Future development of F1 cars...

[Beniamino]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if anybody had a clearer idea than me about the next big development of F1 car?

By this I mean, if you look at the history of the technologies used in F1 (some of them), they pretty much come from the aerospace industry (e.g. use of "by wire" tech, or electrohydrolic...).

What do you reckon the next big thing will be?

[KC]

I think we will see major advances in transmission design and better differential systems, but the next really large jump in technology will come in superconductive materials. If a bearing can be made to operate at super high temperatures so that the two frictional surfaces actually never touch the resulting gain in previously lost energy would seriously improve engine and chassis performance.

Imagine wheel bearings that have near zero frictional drag. Imagine crank main bearing that do not require oiling to keep them apart. Another more slippery substance could be used to transfer out heat than oil.

[RWC]

I really thought you would get heaps of replies for this .Maybe everything has been thought of allready!Of course we all know that the cars will continue to be opptimised,but thats not very interesting is it.I can't help but think that tires will make dramatic progress sometime.there are some ideas they haven't pursued
very far.

[martinmonisse]

It wont be long until camshafts dissappear and solenoids take over.Honda are already delevoping this type of engine. In terms of performance this would mean that if valve openings were ecu controlled you would have max overlap, min egr and generally optimum performance.Also drastically reduce the loading from crank drivewith no need for pneumatic pumps for valves.
Second developments would be gearboxes. Sequential gearchange is around .2 secs. . If cvt boxes were given a second chance you would see no gearchange delays and faster times. But does this defeat the object of motorracing?. Ferrari already changed differential arrangements from gears to drive plates and then advanced onto what we are about to see this season.
Thirdly, newly developed composites on the wings allow precise flexing(although regulated by the FIA) to gain maximum stability through variable downforce.

[nem]

Gentleman. I hate to rain on this parade but the FIA has negated any hope of substantial technological developement in F1. Oh, there will be the little gain in this or that piece but earth shattering innovation like ground effects are long a thing of the past.

The racetracks have been modified to the point, some of them are a meer shadows of their former selves.

FIA has had to clamp down on technology so the racetracks can cope with the speed of the cars and it's only going to get worse because the designers just keep figuring out ways to make the cars as fast or faster than the last set of rules designed to slow them down.

Come on!!! They race on narrowed/treaded tires for crying out loud. They've narrowed the track, they've shortened the diffuser, they've raised the front wing. What goes next, the wings themselves?

[Kjut]

Originally posted by nem
What goes next, the wings themselves?

If so, would that be a problem? I think it would be a healty experience for a lot of the drivers to race without the help of the wings and massive downforce, and please also drop the traction-control. It may be slower, but I am sure more entertaining.

[Kid Prozac]

CVTs have been done before. Williams experimented with one in 93 with David Coulthard driving. Theres an interesting couple of pages in 'The Science of Speed' by David Tremayne which says that from the limited running that Williams did with it, that they thought it would give an advantage, certainly Patrick Head said the acceleration was better. However it was banned shortly after 'It just went round going naaaaa! thats one of the reasons that Bernie arranged to ban it. He thought it would sound dull, and he was probably right' Patrick Head.

[Dino IV]

Recently I could lay my hands on the marvellous book 'The Grand Prix Car' by Setright from 1968 who in full detail goes into the GP cars up until that time. It's most interesting to read what already has been .. maybe more interesting than what perhaps will be. For starters that is.

[Tony_Simpson]

Why think about making F1 cars faster, why not try 'slowing' them down a bit. This is going to sound controversial but...

What about going back to steel brakes?, it will increase braking distances and require more driver skill to use them more efficiently. It will also feed back to road car use in the end.

What about limiting wing chord lengths, less front end downforce. Also ban those bits on the outside of the front wing endplates, you will get more drag from the front wheels then.

What about the banning of ‘barge’-boards. All the teams have them but the bigger teams can make most use of them.

How about making the nose of the cars go to the ground like those of ten years ago. This again will limit the front end down force as they can not make the most use of the front end.

The next thing could be to increase the minimum weight of the vehicle. This should cut top speeds and increase braking areas, etc.

Very controversial is limiting the engine to say 16,000 revs. This would be done with standard ecu’s for everybody.

Also make the cars ‘wide’ track again and give them slick tyres again. This will increase corner speeds and mechanical grip.

If the rules are written right then they would make F1 the top formula for the next number of years. Ok these are only ideas and I am sure they will be picked apart by some one here, but that is why we have forums to ‘talk’ about such things.

[KC]

Beniamino, now why would Max and his cronies do things like you have suggested? Those things require common sense, and when has that ever been prevalent in modern F1? Things are much better with carbon brakes and grooved tires, aren't they?

Its funny, a lot of what you mentioned is exactly what the designers and engineers submitted to the FIA Technical Committe for ways to adequately slow the cars and keep up the level of the show. Instead we get the backyard engineering Max favors.

I don't think that a rev limiter would ever fly and would be nearly impossible to police. Every team uses their own proprietary software (well all the big teams do) and a common rev limiter would be impossible to enforce. After all they couldn't even accurately tell if any of the teasm were using traction control last year, how would they be able to tell who was exceeding a preset rev limiter?

[Tony_Simpson]

ok then, I did not think about the rev lmiter/ecu. Why not reduce the area of the air box, to limit the amount of power available.

Also why not make some parts common on all cars like brakes, etc. I know they (the teams) have said this before.

What about limiting all cars to 6 gears only.

Again these are only my ideas.

[wuzak]

I think that making common parts for F1 cars would be a mistake. This is done in other formulae, such as CART.

I believe it has been suggested that steel brakes can be made to perform at similar levels to carbon brakes, but much less reliably. I know that CART have steel brakes, and they seem to be able to outbrake each other, but this is as much to do with tyre grip as brake performance.

What I would like to see in the future, is the use of alternative technolgies in F1. Things like hybrid powerplants.

[neilap]

F1 is supposed to the the pinnacle in auto sports. I do not agree with Nascar technology in the sport. The only regulation change I think that makes sense to slow the cars would be a displacement reduction. IMO the rules are already too strict. This is racing for the elete not a cookie cutter series. The only shortfall I see in this though is that Toyota might end up being world champs for years on end.
I do not suspect that there will be a next huge jump. The valvetrains may be replaced and revs brought up. Imagine what 20k will sound like.