small project for brothers, Willie and Kole Kahne, as they worked on the sprint cars of their cousin, Kasey Kahne, an 18-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner. As word of their innovations started to spread around the dirt racing paddocks, business increased, and now their shocks (otherwise known as dampers), with patented valving, dominate the World of Outlaws class, and feature in many other dirt racing tours worldwide. Now, if you wish to be competitive in a race series like World of Outlaws, you likely need to be running Kahne parts on your car. Willie never expected to launch a shock company but, being a crew chief, he was always looking for an edge to make their sprint cars faster. So, he started…

French car manufacturer, Alpine, has developed its first all-electric rally car, the A290 Rallye. It is due to make its competition debut at Rallye de l’Indre on 8 November and is available now to order. Designed to meet the FIA eRally5 regulations, and the stringent safety measures that encompasses, the car will initially compete in a one-off event. That will give Alpine the opportunity to prove its performance in real-world conditions, as well as test the charging system and fine tune the sporting format, ahead of its 2026 roll out. It will then compete in the Alpine 290 Rally Trophy and the Alpine 290 Regional Trophy competitions. The former will support the French Rally Championship, while the latter caters for teams wishing to compete in regional events or hillclimbs under…

Porsche has confirmed it will withdraw from the FIA World Endurance Championship at the end of the 2025 season. It is the second time the company has done so, having stopped its LMP1 programme in 2017, before stepping back into the series with the 963 LMDh prototype in 2023. The German manufacturer was faced with the choice of cutting at least one of its two programmes with the 963, and chose to stay in the IMSA Sportscar Championship. Leaving the WEC means it will now not race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2026 with its factory team. It is widely believed that resistance against the current Balance of Performance system was one of the primary reasons for the withdrawal. The decision means the European arm of the…

Succcess handicaps could be implemented in the FIA World Endurance Championship as the organisers continue to investigate ways of refining their contentious Balance of Performance system. The possibility for a lap time handicap has been written into the 2026 sporting rules. It would come in the form of extra mass, reduced power, or both for each WEC event. Notably, handicaps would not be issued for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where the existing BoP methodology would continue to be used. A form of success handicap system was previously used in the last season of the LMP1 era, before BoP arrived with Hypercar in 2021, and is used in LM GT3. The latest proposed change to the BoP system comes after Ferrari dominated the opening four races of 2025, including…

At a basic level, there are two main types of race team in professional motorsport: works and customer. The works team runs the cars that it builds, while the customer, or privateer, team runs cars it has purchased from the manufacturer. There have also been many examples throughout the sport’s history of semi-works or ‘satellite’ privateer teams benefiting from different amounts of manufacturer input. In modern Formula 1, the distinction between a works and customer team is mainly based on what power unit (PU) the car is using. This is because all teams manufacture parts in-house to varying degrees; some depend on external suppliers more than others, such as Haas, which outsources its chassis manufacturing to Dallara. McLaren, the reigning World Constructors’ Champion, builds its own chassis but is a…

The IMSA Sportscar Championship has upgraded its engineering expertise with the use of the Catapult RaceWatch data and analytics program, which allows its technical team to accurately monitor competitors. At the Petit Le Mans in Atlanta, Georgia, the IMSA team kept track of the 53 cars that took the start of the 10-hour race in four different classes and was able to assess each of them throughout the race in real time. While the cameras, fans, media and commentators focus on the race incidents and battles on track, deep within the IMSA paddock are two trucks filled with engineers who keep a weather eye on the live data coming from the cars, the track and the television feed to ensure nobody is falling foul of the rules. The modern GTP…

For those old enough to remember, 2010 was the year Virgin Racing’s VR-01 hit the Formula 1 grid. It was special because its aerodynamics had been developed solely via CFD, without the use of a wind tunnel. Fifteen years later, the vision of then Virgin technical director, Nick Wirth, that all cars will be designed and developed in the same way, using virutal reality and simulation techniques, hasn’t come to pass, as wind tunnels remain a vital part of race, and road car, development. That is not to say CFD hasn’t advanced massively in the intervening years but, when it comes to honing the marginal gains needed to be competitive in top class racing, physical tunnel testing is still an indispensable element of the correlation triangle. It’s a well-known fact…

