Archive for October, 2008

21
Oct

F1 Cutting Cost in the Wrong Way

By BernieR 1 Comment
Categories: Motorsports

Max Mosley is doing everything in his power to cut the costs of Formula One.  This is a great idea, especially since there are two missing teams missing from the grid.  He’s thinking outside the box and I think he’s looking in the wrong direction.  Instead, he should be looking in the box; specifically, the teams themselves.  From what I gather, Mr. Mosley is proposing a single engine for the F1 teams.  This would, in essence, relieve the costs of engine development and potentially save the teams several millions of dollars.  There’s a drawback to this point though.  It’s already being done!  There is an open-wheeled event out there called A1.  Therefore making a universal engine for all the teams would take away from the development and identity of what is Formula One.

Taking a closer look at the teams may actually reveal how the costs are getting spent.  I think that Peter Winsor from SPEED TV hit the nail on the head when he proposed that the teams need to look at the trailers that they are bringing in and how extravagant they really are.  Now, I understand that these bring in a lot of business for the teams.  However, rather than spending several millions of dollars (or British Pounds or Euros) hauling in all these trailers, have standardized buildings for the teams.  The teams would own these buildings and would have the rights to “rent” it out to other visiting teams when the buildings are not in use.  This could be an area where, over time, the buildings would pay for themselves and potentially pay for themselves.  There would be strict policies though to control the types of upgrades they’d be allowed to do with the buildings.  That would be left up to the owner(s) of the race track facility.

Quit making so many changes!  Making changes are good for the sport, but it can be a burden for the teams.  Every time there’s a rule change, especially when it comes to the development of the car (via the aerodynamics, the engine, the gearbox, safety, etc.) it costs the team money… lots of money.  So when a rule change happens, they (the governing body of the FIA) need to interview several teams to find out the implications that those rules will have, from a financial standpoint.  It was brought up on SPEED TV that with the engine freeze, that McLaren had removed Engine Developers and replaced them with Engine Reliability Engineers.  By doing that change alone, cost McLaren several millions of dollars.

Think “green.”  Ah yes, the environment.  Formula One is the epitome of technology.  They should be the trend setters and they have some of the brightest minds on the planet that can develop such technologies.  With systems such as the KERS, tire improvements, exhaust recovery systems and heat/energy transfers in the works, F1 is heading in the right direction.  Now we just need to keep heading that way with using bio-fuels and/or other alternative fuels.

Formula One has the potential to stay at the top of motorsport.  However, the FIA have to be careful on the approach of cutting costs without sacrificing the integrity of the sport.  Making less rule changes and inquiring within what teams can cut costs on; along with the implementation of Green Technologies it could help with the future of the Formula One teams and any new potential teams.

08
Oct

Ferrari and the Pitstop/Box Light-Pod

By BernieR 2 Comments
Categories: Motorsports

Ferrari have been given some flack over the new “lollypop” lighting system that tells the driver when it is cleared to go.  Although this technology has been proven to save as much as a half a second, it has also come with some problems that have led to Ferrari’s demise for the race.  This lighting system seems to have been the main problem at both street circuits, Valencia and Singapore.  In the Valencia incident, Kimi Raikkonen jumped the light and accelerated out of the pits while still connected to the refueling hose.  After review this came down to driver error and the pod functioned as it should.  The later came in Singapore where Filipe Massa was given the “green light”, even though the refueling hose was still connected.  He drove through the pit lane while the hose was still connected.  It is speculated that a Ferrari personnel had utilized a manual override to release Massa early.  This lead to Massa’s collapse downward in the leader board and eventually would cause force him to take a drive-through penalty.

There is a solution though that could fix these types of problems.  In all cases the refueling hose was attached.  I believe that there is a sensor already on the refueling hose.  Since this is the case, there should be under no circumstances, a light to be able to go to green, even if the refueling attachment is engaged.  Instead, the deciding factor on if a car should be released from the pits is only if the refueling hose is disengaged, even if the manual override is initiated.  Because this Light-Pod is electrical, there should be logic embedded in the programming.  These logic codes would be things like; “if”, “not”, “then”.  As an example:

“If” the hose is connected, “then” the light will “not” turn green.  When the hose is released, “then” the light can turn green, “if” the tire technicians are done.

I think by adding this simple logic to the system will make for a more efficient and safer pit-stop.  These incidents with the Ferrari team will be a small blurp in the history books and it will be overshadowed by the endless victories to come.