Official Formula 1 thread

[Superhatch]

Personally I think that the new regs are trying to accomplish two things.

1. Make the sport more exciting. The last few years have been pretty boring aside from one or two races.

2. Bring F1 up to the current technology of vehicles that are being driven now. Had F1 not increased their level of technology they would start to be the Nascar of the FIA world. The Mclaren P1 would have outpaced the technology in F1 cars had the new regs not been applied.

F1 is about fast cars, sure...but to me it's always been about the pinnacle of technology and helping to drive the technology of the rest of the automotive world. These changes give other manufacturers reasons to join in engine building and maybe get back into F1 as works teams.

Eco/green is the new norm. To have any racing series not get involved in that technology means it's not staying current with technology. For me I'm far more interested in a competitive racing series that is pushing the level of known technology further than a semi-competitive series based on old technology that rarely makes any changes.

If F1 didn't advance in technology eventually everyone would just be running the same setup and the refinement of each team would be slight tweaks in aero and maybe tuning but in essence you would just have a higher level CART series. zzzzzz.

I for one love the changes and think this will be one of the more exciting seasons we get to watch compared to the last 5 years.

[Pistol]

im not too convinced about all this eco stuff in racing cars

the sound of F1 cars was a drawcard
the sound of our own cars is also a drawcard, and one reason we buy exhaust systems
and drive our cars with a smile

take that away and we all have quiet/ electric/ boring cars

the big car makers have enough money to develop racing cars and to develop eco freindly cars separately

motor enthusiasts who watch F1 and attend F1 IN GENERAL are not interested in fuel conservation strategies, eco friendly RACE cars and quiet cars

neither are the organisers of the formaula one in australia
see below

http://www.wheels24.co.za/News/Oz-GP...obbed-20140317

[mike the snake]

There's enough technology to go around in racing. The choice to go with turbo V6's is my biggest gripe.

V6's sound like crap, unless spun up over 20,000 rpm, where anything sounds good. turbocharge a low revving crappy sounding V6, and you have even crappier sound.

The new engines are so quiet, that it makes the overall racing experience less exciting. This can't be argued I don't think. Unless you are trackside, you won't be able to hear the cars at all.

All the people away from the track, on the tops of buildings, on their yaghts, and anyone that isn't 20 feet from the track will basically hear nothing. On TV I could barely hear the cars.

Yes, the new rules probably will give close racing, but the main thing that made F1 stand out over all other forms of racing was the awesome sound IMO.

I'm fine with green, and eco friendly, and high-tech, but make it loud and make it sound crazy and pissed off. We know they can do this.

[headlikeahole]

Originally Posted by mike the snake

There's enough technology to go around in racing. The choice to go with turbo V6's is my biggest gripe.

V6's sound like crap, unless spun up over 20,000 rpm, where anything sounds good. turbocharge a low revving crappy sounding V6, and you have even crappier sound.

The new engines are so quiet, that it makes the overall racing experience less exciting. This can't be argued I don't think. Unless you are trackside, you won't be able to hear the cars at all.

All the people away from the track, on the tops of buildings, on their yaghts, and anyone that isn't 20 feet from the track will basically hear nothing. On TV I could barely hear the cars.

Yes, the new rules probably will give close racing, but the main thing that made F1 stand out over all other forms of racing was the awesome sound IMO.

I'm fine with green, and eco friendly, and high-tech, but make it loud and make it sound crazy and pissed off. We know they can do this.

Although I agree that the cars are too low reving/quiet, its not all bad. There's been a few unforeseen up sides to the quiet cars, you can hear things you couldn't before: Contact between cars, the sound of the tires when they lock up, the cars crapping the ground, and clearly hearing and understanding the team radio.

Also my girlfriend didn't go crazy and tell me to turn it down when I watched the race yesterday, so thats good.

[Silver Ignition]

It was quite the interesting race...collision almost off the line, powertrains dropping out left and right...Sucks for Hamilton and Vettel...was a nice race for Ricciardo, sucks that he got DQ'd...Nico steppd up big with a real good lead...can't wait till Malaysia!

[Superhatch]

Keep in mind that a lot of historic tracks are on threat of shutdown due to the noise of the racing events, especially F1, Spa being the most famous I'd say.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/28/b...portedly-safe/

It's an old article, but the noise issue was a concern, and could be again in the future if enough people complain.

So here's the thing. Obviously right now the exhausts are tuned for performance. In essence the complainers would say "decrease performance for the sake of noise". I'm sure they could make the exhausts louder by doing some fancy exhaust work, but it would result in a loss of power somewhere. You can keep the "entertainment" I'll take technology advancements and speed.

[Superhatch]

Originally Posted by Pistol

the big car makers have enough money to develop racing cars and to develop eco freindly cars separately

I don't think this is the case. It's the reason why Toyota, Ford, Honda all dropped out. Not enough $$$ to throw at a series that had no R&D value for them. Hybrid systems and a powerplant that could have tech directly related to current and future vehicles will likely mean more works teams.

