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F1 2014: All aboard the 'power train' - new rules explained

173 points by alexkus 13y ago

deletes 13y ago
But do they have to limit fuel. Does the advantage of the turbo outweigh more pitstops? I'm afraid races might get boring when drivers will have to conserve their fuel or just lose the race.
- maigret 13y ago
  It's already the case. You cannot refuel (I think for safety reasons, but not sure), so to get a weight advantage you have to take as little fuel as possible at the beginning of the race. So I don't expect changes. And yes, it happened to some, like Hamilton, to have to drive slower to save fuel. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/21917717 http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/21917717
  - fredwilkins 13y ago
    In race refueling has been banned since 2010. Their concern was with the increasing number of fuel related pit row accidents. But on the flip side, many argue that operating with the increased fuel loads is even more dangerous.
  - masklinn 13y ago
    > You cannot refuel (I think for safety reasons, but not sure) Definitely not safety reasons. Refueling on pit stops was allowed from 1994 to 2009 (inclusive). The official reason for refueling ban was lowering team expenses: refueling stops required significant machinery, equipment and crew (much more so than calibration and tyres changes), which had to be carried around the world.
- collyw 13y ago
  Cars going round in circles? I already find that fairly boring.
  - hudster 13y ago
    Circles? That's Nascar
    - dagw 13y ago
      They're all topologically equivalent
      - DanWaterworth 13y ago
        It may well be the case that they are all topologically equivalent, but they needn't be, so long as bridges are allowed. Perhaps that's how they could make F1 more interesting.
        alexkus 13y ago
        Suzuka has a bridge:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuka_Circuit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuka_Circuit
        DanWaterworth 13y ago
        Unfortunately, the presence of a bridge is necessary, but not sufficient. Think knots.
      - beat 13y ago
        In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. Even circle tracks have tremendous local variation from a racing point of view.
  - cjrp 13y ago
    I used to think it was dull, but then I read up on the aerodynamic and engineering work that goes into each car's design and suddenly it became a lot more interesting.
  - Iuz 13y ago
    Formula 1 is street circuits.
- philjohn 13y ago
  There's something in the rules about maximum fuel flow rate, which IIRC is 100kg of fuel per hour, with a maximum of 100kg of fuel in the tank, so the trick has been to make these engines as efficient as possible, it's no use having the most powerful engine if if can't reach it's full capability, or can only reach it when it's using the max fuel flow rate as you'll run out having only completed half the lap.
- exDM69 13y ago
  > But do they have to limit fuel. Does the advantage of the turbo outweigh more pitstops? Refueling is not allowed in Formula 1, it has only been allowed during two brief stints in the early 1980s and late 1990s. It was/is silly dangerous and there were a few quite nasty pitstop fire incidents. One goal of the new regulations with the turbo, the regenerative braking and the fuel limit is to put emphasis on the efficiency of the engines. The engine manufacturer with the best efficiency is at an advantage. There's a risk that this will introduce boring fuel saving periods to races. But on the other hand the fuel limit is the same for everyone. If you look at this from a different perspective, there will periods where you can crank up the boost and mixture to allow for more power at the cost of more than average fuel consumption.
  - masklinn 13y ago
    > Refueling is not allowed in Formula 1, it has only been allowed during two brief stints in the early 1980s and late 1990s. Brief? It was allowed from 1994 to 2009, and the official reason for removing it in 2010 was team expenses (they had to move expensive speed-refueling machinery around the world, and highly trained pit staff to match)
    - exDM69 13y ago
      Brief in the sense that for most of the history of F1, refueling has not been allowed.
      - jackgavigan 13y ago
        That's not strictly true. Refuelling was allowed (or, more accurately, it wasn't banned) from 1950 (the first F1 world championship) thru 1983. Fangio did a deliberate pitstop during his famous win at the Nürburgring in 1957 [1]. However, it appears that it wasn't until 1983 that a team (Brabham) deliberately built a car with a tank too small to hold enough fuel to finish a race [2]. Brabham went on to win the 1983 championship and refuelling was banned from 1984. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957_German_Grand_Prix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957_German_Grand_Prix [2]: http://www.formula1-dictionary.net/refueling.html http://www.formula1-dictionary.net/refueling.html
- vanderZwan 13y ago
  Life... I mean the need for speed will find a way. I'm quite excited by this, can't wait to see what innovations will come out of the new restrictions!
sanoli 13y ago
There are so many rules dictating the design of an F1 chassis/engine that I wonder how much faster a "anything goes" car would go.
- retube 13y ago
  Yeah! I always thought it would be mint to be able to do whatever you wanted, put a saturn V engine in it you wanted. Would make great telly. Ditto the paralympics - there should be a class where they can pimp up their kit to the max.
  - dagw 13y ago
    What you're describing sounds very close to F1 of the 60's, 70's and early 80's, now keep that in mind and take a look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_Formula_One_accidents http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_Formula_One_accid... As to the question whether or not this would make for "great telly" or not, I leave to those far more cynical than me.