The FIA has made moves towards performance balancing Formula 1 powertrains following the most recent World Motor Sport Council meeting in October. Although the wording of the clarification suggests any amendments to the technical regulations are minor, and also covers the survival cell, suspension and aerodynamic components, the power unit upgrades are significant. The change is the introduction of an Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system that will allow PU manufacturers that are ‘significantly behind’ their competitors to have more development opportunities. This could include allowing them to change the homologation of their power unit, to receive some cost cap relief and to be permitted additional development time using their power unit test benches. Power units will be measured and, after races six, 12 and 18, ADUO could be…

Ligier Advanced Technologies recently took the wraps off its new Formula Regional car, the snappily-titled JS F326, which is built to the FIA’s new second-generation regulations. It’s the first Formula Regional car to be developed under Ligier’s Advanced Technologies brand, following its acquisition of Mygale earlier this year. The new carbon chassis has been produced by HP Composites, weighs 575kg and is more than 50kg lighter than the first-generation car. It features enhanced impact and intrusion resistance, a stronger roll hoop, quick release front and rear crash boxes, dual wheel tethers and an adjustable carbon seat. The car has been developed with a 2.0-litre turbo Horse V20 engine and will feature a push-to-pass system. ‘We focused on reducing steering torque and braking effort, and on optimising aerodynamics to encourage closer…

It is rare for a new Formula 1 team to be created from scratch. The last time it happened was in 2016, when Haas entered the fray. Another ‘recent’ one is Mercedes in 2010, although it was continuing an existing lineage of teams based in Brackley. Many ‘new’ teams have joined in this way, superseding a predecessor and assuming their existing infrastructure, but the creation of a completely fresh team from scratch is an extraordinary occurrence. Like Haas, Cadillac is an American entity, although its ethos is different. The General Motors brand will, in time, become a chassis and power unit manufacturer – a fully works team – whereas Haas has remained a customer team, closely wedded to its power unit supplier, Ferrari. Haas joined the championship with impeccable timing,…

When the DTM adopted GT3 cars in 2021, it marked a watershed moment for Germany’s top domestic series. During the late 1980s and early ’90s, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft featured touring cars as the name suggests, and drew in major German brands including BMW, Opel, Audi and Mercedes, as well as the Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo. After a demise and rebirth at the turn of the millennium, the DTM morphed into something of a hybrid between touring cars and sportscars, using unique silhouette racers. The OEMs kept racing and their rivalries only intensified. The series then worked with Super GT in Japan to develop a common chassis and engine formula based around 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged unit, which further cultivated this particular silhouette branch of the motorsport family tree. However, following…

These days, the cars in many motorsport series will happily glug pump fuel for lap after lap, but there are still a significant number that require a more finely distilled fuel, whether because of the specification of the engine or the age of the racecar. This is where dedicated motorsport fuel producers and suppliers, such as Poole, UK-based Anglo American Oil Company, come into the picture. While its name points to a transatlantic relationship that’s at the heart of this business, Anglo American’s story actually originates in Sweden, where company founder, Anders Hildebrand, started racing in the 1990s to prove the potency of the Ford GT40 replicas he was then building. It was at this time that Hildebrand’s first connection with American fuels and oils was established, through a sponsorship…

In any pub in the UK, discussions usually turn to controversial occurrences in the world, many of which can be sorted through taking uncomplicated, obvious and, in most cases, effective decisions. Or so we all like to think. A case in point is the Motorsport Industry Association’s CTS Show. No one, not even the MIA, knows what CTS stands for, and that’s fine with all who attend. The important bit is that the industry body has taken the obvious route and opened a trade show in the middle of the UK’s central hub of motor racing, Motorsport Valley. The CTS Show is held in the Wing at Silverstone. Parking is free, which is helpful as Silverstone is challenging to reach by public transport. Attendees come from across the motorsport community,…