Formula-1 cars - the rolling laboratory of the vehicle industry
Formula-1 cars are not only entertainment equipment, but those cars and the races they participate in are actually serious testing grounds for new technology like: New performance technology and new safety technology. In addition the car manufacturers use this playground to show the public and potential business partners their level of technical competance. The construction and operations of these top end technical performers also work as an inner stimulation for the ingunuity and inventory activities of the company, and thus help to keep the company up to date technologically.
One of the challenges of these high performers is to construct a light-weight motor with very high performance. To achieve this, all supply lines to the motor of fuel and oxygen must work at high intensity. The motor itself must be constructed mechanically in such a way that it can utilize the supplies and convert the potensial energy in the fuel to kinetic energy very fast.
There are several ways to make a lightweight high performance motor. The inlets of fuel and air to the cylinders must have a wide volume, which can be achieved by using many and wide inlet valves for both substances. The necessary effect can then be taken out by letting the motor run at an immense speed. This is achieved by using a high exchange ratio of turns per second in the gearbox.
In these cars the duration of the motor is not essential in a wider sense than that it must work reliably throughout the whole race. Therefore one usually makes the smallest and lightest motor possible that can give all the power that the driver needs in any situation and that works reliably the required time. After each race the motor needs a complete overhault before the next race.
The whole vehicle must be light-weight so that the released energy can accelerate it quickly, but at the same time the whole car must be strong and stable.
The frame must be strong, stable and light-weight at the same time. The performance levels of these cars pose a special challenge upon the stearing and suspension mechanics.
The demands for high performance, strength and stableness of all parts of the vehicle, reuires mechanical ingunuity. But these demands alsy necessitate very strong, light-weight materials.
But a light-weight vehile do not give the tire as good a grip on the road as a heavy-weight vehicle, and thus pose a challenge for the construction of the tires. Therefore the tires must be constructed to give the maximal grip possible, and that construction vil vary according to the weather and the cover of the road.
The speed and maneuvres of these vehicles pose a serious risk to the driver. Should an accident happen, all the destructive impact that inevitably will occur, must be directed towards parts of the vehicle frame and be used up there, and not towards the driver, and neither towards the fuel tank.
Of cource sometimes the fuel tank will be damaged and leak. Should this happen, effective automatic fire estinguishers must release. Fire-resistant polsters around the driver must also hinder the driver from being hurt by the fire. The lessons learnd from coping against all these technical challenges will be useful also in the manufacture of commercial vehicles.
Understanding the Drive Layouts
The drive layout is the
arrangement of the engine, transmission, and driven axles. The types of drive
layouts are
Front engine Front wheel drive (FF/ FWD)
Front engine Rear wheel
drive (FR/RWD)
Mid engine Rear wheel drive(MR), Rear engine Rear wheel drive(RR)
Four wheel drive (4WD or 4x4)
and the All Wheel Drive(AWD).
Each of these layouts has their own performance, advantages and disadvantages.
Front engine Front wheel drive (FF/FWD) – The Engine and the two driven axles
are placed in front, where the power from the engine is transferred straight to
the front wheels. This layout increases the interior space especially in small
cars because there is no central tunnel needed for the driveshaft. FF layout has
advantage when it comes on low grip surfaces, and its tendency to understeer
reduces the risk of losing control. The disadvantage is the load placed on the
front tires. The front tires must transfer all acceleration, steering, cornering,
and braking forces to the road. This kind of tasks gives a lot of stress in
front tires which may lead to wear and tear, while the rear tires have very
little load on them.
Front engine Rear wheel drive (FR/ RWD) - This is the complement of FF layout,
where the engine is placed longitudinally at the front but the two driven axles
are placed at the rear connected through the driveshaft. With this kind of
layout, installation of more powerful engine such as V8, V10 and V12 is not a
problem. Since the FR has a driveshaft, central tunnel is present in this layout
a little interior space is sacrificed. All of the disadvantages of the FF layout
are the advantages of FR layout.
Mid Engine Rear wheel drive (MR) – The drive layout that consumes a lot of
interior space of the car especially the seating capacity, the engine is placed
in the middle of the chassis and the driven axles are at the rear. Although it
has more weight at the rear, entering a corner makes it more difficult because
the front tires have less traction resulting to understeer and since the rear is
heavy, the car tends to oversteer when exiting a corner. This kind of layout is
commonly used in racing cars and sports cars because of weight distribution
focused in the center of the car.
Rear engine Rear wheel drive (RR) - This layout places both engine and the
driven axle at the rear of the vehicle, even though the rear wheels benefit from
the additional grip due to the added weight given by the engine, the front
wheels still need grip in order to steer the car effectively. That’s why RR
layout car can also be prone to understeer.
Four Wheel Drive (4WD or 4X4) / All Wheel Drive (AWD) – It is a term usually
used to describe a car where the four wheels receive power from the engine
simultaneously. This can be found in an off-road vehicle. A well distributed
power to the four wheels improves the grip of the vehicle. The terms 4WD and 4X4
are used in jeeps and other off-road vehicles that require the driver to switch
from 2WD used in street driving (two wheel drive) to 4WD to improve the grip
depending on the road condition like mud, snow, etc. and it has a high and low gear selection.
The AWD term was invented to identify the vehicle capable of
driving all the wheels on any road condition without selecting high and low gear
selection because the power is distributed on all the wheels. Unlike the 4WD
with gear selection, you don’t have to select the appropriate gear to match the
road condition. Most of the modern cars use AWD system for more traction and
better handling.
by Alvin D. Agomaa