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Old 08-11-2004, 05:18 PM   #1
mindgam3
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Default F1 TECHNICAL

This section will be for all you tech heads to ask and post different technical aspects of F1 related to tyres, chassis, aerodynamics, car set ups, what all the engineers/mechanics do and F1 rules etc.

This is the part of F1 i most enjoy so expect a lot of articles coming this way soon.

Enjoy
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Old 08-11-2004, 05:22 PM   #2
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I thought we'd start with the most obvious thing that makes up the F1 car.... the engine

I've picked a very nice article from F1 Technical for you (thanks to them enjoy reading....

Note to RC45 and greywolf: take note of the mentioning of VE, ME and TE

THE ENGINE

"The formula one engine is the most complex part of the whole car. With an amazing horsepower production and about 1000 moving parts, this sort of engine makes the greatest cost on a F1 car. Incredible revs exceeding 17,000 rpm and extreme high temperatures make it very hard to make that engine reliable. This table shows current FIA limitations concerning an engine.

Engine capacity must not exceed 3000 cc.
Engines may have no more than 5 valves per cylinder.
Supercharging is forbidden.
An engine must consist of 10 cylinders and the normal section of each cylinder must be circular.
The use of any device, other than the 3 litre, four stroke engine to power the car, is not permitted
Variable geometric length exhaust systems are forbidden.
The basic structure of the crankshaft and camshafts must be made from steel or cast iron.
Pistons, cylinder heads and cylinder blocks may not be composite structures which use carbon or aramid fibre reinforcing materials.

At the moment, all f1 engines can produce more than 780 bhp with 10 cilinders in V. These engines are mainly made from forged aluminium alloy, because of the weight advantages it gives in comparison to steel. Other materials would maybe give some extra advantages, but to limit costs, the FIA has forbidden non-ferro materials. In this quest to decrease engine weight, the 1998 Mercedes-benz engine was possibly one of the most revolutionary engines ever built. Ford started a new trend that year to drastically decrease the weight of the engine, and thus also improving its performance. Ford Cosworth had been able to produce an engine that was at least 25kg lighter than any other engine. Although they suffered some reliability problems trghout the season, the engine was an example for the others, as it allowed teams to shift some weight in the car. That could be placed more on the front wheels or on the rear wheels which could help the steering or the acceleration of the car.

It's not exactly known how much oil such a top engine contains, but this oil is for 70% in the engine, while the other 30% is in a dry-sump lubrication system that changes oil within the engine three to four times a minute.

Difference with road engines

Higher volumetric efficiency. VE is used to describe the amount of fuel/air in the cylinder in relation to regular atmospheric air. If the cylinder is filled with fuel/air at atmospheric pressure, then the engine is said to have 100% volumetric efficiency. On the other hand, turbo chargers increase the pressure entering the cylinder, giving the engine a volumetric efficiency greater than 100%. However, if the cylinder is pulling in a vacuum, then the engine has less than 100% volumetric efficiency. Normally aspirated engines typically run anywhere between 80% and 100% VE. So now, when you read that a certain manifold and cam combination tested out to have a 95% VE, you will know that the higher the number, the more power the engine can produce. Bacause turbos are not allowed in F1, this item does not differ that much from a normal road engine.
Unfortunately, from the total fuel energy that is put into the cylinders, everagely less than 1/3 ends up as useable horsepower. Ignition timing, thermal coatings, plug location and chamber design all affect the thermal efficiency (TE). Low compression street engines may have a TE of approximately 0.26. A racing engine may have a TE of approximately 0.34. This seemingly small difference results in a difference of about 30% (0.34 - 0.26 / 0.26) more horsepower than before.
From all that power generated, part of it is used by the engine to run itself. The left over power is what you would measure on a dynamometer. The difference between what you would measure on the dyno and the workable power in the cylinder is the mechanical efficiency (ME). Mechanical efficiency is affected by rocker friction, bearing friction, piston skirt area, and other moving parts, but it is also dependent on the engine's RPM. The greater the RPM, the more power it takes to turn the engine. This means limiting internal engine friction can generate a large surplus in horsepower, and where in F1 the stress is on power, on the road it is also on fuel consumption.
These main optimization necessities are what causes the engineer's headaches. At the end of the line, an F1 engine revs much higher than road units, hence limiting the lifetime of such a power source. It is especially the mechanical efficiency that causes formula one engines to be made of different materials. These are necessary to decrease internal fraction and the overall weight of the engine, but more importantly, limit the weight of internal parts, e.g. of the valves, which should be as light as possible to allow incredibly fast movement of more than 300 movements up and down a second (this at 18.000 rpm).