- Swizec 13y ago
  This video is an interesting comparison of just how fast F1 cars are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cNqaPSHv0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cNqaPSHv0 IIRC some of those GT cars that look like snails compared to F1 cars are "anything goes". However, here is a truly anything goes car (that has broken the speed barrier on land): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKQ-xj5C2m8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKQ-xj5C2m8 So yeah, an anything goes car will go much faster than an F1 car. But it's going to suck at cornering. We currently don't have anything that can hold such high average speeds as an F1 car can. Not even in any very lightly regulated sport. For interestingness' sake, modern WRC cars reach speeds of 220kph over gravel. Top speeds of F1 cars are around 360kph (the Bugatti Veyron can do 430kph), but F1 cares more about cornering speed than top speed. From Wikipedia: > The large downforce allows an F1 car to corner at amazing speeds. As an example of the extreme cornering speeds; the Blanchimont and Eau Rouge corners at Spa-Francorchamps are taken flat-out at above 300 km/h (190 mph), whereas the race-spec touring cars can only do so at 150–160 km/h (note that lateral force increases with the square of the speed). A newer and perhaps even more extreme example is the Turn 8 at the Istanbul Park circuit, a 190° relatively tight 4-apex corner, in which the cars maintain speeds between 265 and 285 km/h (165 and 177 mph) (in 2006) and experience between 4.5 g and 5.5 g for 7 seconds—the longest sustained hard cornering in Formula 1.
CraigJPerry 13y ago
How do they handle network latency back to simulation / data processing environments when travelling?
- codfrantic 13y ago
  There was a story on Ars[potato] about a small team a couple of weeks ago, they bring their servers with them (for this team only a couple in a half size rack) So I'm guessing they're doing the calculations they need during the race locally... [potato] http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/11/gallery-ars-goes-behind-the-scenes-with-the-caterham-f1-racing-team/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/11/galler...
- jeremysmyth 13y ago
  Network latency isn't really an issue, because the team has no direct control over any aspect of the car aside from what they say to the driver; Pit-to-car telemetry is explicitly prohibited, and radio comms from the team to the car are voice-only. In short, the latency introduced by voice comms far outweighs any geographical distance introduced by sending data to and from the cray at homebase.
- exDM69 13y ago
  Latency does not matter because the driver must do all the work controlling the car and the engine. They use data links (at some point they used direct radio links, don't know what happens these days) back and forth from the car to the pit wall and all the way back to the factory. There's around 20-50 engineers working every time the cars are out on track. But the telemetry is all one way, it's not allowed to control the car from the pit wall. There are computer programs and engineers analyzing the telemetry all the time but all they can do is give instructions to the driver. You can regularly see/hear this happen in races. There may be a slight collision between cars and e.g. the front wing gets damaged a little. The driver will radio the pit wall and ask whether they have damage or not. The engineers behind the pits and in the factory will analyze the data from the suspension travel vs. pitot tube telemetry and conclude whether there's damage to the wings and whether that damage is grave enough to warrant changing the front wing at the pits (~10 seconds stationary). Here's an amazing video from McLaren mission control in their factory in Great Britain while the cars are out on track in Korea on the other side of world. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYhl7csZJHw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYhl7csZJHw
sheri 13y ago
The video mentions that the aerodynamics of the car generates so much down-force that it could ride upside-down on the ceiling. Wow.
- vanderZwan 13y ago
  While certainly impressive, that's been true of F1 cars for decades.
  - logicallee 13y ago
    As you say "decades" I did a cursory search for a video (assuming perhaps at some point during that time someone thought to make one.) I found this interesting video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcPsSI4O2S0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcPsSI4O2S0 but would certainly like to see an F1 care drive literally upside-down (normal to horizontal) if you have anything like that. I just searched for a second on YouTube.
    - manojlds 13y ago
      There was this ad - http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=izrNv4nMxAg http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=izrNv4nMxAg
    - Tegran 13y ago
      The whole "driving upside down" thing is mostly theoretical because although the aerodynamics might allow it, none of the rest of the car is designed to work upside down without some modifications: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1752888-can-a-formula-1-car-drive-upside-down http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1752888-can-a-formula-1-c...
- tobylane 13y ago
  I heard that several types of race cars could stay upside down at 100km/h. In 2000 F1 was reaching 300km/h on most circuits, less now. I guess that means it could be upside down on a higher gravity planet.
- nodata 13y ago
T-zex 13y ago
I really hope this will reduce the number of times commentators have to say a word "tires". Couldn't care less about saving tires. Its like a footballer saving a ball, or boxer his gloves. The same applies to the engine.
