October 2009

Construction of an F1 car

Design Office

The race-day performance of an F1 car has already been determined at the design stage. The design process is a path of evolution to enhance strengths and eliminate weaknesses, all with the goal of developing the finest F1 machine in the world.

Working under Keizo Takahashi, general manager of car design and development, Toyota’s design department uses CATIA’s state-of-the-art computer-aided design (CAD) software. An F1 car has about 3,500 separate elements, the majority of which have to be designed separately but must fit together with the utmost precision.
But long before any of the details have been designed, an F1 team determines the overall philosophy for their car. The team must balance potentially conflicting spatial requirements of the engine and gearbox, while the suspension and the aerodynamics must be reconciled into a package that is quick, but not unwieldy to actually produce and repair.

Although F1 cars must conform to a minimum weight limit of 600kg, the advantage of building the car underweight is that the engineers can optimize it to suit individual circuits by mounting ballast on different parts of the chassis.

Understanding Formula One: Aerodynamics

Modern Formula One cars have as much in common with a jet fighter as they do with ordinary road cars. Nope, that isn’t a joke.

Aerodynamics have become vital to achieving meaningful success in the sport and teams spend hundreds of millions of pounds on research, development and analysis of aerodynamics each year.

The designer of the aerodynamic package has two concerns – the creation of downforce, which helps to push the tyres of the car onto the track and improve the optimum cornering speed; and minimising the drag that is caused by turbulence and acts to slow the car down, something similar to the many years of research spent on stopping aeroplanes creating vortices at the edge of the wings. F1 teams began to experiment with the wings in the late ’60s. Racing car wings operate on exactly the same kind of principle as aircraft wings, but in reverse.

Air flows at varying speeds over the two sides of the wing (by having to travel varying distances over its contours) and this then creates a significant difference in air pressure, a physical rule known as Bernoulli’s Principle.

Formula BMW Assessment Sponsorship Review

Driver: EFTYHIOS ELLINAS

Eftyhios is an extremely talented young driver that has plenty of experience in local and international karting events. Eftyhios is a world Champion in the Vortex ROK Cup and also a Cyprus Rotax National Champion. However the problem is that funding is coming as an issue for Eftyhios as he is moving up the ladder to higher forms of motorsport. Although he is talented, the cost of driving in Formula BMW is simply something that is not easy for him to be able to fork out by himself. In Europe, the cost for 1 season in Formula BMW may cost as much as Euro 450,000 inclusive of training and testing sessions for the driver.

So he approached Global Racing Schools for help on this issue and we were more than happy to put him inside our Driver assessment program that is aimed at finding the best driver to sponsor right up to Formula 1 level. So on 23rd Oct 2009, he arrived in Leicester, UK for his driver test with our top world renowned coaches from the industry.

There were a total of 8 drivers for the day. The number of drivers were kept as low as possible so as to ensure that only the highest level of attention was given to individual drivers. Eftyhios  arrived on track at 8.45 and was invited to the VIP Hospitality tent to have breakfast and some refreshments while the briefing commerced.

Eftyhios was then introduced to the all the coaches and chief instructor, Rob Wilson.  Rob Wilson needs no introduction to motor sport enthusiasts around the globe. A fast and successful competitor in all types of racing cars for the past 33 years, Rob is a highly respected driving guru of a number of today’s leading F1, GP2, Aussie V8, Rally, Porsche Supercup, F3, Palmer Audi and Formula Renault stars, including David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen and Valentino Rossi. He is also the chief evaluator for F1 drivers for Honda Racing and Red Bull Racing.

This was followed by a short Q & A session.

Then the program involved driving a Renault Clio Sport with Rob Wilson and one of his coaches.
Eftyhios spent the world day being coached and he said this about the training:

“ The Coaching from my instructor Rob Wilson was extremely and utterly good! I have really taken so many things about what he said about my driving that I never did know. I learnt techniques of steering, braking and also to get a good feel for the car so that I can drive it to its limit. He was a great instructor as from his work with other big names in motor racing and he was very professional in the way he coached me.”

Eftyhios was then paired up with another driver to continue his coaching session with a series of coaches for the day to train him to set the best lap. Driving continued for the rest of the  from 11:00AM to 5:00PM with a break for lunch from 1:00PM to 2:00PM.

The results of whether Eftyhios made it to Round 2 will be known in November but from prejudgment insides from the instructors:
“He definitely has the talent to be a professional driver with the right coaching”

We wish Eftyhios all the best in his bid to get through to Round 2. With our driver assessment program, he will stand a chance to get a fully paid season in Formula BMW, be paid a salary and have his expenses paid for him while he just concentrates on racing. We’ll be keeping you updated.