Another deciding point trying to reach a maximum of power out of an engine is the exhaust. The minor change of lenght or form of an exhaust can influence the horsepowers drastically (for more information about exhausts, look at the article concerning this topic in the Mechanics part).

Engine type

Considering internal combustion engines (thus leaving out oscillating and Wankel rotary combustion engines), there are basically three different types of building an engine. The difference here is how the cylinders are placed compared to each other.

Inline engines, where all cylinders are placed next to (or after) each other are not used in Formula one since the 60's.
Boxer engines are actually one of the best ways to build an engine, if all external factors allow it. Two cylinder rows are placed opposed to each other. These engines became popular in F1 because of the low point of gravity, and the average production costs, but later on disappeared out of the picture as this type of engine is not sufficiently stiff enough to whitstand the car's G-forces in cornering conditions.
V-type engines, as currently used in all F1 cars. As you can see on the picture, it is the same principe as a boxer engine, although the cylinder rows are located both above the cranck shaft, where in boxer engines, these are constructed aside it. With this type of engine, the first question you should ask yourself is how large should the V angle be. Currently most F1 cars run with a 72°, Renault runs a 112° engine in order to obtain a lower gravity point but having to cope with more vibrations and a decreased stiffness of the engine part.
The size of the V angle has to do with firing sequence and primary balance. A circle has 360 degrees and the (included V angle x the number of cylinders) must be a function of 360 in order to achieve evenly spaced cylinder firing and primary balance. That is why a 90 V has either offset crankpins or a funny firing order. That is why a boxer engine is an ideal layout. The cylinders are opposed at 180 degrees so having 2 or 4 or 6 or 8 or 10 or 12 isn't that big a deal. Perfect primary balance is easy to achieve, as long as the reciprocating and rotating parts are in balance and, the firing order is always evenly spaced. However, a boxer in an F1 car would be ungainly.

Cooling

Just above the driver's head there is a large opening that supplies the engine with air. It is commonly thought that the purpose of this is to 'ram' air into the engine like a supercharger, but the airbox does the opposite. Between the airbox and the engine there is a carbon-fibre duct that gradually widens out as it approaches the engine. As the volume increases, it makes the air flow slow down. The shape of this must be carefullly designed to both fill all cylinders equally and not harm the exterior aerodynaimcs of the engine cover, this all to optimize the volumetric efficiency.

This picture shows the whole engine part and surroundings on the Toyota F1 car of 2002. The black carbon box above the engine is the airbox, providing air to the engine to be mixed with fuel in the cylinders. Secondly, the flat panels located nearly vertically in the front of the side pods are the radiators. These use air flowing through to cool down the engine and its oil. The position can vary a lot, as it is not a much importance as long as it can catch enough air, preventing the engine to overheat. One thing that greatly influences the radiator positioning is to lower the side pod and improve the coke bottle effect, thereby optimizing aerodynamic efficieny."


Full Article with Pics
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Old 08-11-2004, 05:24 PM   #3
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Again Mindame3 a lot of your stickies already exist. - created by Jabba or Toronto. I am not sure why we need to create duplicate topics???
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Old 08-11-2004, 05:29 PM   #4
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i replied in multimedia to that question, i can go back if you want but i just think its better so we know who did what....

In the mean time HERE's my own article on the internal combustion engine. Not strictly formula one, but essentially the basics needed for any good performance engine
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Old 08-11-2004, 05:53 PM   #5
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See my comment on this in the other thread...and feel free to un-sticky my threads as well.
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Old 08-20-2004, 09:48 AM   #6
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McLaren, although not back up to their usual form have improved since they introduced the 19B. What were the actual differences between it and the original 19.