- raverbashing 13y ago
  Well, the thing is, it costs time to replace tires So you have to balance tire wear with the time gained by pushing it to the limit They also have an increased engine life this year, I think each team must go through 5 engines during the season, as opposed to 8 engines And you can bet they're designed to last as much as needed but not much more.
  - T-zex 13y ago
    Absolutely. Tire management is important, but it should not be essential. Reckless breaking with wheels locked should have its consequences. I'd rather see wheel to wheel action than listen to the comments about how this guy in a second place will have to save his tires and give up positions to score a few points.
    - k-mcgrady 13y ago
      >> "I'd rather see wheel to wheel action than listen to the comments about how this guy in a second place will have to save his tires and give up positions to score a few points." The only reason he is in 2nd place is because he didn't save his tyres - and the reason he has to now lose places is because the guys behind did. In the end it usually works out the way it should be and we get some fighting on the last few laps. Even 5 years ago the last 15-20 laps were a procession to the line. I think introducing a bit of excitement towards the end is much better.
      - T-zex 13y ago
        Its a matter of taste I suppose. I did not enjoy this season. Maybe I'm too spoiled by MotoGP.
bliti 13y ago
The interesting bit here is the development of the turbochargers. This is an area that has been slow to change over the years, due to the small amount of turbocharged vehicles available new[1]. Most turbos are used in heavy machinery (garbage trucks, big rigs, etc.), a slowly changing industry. They do not face the same regulations as regular autos. Seems they are doing away with the wastegate and replacing it with an electric motor. Using the energy of the engine exhaust to generate electricity. This energy is normally lost or wasted on a typical turbocharged or naturally aspirated engine. The interesting part is that wastegates are simple flow valves that control how much exhaust gasses go through the turbo's turbine. Doing away with the wastegate means that they will be limiting the amount of airflow that goes into the engine in some other way. I doubt that they are using all of the boost that the turbo creates, because it would be a risky proposition to do so. Changes in ambient temperature would greatly impact the fuel delivery system. Not to mention it would increase the possibility of the fuel pre-igniting inside the combustion chamber. There have been developments in the turbocharger industry, most have been in the way of better materials and turbine/compressor blade designs. I know that Garret (a manufacturer of turbos) has developed a turbocharger with a built-in electric motor. The motor is used to eliminate lag by spinning the turbocharger to a pre-defined RPM. Turbo lag is simply the period of time that it takes a turbocharger to spin up to the speed and start producing boost (back pressure inside the engine). By having an electric motor spin the turbo to a given setting, turbo lag is eliminated, and fuel economy is improved. How may fuel economy be improved? In many vehicles, turbo lag is fought against through the fuel maps (the amount of fuel deliver at a given RPM point). In cases, more fuel is fed to the engine to increase the expansion of the exhaust gases. An exhaust gas that has more unburned fuel in itself will burn most of that excess in the high temperature area between the engine block and the turbocharger. This expansion greatly increases the turbo speed. Though this comes at a cost of higher exhaust emissions, and lower fuel economy. There have been developments into a new type of turbocharging system. Where the turbo unit is driven by by a hydraulic pump, rather than the engine exhaust. In this system, the turbo speed would rise by increasing the pump speed. For some reason this never reached production. But it could have revolutionized the industry. In a way, having an electric motor in place of the wastegate might turn out to provide the same benefits this system would have provided to passenger autos. Being able to re-capture energy lost in the exhaust system would be a win in terms of efficency. [1] In the USA market. There are plenty of turbocharged diesel autos in the rest of the world. They are not common in the USA, though.
Spearchucker 13y ago
I stopped watching F1 about 10 years ago, and these new changes just reaffirm that decision. It's no longer about best car + best driver. It's about mixing it up, making it random, to maximise viewer numbers. Not the kind of racing I go for.
- oliveoil 13y ago
  Same here, stopped watching around 1998. I though it's mostly about the car (which is largely random per-season, yes) and instead of celebrating the design/engineering behind the only things celebrated around f1 are the personalities of drivers, their excesses and their egos.
  - CWuestefeld 13y ago
    the only things celebrated around f1 are the personalities of drivers I don't think that's quite true. Quite a lot gets said about at least a couple of designers, most especially Adrian Newey (all agree that Vettel is an amazing driver, but also that the recent RB cars that Newey has designed are dominant). We hear a lot from team principals like Horner, Brawn, Kaltenborn (first female in this role!). And race engineers like Rob Smedley and Rocky Rocquelin get their voice heard as well.
- spacecadet 13y ago
  No it isn't! Racing has always been the source of innovation in automotive- safety harness for example.. ABS, etc Its exactly the fact that racing became "about best car + drive" that innovation slumped and we still drive cars that are pretty much no different than when Fuel Injection was introduced in the 70's! I welcome these challenges. I have been slowly developing my own diesel/electric hybrid using similar technology, it makes more sense than full electric at this point in time. Hub motors are very inexpensive and modern diesels running on waste bio can last upwards of 1,000,000 miles. Thanks to Audi and their endurance Diesel R8 racecar... They challenged themselves under no regulation and it helped prove a technology.
