Friday, April 25, 2008

Formula One - Unknown Facts

  • Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of open wheeled auto car racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motor sport's world governing body.
  • Formual one racing is considered to be one of the worlds most expensive sporting event.
    The first Formula One World Championship was won by Italian Giuseppe Farina in his Alfa Romeo in 1950.
  • Each car is assigned a number. The previous season's World Drivers' Champion is designated number 1, with his team-mate given number 2. Numbers are then assigned according to each team's position in the previous season's World Constructors' Championship. However the number 13 has not been used since 1976, before which it was occasionally assigned at the discretion of individual race organisers.
  • F1 car is made up of 80,000 components, if it were assembled 99.9% correctly, it would still start the race with 80 things wrong!
  • When all of these are meticulously put together after about 2-weeks of work, it can produce more than 750 hp and reach rpm’s higher than 20,000!
  • When an F1 driver hits the brakes on his car he experiences retardation or deceleration comparable to a regular car driving through a BRICK wall at 300kmph!!! F1 car can go from 0 to 160 kph AND back to 0 in FOUR seconds!!!!!!!
  • F1 car engines last only for about 2 hours of racing mostly before blowing up on the other hand we expect our engines to last us for a decent 20yrs on an average and they quite faithfully DO.... that’s the extent to which the engines r pushed to perform...
  • An average F1 driver looses about 4kgs of weight after just one race due to the prolonged exposure to high G forces and temperatures for little over an hour (Yeah that’s right!!!)
  • At 550kg a F1 car is less than half the weight of a Mini.
  • To give you an idea of just how important aerodynamic design and added down force can be, small planes can take off at slower speeds than F1 cars travel on the track.
    Without aerodynamic down force, high-performance racing cars have sufficient power to produce wheel spin and loss of control at 160 kph. They usually race at over 300 kph.
    In a street course race like the Monaco grand prix, the down force provides enough suction to lift manhole covers. Before the race the entire manhole covers on the streets have to be welded down to prevent this from happening!
  • The refueler s used in F1 can supply 12 liters of fuel per second. This means it would take just 4 seconds to fill the tank of an average 50-liter family car. They use the same refueling rigs used on US military helicopters today.
  • TOP F1 pit crews can refuel and change tyres in around 3 seconds.
    During the race the tyres lose weight! Each tyre loses about 0.5 kg in weight due to wear.
    Normal tyres last 60 000 - 100 000 km. Racing tyres are designed to last 90 - 120 km.
  • A dry-weather F1 tyre reaches peak operating performance (best 20grip) when tread temperature is between 900C and 1200C. (Water boils at 100C remember) At top speed, F1 tyres rotate 50 times a second.
  • The fit in the cockpit is so tight that the steering wheel must be removed for the driver to get in or out of the car.A small latch behind the wheel releases it from the column.
  • Levers or paddles for changing gear are located on the back of the wheel. So no gear stick! The clutch levers are also on the steering wheel, located below the gear paddles.
  • Normal tires last 60,000 - 100,000 km. Racing tires are designed to last 90 - 120 km.
    Racecar tyres don't have air in them like normal car tyres. Most racing tyres have nitrogen in the tyres because nitrogen has a more consistent pressure compared to normal air. Air typically contains varying amounts of water vapor in it, which affects its expansion and contraction as a function of temperature, making the tyre pressure unpredictable.
  • Formula 1 cars have over a kilometer of cable, linked to about 100 sensors and actuators which monitor and control many parts of the car.
  • ’Automatic’ gearboxes are prohibited by the FIA. However, all the cars are equipped with semi-automatic gearboxes where to change gear, the driver no longer has to activate the clutch pedal at the same time as the gear lever. He simply presses a button on the side of his steering wheel.
  • So drivers no longer has to take his hand off the steering wheel also and such a electro-hydraulic device allows the driver to change gear in one or two hundredths of a second.
    The rapid changes possible with semi-automatic gearboxes mean that transmissions with a greater number of ratios (six or seven) can be installed. On circuits with a large number of bends, the drivers only use four or five ratios.
  • Reverse gear is obligatory, but must not be used in the pit-lane.
  • No specials fuels are used – only Unleaded/‘Green’ Petrol - similar to that available at our roadside filling stations. It has to comply with the strictest EEC standards concerning pollution.
  • Speed limits are strictly followed. In pit lanes, speed limit is either 80 or 120 kph (50 or 75 mph), depending on the circuit and the configuration of the pit lane. If drivers exceed this penalty will be paid by drivers!
  • The F1 world championship season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held usually on purpose-built closed circuits. The results of each race are combined to determine two annual world championships, one for Drivers' Champions and one for Constructors.
  • Michael Schumacher holds the record for having won the most Drivers' Championships (seven) and Ferrari holds the record for having won the most Constructors' Championships (fifteen).
  • Jochen Rindt became the only posthumous World Champion after a fatal accident at the 1970 Italian Grand Prix.
  • In March 2007 F1 Racing published its annual estimates of spending by Formula One teams. The total spending of all eleven teams in 2006 was estimated at $2.9 billion.
Compromise is death any way --> Some one like me