Drawing courtesy of Giorgio Piola from Autosport Magazine:



1) New nose is similar to that introduced at the Nurburgring to the MP4-19. 2) The chassis is slightly higher, matching the higher engine (6). This will give the engine a greater dry sump capacity. The sidepods (3) are very similar to those of Ferrari (inset) while the radiators (4) are the same as on the MP4/19 and are not of the lay-down variety used by some teams. Aerodynamically, the rear of the car (5) is different and the rear suspension (7) is totally new.

More Detail:



The sidepods are very different aerodynamically and there is a Ferrari-like step in the lower body behind the bargeboards (shown by arrow). There is an extensive hot air extract (also arrowed) and behind that there's a new double-element winglet. The diffuser is all-new, but the radiator layout is as before, with the two rads (oil and water) combined but angled



This shows the MP4/19B's underbody and its ballast, which comes out in one piece. The holes are for fixing
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Old 08-23-2004, 01:31 PM   #7
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HUNGARIAN GP TECH REVIEW

from Autosport magazine:

Keep up-to-date with all the latest technical developments in F1 with the sport's leading graphical analyst Giorgio Piola. His illustrations are second-to-none, direct from the pit lane, and outline just who is doing what to find the all-important advantage in the world's fastest-moving sport. Click on each thumbnail image for a bigger picture.

New Williams front wing



After choosing to ditch the 'walrus', the new FW26 nose is a very different animal. The bottom section is more curved, with McLaren-like contours of its underside. The wing profile has a full spoon shape (1), necessitating long support pillars (2). An unusual endplate inner section (3) features a non-horizontal downward-facing plate. There is an additional horizontal plate inside the endplate (4) and a Gurney flap on the main profile (5).

Ferrari's high downforce front wing



This new nose section (right) featured big changes since the one used at Monaco (left). There is a greater spoon shape to the element in the centre (1) with longer supports (4) and only one flap (2). It is very triangular in plan view compared with the old one that had two flaps with gentler curves (3).

McLaren guide vane changes



There is an extra channel (1, the dotted line shows the previous arrangement) and a new horizontal plate (2) and a very thin brake duct (3) with an additional duct behind it (4).

Renault wing work

The front wing had a new endplate with a distinct cut-out (1), spoon profile (2) and non-linear chord shorter at the ends (3).

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Old 08-29-2004, 11:55 PM   #8
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Thanks a lot for the info..!! Appreciate it! And quality pictures as well..!! nice
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Old 08-30-2004, 12:37 AM   #9
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This is great! keep it coming
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Old 08-30-2004, 12:16 PM   #10
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awsome, helps you understand a bit more in the complicated world of formula 1.
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Old 09-12-2004, 12:04 AM   #11
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A dude called "SebaZ" from the website "tbk.fameflame.dk" found this
http://news.com.com/Ferrari%27s+high...3-5344866.html
very interesting piece of reading.
So enjoy yourself :fadein:
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Old 09-13-2004, 09:48 AM   #12
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nice
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Old 09-13-2004, 04:52 PM   #13
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I just want to say that this thread is great! I am fascinated by all the technology behind the F1 cars, and the explanations and diagrams so far have been top notch.

Keep up the good work mindgam3!
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Old 09-14-2004, 06:02 AM   #14
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Nice stuff ya got here .....
i got a few questions .....

What type of Fuel is used in F1's ?
What hapenned to the Turbi's (twin turbo's) ?
There are currently 18 Tracks (i think) ..... FIA said that there should be 20
Turky applied ..... it got the permission ... either its 18th or 19 IDK
India also applied
so did Pakistan ... can ya believe that ....
the question is how many other countries applied and who are gonna get the permission to make an F1 circuit ......
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Old 09-14-2004, 07:09 AM   #15
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Originally Posted by saadie
What type of Fuel is used in F1's ?
What hapenned to the Turbi's (twin turbo's) ?
Fuel used in F1 has to meet special F1 regulations, which say the fuel used in F1 has to have approx. the same characteristics as commercial fuel used in Europe. There are of course some differences: like F1 fuel will combust more violent then normal fuel and F1 fuel will consist of more advanced additives, but it there are a lot of resemblances with normal gasoline.

Turbo's were ruled out in 1989.
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