  - Spearchucker 13y ago
colin_jack 13y ago
As with F1 races, the article seemed interesting at the start but quickly bores the heck out of you.
- maxerickson 13y ago
  Is this one better? http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/vintage-speed/the-spring-that-revolutionized-nascar-6643778 http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/vintage-speed/the-... Not F1, but very much a case of wiggling through the rules.
pbo 13y ago
I wrote firmware (~20kLocs) for a power (electrical) supply that's part of one such power train. This kind of development is very demanding, because you can't afford to leave any bugs in your program but at the same time you're always shipping late because of tight schedules and often blurry specifications. On top of that hardware and software development cycles are concurrent, so no target hardware available when you're writing your code. In these conditions the only way I found to have something that works is to keep it very simple: 1. Simple algorithms 2. Simple data structures 3. Few abstractions 4. No dynamic memory allocations Also, no compiler optimizations.
- T-zex 13y ago
  Wow! Have you developed the software for the ECU?
  - pbo 13y ago
    Actually I distribute power from the battery to other subsystems, so it's rather far from the ECU.
- kayoone 13y ago
  as a huge F1 fan and software hacker id love to hear more, but i guess its all under NDA right ? :/
- zdrummond 13y ago
  Can you do an AMA? I would love to hear more!
  - pbo 13y ago
    Even though the work environment is peculiar, the technical contents itself is far from exceptionnal, really. If you'd like to read more about this kind of systems, this document could be a starting point: http://www.ti.com/lit/ml/slup232/slup232.pdf http://www.ti.com/lit/ml/slup232/slup232.pdf It sums up pretty well the stakes and technical challenges with digital power supplies.
- 13y ago
cabbeer 13y ago
"Bernie Ecclestone has done a magnificent job with Formula One and he needs these last-minute showdowns. But we, the keen viewers, need to be assured that it is still motorsport with young men going wheel-to-wheel in a life or death struggle for glory. And not panto." -Jeremy Clarkson
pacofvf 13y ago
I read sometime ago about how supposedly the KERS was used as Traction Control System by Red Bull, so this new "ERS", which is not even activated by the driver, seems more suited to be modified to act as a TCS.
- Fuzzwah 13y ago
  The "traction control" part of the KERS system wasn't controlled by the driver. The best guess is that a system monitored wheel slip by the oscillation of the rear suspension. The extra power was fed into the recovery system rather than being wasted as wheel slip. I think all teams will be doing this in 2014.
Fuzzwah 13y ago
This guy's video explaining the new F1 2014 regulations is very good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8lyBFmkAKw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8lyBFmkAKw Actually all his F1 videos are excellent.
fduran 13y ago
I just want to mention the great safety advances in car (and race) security in the last 20 years; since 1994 and the deaths of Ratzenberger and Senna there has been no driver fatalities in F1 racing. edit "Following Senna's death in 1994, no driver had died from injuries sustained in a World Championship-related accident until María de Villota died in 2013 from complications of injuries she sustained in a testing accident the previous year"
- TillE 13y ago
  It is quite remarkable. For example, the Kubica crash in 2007 looked absolutely horrific, but he walked away with only minor injuries. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=685_1181547684 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=685_1181547684
  - mtr 13y ago
    I was in the stands in the hairpin when I saw Kubica go flying by. Seeing his head bobbing from side to side made me think that he was dead. I managed to capture some pics of the crash and wrote a blog post about it, and other racing accidents. http://blog.octanenation.com/kubica-accident-pictures-an-automotive-thanksgiving/ http://blog.octanenation.com/kubica-accident-pictures-an-aut...
- ryguytilidie 13y ago
  Even the de Villota death was a huge huge fluke. She lost control of the car outside of the track (no idea why she was driving outside of the track) and hit a moving trucks lift face first. If she had just ran into a wall on the track there is basically no chance she would have died.
msantos 13y ago
Several F1 teams are hiring C/C++ engineers currently. Mostly looking for C brainers with experience in embedded systems and C/C++ Matlab programmers.
- walshemj 13y ago
  Interesting I am in the process of doing a cheeky spec job application to my nearest f1 team - will probably hand deliver it to the factory - maybe its time to dust of my old FORTAN skills. I suspect engineers with expertize in cooling electronics will be in demand as if the kers/battery conks out it will destroy a cars race now.
geoka9 13y ago
I wonder what'll happen to F1 when the consumer car industry shifts to driverless cars. Will F1 "catch up" and the teams get rid of the drivers? Will it still be considered a sport?
alexeisadeski3 13y ago
Can't racing just be about fun loud cars? Leave the environmentalist somewhere else?
- sp332 13y ago
  F1 has always been intended to move tech into production cars. It was never just about fun loud cars. It's definitely true that a few dozen cars running laps for a day isn't going to have much effect on the climate, the point is to improve millions of cars in the future.

