It’s official. In 2010, there will be a United States based team competing in Formula 1. Team principals Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor announced that the team’s headquarters will be in North Carolina and will feature engines, chassis and drivers all from America.
The Red Bull Formula 1 team has released their new challenger for the 2009 season, the RB5. This is the car Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber will be driving this season. The Red Bull team has high hopes for Vettel after last season when he became the youngest ever driver to win a Formula 1 race.
Click through to view the gallery.
The Toyota F1 team may follow fellow Japanese car company Honda and drop out of Formula One if their 2009 campaign is unsuccessful. Toyota is the big team with little results and the incoming Toyota president, Akio Toyoda, is expected to cut costs at the company when he takes control. A Formula One team is huge expense for any company. While a successful team reflects positively upon the brand, a poor-performing team is costly and doesn’t provide enough positive exposure to justify the expense. It looks like Toyota will need to win their first race this season to ensure they continue to race in Formula One.
Source: autoblog.com
Another day, another Formula 1 car released. This time Renault has revealed their 2009 contender, the R29. This is the car Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet, Jr. will be driving in order to maintain or better their impressive 4th place standing in the Constructors championship. Renault is lucky to have Fernando Alonso to help setup their new car. Alonso is well known for being able to request the correct adjustments to get the most of the car.
Check out other 2009 F1 car releases:
Scuderia Ferrari F60
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-24
Toyota TF109
Williams-Toyota FW31
Source: autoblog.com
There have been a lot of new F1 cars released lately. The style is starting to grow on me. I’ve gone from, “That is ridiculously ugly” to, “That’s not horrible”. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Other F1 Releases: Scuderia Ferrari F60, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-24, Toyota TF109
Check out the gallery below for the Williams-Toyota FW31.
Source: autoblog.com
The Toyota Formula 1 team has released their new car for the 2009 season with high expectations. Its called the TF109 and Toyota and its fans are hoping this is the car that will finally bring them a Formula 1 victory. The car looks very similar to Ferrari’s new F1 Car, the F60, which was recently unveiled. The teams are forced to conform to the new regulations mandated by the FIA this year. Many of the new regulations are intended to make passing easier and create a more level playing field for the smaller F1 teams. New regulations also have also been created in order to cut costs in this very expensive sport.
Source: autoblog.com
The majority of production cars use a wet sump oil system. In this system, the oil that lubricates the engine is stored underneath the crankshaft in the oil pan. The pan must be large enough to hold four to six quarts of oil. The oil pump sucks up oil from the bottom of the oil pan and then pumps it to the rest of the engine.
In a dry sump system, extra oil is stored in a tank outside the engine and a large oil pan isn’t necessary. A dry sump system uses at least two oil pumps. One pulls oil from the sump and sends it to the tank. The other pump takes oil from the tank and pushes it to lubricate the engine. The dry sump system allows for the minimum amount of oil possible to be in the engine.
Major racing series such as Formula One and Indy Car utilize the dry sump system. A dry sump system is designed to provide lubrication for the engine’s internal parts and also increase performance. A wet sump system is not practical for racing as lateral G-forces would pull the oil to one side, which would momentarily leave the engine without oil. Because the oil is stored in a separate tank, a large oil pan is not necessary. This allows for the engine to sit lower to the ground, which lowers the center of gravity.
Source: f1technical.net, auto.howstuffworks.com
The camshaft is an engine component used in piston engines to open and close valves. It is a cylindrical rod that runs the length of the cylinder bank. The rod contains many cams or lobes, each which operate a valve. The lobes open the valves by pressing down on the valve as they spin.
The relationship between the rotation of the camshaft and the rotation of the crankshaft is extremely important. The valves control the flow of the air/fuel mixture intake and exhaust. The valves must be opened and closed at the exact time during the stroke of the piston in order to operate properly. The camshaft is either connected to the crankshaft directly. It can also be connected by a gear mechanism or with a timing belt (also called a timing chain).
In Formula 1, FIA regulations mandate that camshafts must be manufactured from an iron based alloy and that each camshaft and lobe must be machined from one single piece. No welding between the front and rear bearing journals is permitted.
Source: wikipedia.org, formula1.com
From Left to Right, F1, GP bike, Production Car
A Formula 1 engine is an amazing technological achievement. The engines are rev-limited at 19,000 rpm, which is over twice what most production sports cars are capable of. To ensure that the high-reving engines don’t rip themselves apart, the Formula 1 engine piston only travels about 1.6 inches. Compare this with the 4 inch stroke of a V8 Corvette engine. The bore is approximately 3.8 inches which is more comparable to the 4.13 inch bore of the Corvette.
Spark plugs for production cars are generally about 3.5 inches long, with a diameter of about three quarters of an inch. The lower third of the spark plug is covered by a steel thread sleeve. On the top of the spark plug is a metal stud. The white part is ceramic and called the insulator. On the bottom of the threads is a small hook that bends down close to another electrode. This is the gap where the spark occurs and ignites the fuel and air mixture in the cylinder.
In an effort to conserve weight, Formula 1 spark plugs have been designed to be much smaller than spark plugs for road cars. Formula 1 spark plugs are about 1.50 inches long and the diameter of the threads is around .3 inches. The plug also has no small hook for an electrode like you would find on conventional spark plugs. They are designed this way to save space inside the cylinder and the design is called a surface-gap spark plug. If the spark plug were to have a protruding electrode, it would be shaken loose or crushed by the piston. The spark occurs on the bottom of the threads.
There is almost no room for error when it comes to manufacturing Formula 1 engine components. If the spark plug is just a fraction too long, the piston may hit. To error on the side of caution, the bottom of the piston has a divot to avoid any possible contact.
Source: caranddriver.com
The inaugural season of the Formula 2 championship will include the beautiful racing star from Switzerland, Natacha Gachnang. The racing series will feature a new car with a Williams chassis and 450 hp engine built by Audi. The 21-year-old has had a promising career so far finishing third in the Spanish Formula 3 championship and second in the Copa de España.
Natacha was previously racing in the U.S. in the Star Mazda series where she had a top ten finish in each race. During her time in the Star Mazda series, she was also racing in the Formula 3 Euro series and Austrian Formula 3. Natacha’s cousin is Toro Rosso Formula 1 hopeful Sebastien Buemi.
She speaks English, French and German and her favorite tracks include Nuerburgring and Ledenon, are you really still reading this? There’s a gallery below.
Source: autoblog.com
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