I’m hoping that someone from the Ferrari F1 world (as I’m a huge fan) or any other motorsport team will see this because I’m wondering why they haven’t incorporated some newer technologies that have come forth over the last couple of years. Especially with the way the rule changes are going aerodynamically and reliability have become top issues. With aerodynamic advances in other sports, such as cycling and with space-aged heat insulating materials why has Formula 1 taken a side step. The two specific technologies that I’m referencing are the dimple technology from Zipp and Aerogel, a space-aged silicone infused with carbon dioxide.
Dimple technology from Zipp is “similar” to a golf ball where you modify the low pressure air and high pressure air to reorganize and generate a more controlled. The cool part about this is that with the new 2009 rules and the removal of the “winglets”, utilizing this technology would help redirect and reorganize the flow of air so that the car in reality would be more “slippy”. For more information on the you can listen to the Zippcast (#12 and #31) on Zipp’s website.
Another technology that I brought up was Aerogel, also known as Frozen Smoke. You can Google this or Youtube this and see what this is all about. From my understanding it’s silicone that has had all of it’s liquid elements removed and infused with carbon dioxide. In the past this has been excellent at insulating heat and is something that NASA is working on to infuse in the space suits. Lining the engine or exhaust system with this material would help with pulling heat from the engine and organizing it to be ejected away from the car in a controlled fashion. Again this would help with the efficiency of the car and make the car overall reliable.
These are just thoughts on what I think could “help” motorsports in general and would help with the trickle effect that motorsports has on everyday cars. Often times technology used in motorsports trickles down into our cars when it makes sense. Such technologies would be All-Wheel-Drive from rallying and paddle shifting from Formula 1. It’s new technologies that will help drive our economy into a more efficient and hopefully a “greener” planet.
Ferrari unveiled it’s F60 car this week and I have say… I don’t like it by looks alone. Previous versions of the car were more aggressive looking with the little winglets that flitted here and there. Now with all that gone, the car looks so … … basic. It doesn’t look like the most advanced machine in the world but instead it looks like we’ve traveled back in time to older times. Some may argue that those were better times but look at lap times and advancements in aerodynamics; now it’s just all gone! How can that be better? At this point, you might as well take the helmet away (I’m being sarcastic… motorsports is a dangerous sport and even when wearing the right protection you can still be injured or killed). I understand that they want to make the sport more interesting by promoting rule changes that will encourage passing that would be otherwise more difficult to do under the current conditions. Instead of taking things away though they should have just added onto what they had. Leave the cars aerodynamics alone but instead allow for interactive aerodynamics. Allow the driver to change the settings throughout the scenarios that present themselves. Keep the rear wing taller but allow it to be wider as well or as wide as the manufacturer wants it to be. In face let them chose between the different wings per the FIA homologation agreements. Bringing back the racing slick tires and incorporating the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) are definitely steps in the right direction.
2009 Ferrari F60
2008 Ferrari F2008
You may have notice by now that I’m not a Ron Dennis fan but according to Speed TV he was quoted as saying that with every rule change that it ends up costing the manufactures/teams money. So when they have a crew that’s in charge of engine advancement they have to let them go to be replaced by engine developers that specialize in reliability. Now that KERS is here, there has to be a team for that and the list goes on and on. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the sport becoming more “green” but becoming more “green” also involves money management and becoming more economical. F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport but it looks like they’ve become dumbed down and they look like cars from the American Series or even A1 (not saying that those are not good motorsports just saying that they look too much alike) that new comers to the sport will have a hard time differenciating the differences between them.
On that note: Go Kimi Go!
I don’t entirely agree with Bernie Ecclestone’s decision on the medal count for the podium. He wants a medal system where first place gets a gold medal, second place gets a silver medal and third place gets a bronze medal. This would replace the current point system. The philosophy behind this is to keep competition tight throughout the entire year. However, it’s not a bad idea, but not one for the current problem they are trying to resolve; which is to keep the racing interesting to the end. Either way you look at it, running the events forward, backward or mixed up, at the end of the season championship title would not be at tight as the beginning of the season.
The way to fix this potential problem is to have a smaller points difference in the current points setting. This is a double edged sword though because payouts from sponsors are huge even for lesser points acquired. Having points being too far apart and if someone wins one race they could have a true running for the championship. The problem is that there are not any good variables to make the racing more interesting. Such variances would be things like getting points for qualifying in the top three; bonus points for fastest laps or what about incorporating laps finished? It’s these variables that will make for tighter racing… other than lady luck.