173 points by alexkus 13y ago

But do they have to limit fuel. Does the advantage of the turbo outweigh more pitstops? I'm afraid races might get boring when drivers will have to conserve their fuel or just lose the race.

maigret 13y ago
It's already the case. You cannot refuel (I think for safety reasons, but not sure), so to get a weight advantage you have to take as little fuel as possible at the beginning of the race. So I don't expect changes. And yes, it happened to some, like Hamilton, to have to drive slower to save fuel. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/21917717 http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/21917717
- fredwilkins 13y ago
  In race refueling has been banned since 2010. Their concern was with the increasing number of fuel related pit row accidents. But on the flip side, many argue that operating with the increased fuel loads is even more dangerous.
- masklinn 13y ago
  > You cannot refuel (I think for safety reasons, but not sure) Definitely not safety reasons. Refueling on pit stops was allowed from 1994 to 2009 (inclusive). The official reason for refueling ban was lowering team expenses: refueling stops required significant machinery, equipment and crew (much more so than calibration and tyres changes), which had to be carried around the world.
collyw 13y ago
Cars going round in circles? I already find that fairly boring.
- hudster 13y ago
  Circles? That's Nascar
  - dagw 13y ago
    They're all topologically equivalent
    - DanWaterworth 13y ago
      It may well be the case that they are all topologically equivalent, but they needn't be, so long as bridges are allowed. Perhaps that's how they could make F1 more interesting.
      - alexkus 13y ago
        Suzuka has a bridge:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuka_Circuit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuka_Circuit
        DanWaterworth 13y ago
        Unfortunately, the presence of a bridge is necessary, but not sufficient. Think knots.
    - beat 13y ago
      In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. Even circle tracks have tremendous local variation from a racing point of view.
- cjrp 13y ago
  I used to think it was dull, but then I read up on the aerodynamic and engineering work that goes into each car's design and suddenly it became a lot more interesting.
- Iuz 13y ago
  Formula 1 is street circuits.
philjohn 13y ago
There's something in the rules about maximum fuel flow rate, which IIRC is 100kg of fuel per hour, with a maximum of 100kg of fuel in the tank, so the trick has been to make these engines as efficient as possible, it's no use having the most powerful engine if if can't reach it's full capability, or can only reach it when it's using the max fuel flow rate as you'll run out having only completed half the lap.
exDM69 13y ago
> But do they have to limit fuel. Does the advantage of the turbo outweigh more pitstops? Refueling is not allowed in Formula 1, it has only been allowed during two brief stints in the early 1980s and late 1990s. It was/is silly dangerous and there were a few quite nasty pitstop fire incidents. One goal of the new regulations with the turbo, the regenerative braking and the fuel limit is to put emphasis on the efficiency of the engines. The engine manufacturer with the best efficiency is at an advantage. There's a risk that this will introduce boring fuel saving periods to races. But on the other hand the fuel limit is the same for everyone. If you look at this from a different perspective, there will periods where you can crank up the boost and mixture to allow for more power at the cost of more than average fuel consumption.
- masklinn 13y ago
  > Refueling is not allowed in Formula 1, it has only been allowed during two brief stints in the early 1980s and late 1990s. Brief? It was allowed from 1994 to 2009, and the official reason for removing it in 2010 was team expenses (they had to move expensive speed-refueling machinery around the world, and highly trained pit staff to match)
  - exDM69 13y ago
    Brief in the sense that for most of the history of F1, refueling has not been allowed.
    - jackgavigan 13y ago
      That's not strictly true. Refuelling was allowed (or, more accurately, it wasn't banned) from 1950 (the first F1 world championship) thru 1983. Fangio did a deliberate pitstop during his famous win at the Nürburgring in 1957 [1]. However, it appears that it wasn't until 1983 that a team (Brabham) deliberately built a car with a tank too small to hold enough fuel to finish a race [2]. Brabham went on to win the 1983 championship and refuelling was banned from 1984. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957_German_Grand_Prix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957_German_Grand_Prix [2]: http://www.formula1-dictionary.net/refueling.html http://www.formula1-dictionary.net/refueling.html
vanderZwan 13y ago
Life... I mean the need for speed will find a way. I'm quite excited by this, can't wait to see what innovations will come out of the new restrictions!

sanoli 13y ago

There are so many rules dictating the design of an F1 chassis/engine that I wonder how much faster a "anything goes" car would go.

