Racecar Engineering

I grew up in Australia, and my attention focused on the highly popular top level of Touring Cars known now as Supercars, with legends such as Peter Brock, Dick Johnson and Jim Richards behind the wheel. Being born in what was effectively the ‘Ford town’ of Geelong, you can imagine my allegiances lay firmly with Ford, and therefore Dick Johnson. Personal allegiances aside, Australians are well known around the world as sports lovers, and the domestic Touring Car series competes well against other national sports such as the AFL (Australian Football League), rugby and, of course, cricket. For me, effectively growing up in nearby Melbourne, we also had Formula 1, which has long been a draw for the population. Away from the big league(s), grass roots motorsport is also incredibly important to…

The FIA’s Rally2 (the category formerly known as R5) has been a resounding success, with manufacturers such as M-Sport and Skoda selling hundreds, if not thousands, of cars to customers since the cost-capped rule set arrived in 2012. However, at one step down from the top of the current rally pyramid, Rally2 can hardly be described as accessible, with contemporary machines coming in north of €200,000 (approx. $219,500) after tax. A bargain for what they are, but a significant jump from the 2WD vehicles present in the Rally4 class. Since the effective demise of Group N4 (think Evos and Imprezas) there hasn’t been a logical stepping stone into 4WD competition. Enter Rally3, the new middle rung of the FIA’s much-vaunted progression pyramid. Rally3 cars are cost capped at just over €100,000 (approx.…

That the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) is based in Paris is well known. That global motorsport’s governing body has offices in Geneva equally so. Little known, though, is that the Federation operates a third facility, this time based in the hamlet of Valleiry (population 4500), which virtually straddles France and Switzerland. Indeed, so small is the village, its only taxi driver needed to be pre-booked to take me to Geneva. Opened in early 2014, the FIA’s double storey (4000m2 per floor) Centre of Excellence (CoE) is housed within the confines of a former fruit canning factory. Managed by Xavier Cahen, who has widespread experience in air freight and logistics, the state-of-the-art facility is a recognised freight consignor, meaning goods sealed in the building are accepted as having passed international customs…

While no one can refute that the only all-electric world championship in existence so far has been something of an acquired taste, in a traditional racing sense, no one is denying it is ambitious. ‘This really nice, but tricky innovation isn’t just about changes to the braking system, it required other changes to make the overall vehicle more efficient, and improvements in the battery’ Formula E’s commercial make up, while steadied by Liberty Global, relies on a city racing model that is yet to reap the glittering profits its ownership hoped. Meanwhile, its political management is split into two factions – the old ‘Spanish’ guard of its founders, Alejandro Agag and Alberto Longo, and the new, shiny, ex-Manchester United Football Club commercial tsar, Jamie Reigle, and his ‘administration’. But technically is where the…

‘We’ve successfully kept competitors at bay by being proactive, investing and always developing’ Giles Dawson, group CEO at ATL There are very few companies that supply every Formula 1 team and, of those there are, the majority do so as part of a controlled component deal with F1 itself. ATL, however, is different. UK-based Aero Tec Laboratories, to give the company its full name, not only provides every car on the grid with its fuel cells, but each one is a bespoke design, handmade for the purpose. This isn’t a deal it has with the series, Formula 1 teams are free to go elsewhere if they can find a better option, or even make the cells themselves. The fact they don’t speaks volumes for ATL’s products. ATL has been in this position for…

The Formula Race Car Association (FRCA) runs a series called the Motorsport Australia AGI NSW Formula Car Championship. It competes at Wakefield Park, Sydney Motorsport Park and Philip Island circuits from February to November (with an enforced two month winter break in June and July). The majority of the cars competing in the current championship are pre-2012 Dallara F3s but another popular mount, following the demise of the Australian National F4 series, is the Mygale F4. The latter run in their own class, but the regulators have now allowed concessions on an increase in engine boost. Your writer was then asked to come up with an upgraded wing package design in an attempt to level the playing field with the Dallaras. This has spawned a new class to be called F4X,…