OK. I notice that many of you are not very into F1. Well, there might be some of them who don't know, but would like to find out a bit more; fret no more... I'll try my best to do some explanation here to just give you a gist of the idea, as well as what are the new things introduced this year and why so much "noises" made...
First of all, F1 (Formula One) is a name given as it follows a set of guidelines for teams to follow and to compete in. There are also other series of racing, which uses a different formula, and hence you have other kind of racing - GP2, A1GP... All these motorsports are under the governing body, known as FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile)
Now, the formula. Car racing is not just about building a car to race. It's about lap times. It does not mean a very fast car with the most powerful engine will definately win a race. It's all about how you manage to get a car round the track with a fast time that will allow you to complete a designated number of laps with a faster time. Now, that is provided you are racing alone on the track. But it isn't. With all the cars on the track, you must be able to lap quickly round it. So, to cut things short, apart from fast speed, you'll also need a car that goes round corners quickly as well. And to do that, you'll need to know about grip.
Grip is all about how well your car is planted on the ground and energy from the engine is driven to the wheels and wheels to turn and make the car move. No grip, the engine will spins the wheels at the same spot. Simple as that. In order to achieve grip, there are mainly 2 areas: Aerodynamics and Mechanical grip (traction).
Aerodynamic mainly means using wings or wing-like fixture, to generate either a lift or downforce, using the principle of air pressure. For instance, an aeroplane uses its wings to generate lift. Lift is generate when the wing, attached to the aeroplane cuts through the air as the aeroplane accelerates down the runway, with higher pressure below the wing and lower pressure above. So, at the right speed, the higher pressure build-up below the wing is sufficient to carry the wing upwards, and there you have a lift - the aeroplane takes off. F1 uses the opposite theory, whereby the wing is used inverted. The creates high pressure on top, low pressure at the bottom, which will press the car down, hence ensuring the wheel is always on the tarmac, gripping the road. As such, during a high speed cornering, the car is pressed to the tarmac and the car can turn corners quickly.
So far so good? Now you may think... Fast on straight line speed and corner speed is the way to go. But don't forget, having angled wings to press the car at high speed also creates drag. Imagine you are running with a big cardboard perpendicular to the ground. You'll feel that a force is pushing you backwards as you running and you cannot run with ease. Same principle, and that's drag. So, at the end of the day, it's about balancing.
Then comes the Mechanical grip part. That has got to do with tyres, and suspension, torsion bars, beams, push rods... Which might bore you. So let's just focus on tyres (rule change this year from groove to slicks). So, as you know, the only contact surface between the car and the tarmac are the tyres. In order to have better grip or traction on the tarmac, there must be as much contact between the tyres and the tarmac. Slick tyres are tyres that have totally no tread patterns on the surface of the tyres, and these give better traction. Groove tyres are tyres with four grooves that runs parallel to the tyre rotation. These grooves reduces the contacts between the tyre and the tarmac and hence provide less grip or traction for the car.
Previously, cars were focused on aerodynamics development and was standardised with groove tyre, so that the cars speed were controlled, and hence the lap times. However, aerodynamics research and development works are costly as teams build wind-tunnel to try out the effects of wings, winglets and appendages. And as we know it's about budgeting and with lately, the financial situation, the focus is switched around again - focus on traction, and less on aerodynamics.
Which explains why you see uglier cars this year with longer and lower front wings, taller and narrower rear wings, and slick tyres. The slick tyres gives the cars traction to go round corners with reduced aids from the wings.
Hey... That's a lot of stuff already. I guess I shall continue tomorrow... Notice that this is just a small fraction about F1... So, can you see how big F1 is all about? It not only involves engineers and technical people, but people from all walks of life. There are lawyers, nutritionist, dieticians, physiotherapist, doctors, businessman, marketing consultants, accountants... All working in each team. That's a lot of people and commitment...
First of all, F1 (Formula One) is a name given as it follows a set of guidelines for teams to follow and to compete in. There are also other series of racing, which uses a different formula, and hence you have other kind of racing - GP2, A1GP... All these motorsports are under the governing body, known as FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile)
Now, the formula. Car racing is not just about building a car to race. It's about lap times. It does not mean a very fast car with the most powerful engine will definately win a race. It's all about how you manage to get a car round the track with a fast time that will allow you to complete a designated number of laps with a faster time. Now, that is provided you are racing alone on the track. But it isn't. With all the cars on the track, you must be able to lap quickly round it. So, to cut things short, apart from fast speed, you'll also need a car that goes round corners quickly as well. And to do that, you'll need to know about grip.
Grip is all about how well your car is planted on the ground and energy from the engine is driven to the wheels and wheels to turn and make the car move. No grip, the engine will spins the wheels at the same spot. Simple as that. In order to achieve grip, there are mainly 2 areas: Aerodynamics and Mechanical grip (traction).
Aerodynamic mainly means using wings or wing-like fixture, to generate either a lift or downforce, using the principle of air pressure. For instance, an aeroplane uses its wings to generate lift. Lift is generate when the wing, attached to the aeroplane cuts through the air as the aeroplane accelerates down the runway, with higher pressure below the wing and lower pressure above. So, at the right speed, the higher pressure build-up below the wing is sufficient to carry the wing upwards, and there you have a lift - the aeroplane takes off. F1 uses the opposite theory, whereby the wing is used inverted. The creates high pressure on top, low pressure at the bottom, which will press the car down, hence ensuring the wheel is always on the tarmac, gripping the road. As such, during a high speed cornering, the car is pressed to the tarmac and the car can turn corners quickly.
So far so good? Now you may think... Fast on straight line speed and corner speed is the way to go. But don't forget, having angled wings to press the car at high speed also creates drag. Imagine you are running with a big cardboard perpendicular to the ground. You'll feel that a force is pushing you backwards as you running and you cannot run with ease. Same principle, and that's drag. So, at the end of the day, it's about balancing.
Then comes the Mechanical grip part. That has got to do with tyres, and suspension, torsion bars, beams, push rods... Which might bore you. So let's just focus on tyres (rule change this year from groove to slicks). So, as you know, the only contact surface between the car and the tarmac are the tyres. In order to have better grip or traction on the tarmac, there must be as much contact between the tyres and the tarmac. Slick tyres are tyres that have totally no tread patterns on the surface of the tyres, and these give better traction. Groove tyres are tyres with four grooves that runs parallel to the tyre rotation. These grooves reduces the contacts between the tyre and the tarmac and hence provide less grip or traction for the car.
Previously, cars were focused on aerodynamics development and was standardised with groove tyre, so that the cars speed were controlled, and hence the lap times. However, aerodynamics research and development works are costly as teams build wind-tunnel to try out the effects of wings, winglets and appendages. And as we know it's about budgeting and with lately, the financial situation, the focus is switched around again - focus on traction, and less on aerodynamics.
Which explains why you see uglier cars this year with longer and lower front wings, taller and narrower rear wings, and slick tyres. The slick tyres gives the cars traction to go round corners with reduced aids from the wings.
Hey... That's a lot of stuff already. I guess I shall continue tomorrow... Notice that this is just a small fraction about F1... So, can you see how big F1 is all about? It not only involves engineers and technical people, but people from all walks of life. There are lawyers, nutritionist, dieticians, physiotherapist, doctors, businessman, marketing consultants, accountants... All working in each team. That's a lot of people and commitment...