retube 13y ago
Yeah! I always thought it would be mint to be able to do whatever you wanted, put a saturn V engine in it you wanted. Would make great telly. Ditto the paralympics - there should be a class where they can pimp up their kit to the max.
- dagw 13y ago
  What you're describing sounds very close to F1 of the 60's, 70's and early 80's, now keep that in mind and take a look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_Formula_One_accidents http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_Formula_One_accid... As to the question whether or not this would make for "great telly" or not, I leave to those far more cynical than me.
Swizec 13y ago
This video is an interesting comparison of just how fast F1 cars are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cNqaPSHv0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cNqaPSHv0 IIRC some of those GT cars that look like snails compared to F1 cars are "anything goes". However, here is a truly anything goes car (that has broken the speed barrier on land): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKQ-xj5C2m8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKQ-xj5C2m8 So yeah, an anything goes car will go much faster than an F1 car. But it's going to suck at cornering. We currently don't have anything that can hold such high average speeds as an F1 car can. Not even in any very lightly regulated sport. For interestingness' sake, modern WRC cars reach speeds of 220kph over gravel. Top speeds of F1 cars are around 360kph (the Bugatti Veyron can do 430kph), but F1 cares more about cornering speed than top speed. From Wikipedia: > The large downforce allows an F1 car to corner at amazing speeds. As an example of the extreme cornering speeds; the Blanchimont and Eau Rouge corners at Spa-Francorchamps are taken flat-out at above 300 km/h (190 mph), whereas the race-spec touring cars can only do so at 150–160 km/h (note that lateral force increases with the square of the speed). A newer and perhaps even more extreme example is the Turn 8 at the Istanbul Park circuit, a 190° relatively tight 4-apex corner, in which the cars maintain speeds between 265 and 285 km/h (165 and 177 mph) (in 2006) and experience between 4.5 g and 5.5 g for 7 seconds—the longest sustained hard cornering in Formula 1.

CraigJPerry 13y ago

How do they handle network latency back to simulation / data processing environments when travelling?

codfrantic 13y ago
There was a story on Ars[potato] about a small team a couple of weeks ago, they bring their servers with them (for this team only a couple in a half size rack) So I'm guessing they're doing the calculations they need during the race locally... [potato] http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/11/gallery-ars-goes-behind-the-scenes-with-the-caterham-f1-racing-team/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/11/galler...
jeremysmyth 13y ago
Network latency isn't really an issue, because the team has no direct control over any aspect of the car aside from what they say to the driver; Pit-to-car telemetry is explicitly prohibited, and radio comms from the team to the car are voice-only. In short, the latency introduced by voice comms far outweighs any geographical distance introduced by sending data to and from the cray at homebase.
exDM69 13y ago
Latency does not matter because the driver must do all the work controlling the car and the engine. They use data links (at some point they used direct radio links, don't know what happens these days) back and forth from the car to the pit wall and all the way back to the factory. There's around 20-50 engineers working every time the cars are out on track. But the telemetry is all one way, it's not allowed to control the car from the pit wall. There are computer programs and engineers analyzing the telemetry all the time but all they can do is give instructions to the driver. You can regularly see/hear this happen in races. There may be a slight collision between cars and e.g. the front wing gets damaged a little. The driver will radio the pit wall and ask whether they have damage or not. The engineers behind the pits and in the factory will analyze the data from the suspension travel vs. pitot tube telemetry and conclude whether there's damage to the wings and whether that damage is grave enough to warrant changing the front wing at the pits (~10 seconds stationary). Here's an amazing video from McLaren mission control in their factory in Great Britain while the cars are out on track in Korea on the other side of world. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYhl7csZJHw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYhl7csZJHw

sheri 13y ago

The video mentions that the aerodynamics of the car generates so much down-force that it could ride upside-down on the ceiling. Wow.

vanderZwan 13y ago
While certainly impressive, that's been true of F1 cars for decades.
- logicallee 13y ago
  As you say "decades" I did a cursory search for a video (assuming perhaps at some point during that time someone thought to make one.) I found this interesting video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcPsSI4O2S0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcPsSI4O2S0 but would certainly like to see an F1 care drive literally upside-down (normal to horizontal) if you have anything like that. I just searched for a second on YouTube.
  - manojlds 13y ago
    There was this ad - http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=izrNv4nMxAg http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=izrNv4nMxAg
  - Tegran 13y ago
    The whole "driving upside down" thing is mostly theoretical because although the aerodynamics might allow it, none of the rest of the car is designed to work upside down without some modifications: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1752888-can-a-formula-1-car-drive-upside-down http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1752888-can-a-formula-1-c...
tobylane 13y ago
I heard that several types of race cars could stay upside down at 100km/h. In 2000 F1 was reaching 300km/h on most circuits, less now. I guess that means it could be upside down on a higher gravity planet.
nodata 13y ago

T-zex 13y ago

I really hope this will reduce the number of times commentators have to say a word "tires". Couldn't care less about saving tires. Its like a footballer saving a ball, or boxer his gloves. The same applies to the engine.