I think the fans probably hated the V6 turbo to V12/10 change, then they griped about the V10 to V8 change (I remember that one clearly), now that V8 sound suddenly was the pinnacle of F1 noise and all that the fans care about. Meh. People will get used to it especially if the races and competition are more exciting.

I for one would much rather have an exciting race and less noise, than a procession of V8's.

[torqdork]

I don't see how new F1 "power package" technology could translate into production vehicles that must meet emissions regs.

Toyota already leads the way with alternative fueled vehicles with their portfolio approach to R&D. That will lead to more efficiency gains than F1 even cares about.

I wouldn't be looking for Toyota to return to F1. They blew over $1 billion in their F1 experiment, enough to give every TMS HQ employee a $1 million bonus, and never won a race. And now they've abandoned the former Rolex sports car series where they dominated but still run niche series like V-8 supercars, drag racing and NASCAR that viewers can relate to better than ERS, KERS, DRS, LiOn, etc.

Toyota's priorities have changed post-tsunami. They're busy dealing with political and demographic upheaval in their home market and in several other manufacturing bases around the world that are becoming more unstable every day.

Yes, bring back the sounds of 20,000+ rpm, and not from turbos spooling.

[White64Goat]

Just finished watching the race on DVR. Miss the engine noise. Cars look twitchy. looks like once you're out front with a good car it's the same old story. Reliability looks to be an early factor.

Are they allowed only 5 engines total for the season from what the video said? Are they allowed to be rebuilt then reused? If not, there could be teams with out a car after 5 races if they have 5 failures in the first 5 races. Hamilton and Vettel down to 4 now?

The Aussies were not happy with the product.............

#2 DQ'd because he ran too much fuel through the engine but still had fuel in the tank? That's crap if they're trying to be "Green". They reduced how much fuel you can run in the tank, have no refueling yet he still finishes with gas in the tank. That's looks like he managed the fuel he had on board to me.

Guess this is going to be a wait-and-see season for a lot of people.

[Superhatch]

Originally Posted by torqdork

I don't see how new F1 "power package" technology could translate into production vehicles that must meet emissions regs.

Kers (see Mclaren P1)
DLC (diamond like coating)
VVT (Honda developed VTEC in F1)
DSG Transmissions
Tire Tech (not from auto mfgs, but another example)
Disc Brakes (F1 tech from the 50's)
Carbon fiber tech
DOHC motors (Also older F1 tech)

Those are just the ones I know about off the top of my head. DLC and carbon fiber tech are the two big ones I know about which are slowly making their way into modern cars, even affordable ones. The fact that Ford and Honda have turbo V6 platforms (Ford already has one in production, Honda uses one in their Indy cars) makes it far more likely that they would compete in a series where they could claim there was some relation to their road cars, even as a pure marketing device (like they do in NASCAR).

I understand people are upset about losing the noise, but I think the benefit far outweighs the loss. I feel that at the end of a very exciting season nobody will even be talking about it anymore.

[cfusionpm]

Originally Posted by torqdork

I don't see how new F1 "power package" technology could translate into production vehicles that must meet emissions regs.

Toyota already leads the way with alternative fueled vehicles with their portfolio approach to R&D. That will lead to more efficiency gains than F1 even cares about.
.

Imagine what it will do for midrange sports cars. Yeah, Toyota have lots of hybrid experience, but all of their hybrids are painfully dull. McLaren and Porsche have already translated modern hybrid technology to road cars in the P1 and 918, but I'll be even more excited when it trickles down to the 20-30k range.

Picking up a beefy grunt car like a Mustang or Camaro means gas mileage in the teens. What if they could be supplemented with an ERS system that was driven off the engine or brakes. Something to both boost power and increase gas mileage.

Now look at your average Japanese sport car, either a torqueless wonder like us, or a 16mpg turbo. Well, use the turbo to drive an electric generator which can deliver performance on demand and economy when you want it and I'm sold.

The CR-Z from Honda was a step in the right direction, but still pretty slow. Give a combined output around 300-350hp with fuel economy above 50mpg and now we're talking.

[Lischynski]

There's a lot of buzzwords being thrown around in this thread. At the end of the day, this is a motorsport. Look at NASCAR's 100% rule. Why force the drivers to race below 100% for the sake of strategy, or going green? That's not exciting to the fans, nor the drivers. I agree with bringing back refueling on pit stops.

If podunk little NASCAR can do it safely, then surely the most advanced racing series in the world should be able to?

[Superhatch]

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/t...e-environment/

"Formula 1 has a long history of providing technological development that has much wider implications than simply making fast racing cars," says Eric Bouiller.

"In recent years the sport has taken a conscious decision to structure its regulations to ensure that the technology it delivers is of immediate and direct relevance to the future improvement of road-car efficiency."

If you think F1 hasn't had nearly direct translations to the cars on the road today I think you've missed part of what happens in this series.

[Lischynski]

The next step is driverless cars. We have to keep up with technology.