raverbashing 13y ago
Well, the thing is, it costs time to replace tires So you have to balance tire wear with the time gained by pushing it to the limit They also have an increased engine life this year, I think each team must go through 5 engines during the season, as opposed to 8 engines And you can bet they're designed to last as much as needed but not much more.
- T-zex 13y ago
  Absolutely. Tire management is important, but it should not be essential. Reckless breaking with wheels locked should have its consequences. I'd rather see wheel to wheel action than listen to the comments about how this guy in a second place will have to save his tires and give up positions to score a few points.
  - k-mcgrady 13y ago
    >> "I'd rather see wheel to wheel action than listen to the comments about how this guy in a second place will have to save his tires and give up positions to score a few points." The only reason he is in 2nd place is because he didn't save his tyres - and the reason he has to now lose places is because the guys behind did. In the end it usually works out the way it should be and we get some fighting on the last few laps. Even 5 years ago the last 15-20 laps were a procession to the line. I think introducing a bit of excitement towards the end is much better.
    - T-zex 13y ago
      Its a matter of taste I suppose. I did not enjoy this season. Maybe I'm too spoiled by MotoGP.

bliti 13y ago

The interesting bit here is the development of the turbochargers. This is an area that has been slow to change over the years, due to the small amount of turbocharged vehicles available new[1]. Most turbos are used in heavy machinery (garbage trucks, big rigs, etc.), a slowly changing industry. They do not face the same regulations as regular autos. Seems they are doing away with the wastegate and replacing it with an electric motor. Using the energy of the engine exhaust to generate electricity. This energy is normally lost or wasted on a typical turbocharged or naturally aspirated engine. The interesting part is that wastegates are simple flow valves that control how much exhaust gasses go through the turbo's turbine. Doing away with the wastegate means that they will be limiting the amount of airflow that goes into the engine in some other way. I doubt that they are using all of the boost that the turbo creates, because it would be a risky proposition to do so. Changes in ambient temperature would greatly impact the fuel delivery system. Not to mention it would increase the possibility of the fuel pre-igniting inside the combustion chamber. There have been developments in the turbocharger industry, most have been in the way of better materials and turbine/compressor blade designs. I know that Garret (a manufacturer of turbos) has developed a turbocharger with a built-in electric motor. The motor is used to eliminate lag by spinning the turbocharger to a pre-defined RPM. Turbo lag is simply the period of time that it takes a turbocharger to spin up to the speed and start producing boost (back pressure inside the engine). By having an electric motor spin the turbo to a given setting, turbo lag is eliminated, and fuel economy is improved. How may fuel economy be improved? In many vehicles, turbo lag is fought against through the fuel maps (the amount of fuel deliver at a given RPM point). In cases, more fuel is fed to the engine to increase the expansion of the exhaust gases. An exhaust gas that has more unburned fuel in itself will burn most of that excess in the high temperature area between the engine block and the turbocharger. This expansion greatly increases the turbo speed. Though this comes at a cost of higher exhaust emissions, and lower fuel economy. There have been developments into a new type of turbocharging system. Where the turbo unit is driven by by a hydraulic pump, rather than the engine exhaust. In this system, the turbo speed would rise by increasing the pump speed. For some reason this never reached production. But it could have revolutionized the industry. In a way, having an electric motor in place of the wastegate might turn out to provide the same benefits this system would have provided to passenger autos. Being able to re-capture energy lost in the exhaust system would be a win in terms of efficency. [1] In the USA market. There are plenty of turbocharged diesel autos in the rest of the world. They are not common in the USA, though.

Spearchucker 13y ago

I stopped watching F1 about 10 years ago, and these new changes just reaffirm that decision. It's no longer about best car + best driver. It's about mixing it up, making it random, to maximise viewer numbers. Not the kind of racing I go for.

oliveoil 13y ago
Same here, stopped watching around 1998. I though it's mostly about the car (which is largely random per-season, yes) and instead of celebrating the design/engineering behind the only things celebrated around f1 are the personalities of drivers, their excesses and their egos.
- CWuestefeld 13y ago
  the only things celebrated around f1 are the personalities of drivers I don't think that's quite true. Quite a lot gets said about at least a couple of designers, most especially Adrian Newey (all agree that Vettel is an amazing driver, but also that the recent RB cars that Newey has designed are dominant). We hear a lot from team principals like Horner, Brawn, Kaltenborn (first female in this role!). And race engineers like Rob Smedley and Rocky Rocquelin get their voice heard as well.
spacecadet 13y ago
No it isn't! Racing has always been the source of innovation in automotive- safety harness for example.. ABS, etc Its exactly the fact that racing became "about best car + drive" that innovation slumped and we still drive cars that are pretty much no different than when Fuel Injection was introduced in the 70's! I welcome these challenges. I have been slowly developing my own diesel/electric hybrid using similar technology, it makes more sense than full electric at this point in time. Hub motors are very inexpensive and modern diesels running on waste bio can last upwards of 1,000,000 miles. Thanks to Audi and their endurance Diesel R8 racecar... They challenged themselves under no regulation and it helped prove a technology.
- Spearchucker 13y ago

colin_jack 13y ago

As with F1 races, the article seemed interesting at the start but quickly bores the heck out of you.

maxerickson 13y ago
Is this one better? http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/vintage-speed/the-spring-that-revolutionized-nascar-6643778 http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/vintage-speed/the-... Not F1, but very much a case of wiggling through the rules.

pbo 13y ago

I wrote firmware (~20kLocs) for a power (electrical) supply that's part of one such power train. This kind of development is very demanding, because you can't afford to leave any bugs in your program but at the same time you're always shipping late because of tight schedules and often blurry specifications. On top of that hardware and software development cycles are concurrent, so no target hardware available when you're writing your code. In these conditions the only way I found to have something that works is to keep it very simple: 1. Simple algorithms 2. Simple data structures 3. Few abstractions 4. No dynamic memory allocations Also, no compiler optimizations.

T-zex 13y ago
Wow! Have you developed the software for the ECU?
- pbo 13y ago
  Actually I distribute power from the battery to other subsystems, so it's rather far from the ECU.
kayoone 13y ago
as a huge F1 fan and software hacker id love to hear more, but i guess its all under NDA right ? :/
zdrummond 13y ago
Can you do an AMA? I would love to hear more!
- pbo 13y ago
  Even though the work environment is peculiar, the technical contents itself is far from exceptionnal, really. If you'd like to read more about this kind of systems, this document could be a starting point: http://www.ti.com/lit/ml/slup232/slup232.pdf http://www.ti.com/lit/ml/slup232/slup232.pdf It sums up pretty well the stakes and technical challenges with digital power supplies.
13y ago

cabbeer 13y ago

"Bernie Ecclestone has done a magnificent job with Formula One and he needs these last-minute showdowns. But we, the keen viewers, need to be assured that it is still motorsport with young men going wheel-to-wheel in a life or death struggle for glory. And not panto." -Jeremy Clarkson

pacofvf 13y ago

I read sometime ago about how supposedly the KERS was used as Traction Control System by Red Bull, so this new "ERS", which is not even activated by the driver, seems more suited to be modified to act as a TCS.

Fuzzwah 13y ago
The "traction control" part of the KERS system wasn't controlled by the driver. The best guess is that a system monitored wheel slip by the oscillation of the rear suspension. The extra power was fed into the recovery system rather than being wasted as wheel slip. I think all teams will be doing this in 2014.

Fuzzwah 13y ago

This guy's video explaining the new F1 2014 regulations is very good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8lyBFmkAKw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8lyBFmkAKw Actually all his F1 videos are excellent.

fduran 13y ago

I just want to mention the great safety advances in car (and race) security in the last 20 years; since 1994 and the deaths of Ratzenberger and Senna there has been no driver fatalities in F1 racing. edit "Following Senna's death in 1994, no driver had died from injuries sustained in a World Championship-related accident until María de Villota died in 2013 from complications of injuries she sustained in a testing accident the previous year"

TillE 13y ago
It is quite remarkable. For example, the Kubica crash in 2007 looked absolutely horrific, but he walked away with only minor injuries. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=685_1181547684 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=685_1181547684
- mtr 13y ago
  I was in the stands in the hairpin when I saw Kubica go flying by. Seeing his head bobbing from side to side made me think that he was dead. I managed to capture some pics of the crash and wrote a blog post about it, and other racing accidents. http://blog.octanenation.com/kubica-accident-pictures-an-automotive-thanksgiving/ http://blog.octanenation.com/kubica-accident-pictures-an-aut...
ryguytilidie 13y ago
Even the de Villota death was a huge huge fluke. She lost control of the car outside of the track (no idea why she was driving outside of the track) and hit a moving trucks lift face first. If she had just ran into a wall on the track there is basically no chance she would have died.

msantos 13y ago

Several F1 teams are hiring C/C++ engineers currently. Mostly looking for C brainers with experience in embedded systems and C/C++ Matlab programmers.

walshemj 13y ago
Interesting I am in the process of doing a cheeky spec job application to my nearest f1 team - will probably hand deliver it to the factory - maybe its time to dust of my old FORTAN skills. I suspect engineers with expertize in cooling electronics will be in demand as if the kers/battery conks out it will destroy a cars race now.

geoka9 13y ago

I wonder what'll happen to F1 when the consumer car industry shifts to driverless cars. Will F1 "catch up" and the teams get rid of the drivers? Will it still be considered a sport?

alexeisadeski3 13y ago

Can't racing just be about fun loud cars? Leave the environmentalist somewhere else?

sp332 13y ago
F1 has always been intended to move tech into production cars. It was never just about fun loud cars. It's definitely true that a few dozen cars running laps for a day isn't going to have much effect on the climate, the point is to improve millions of cars in the future.