Racecar Engineering November 2016

Smokey Yunick used water-filled tyres to bring the car up to legal weight Having previously examined time in a previous column, we now proceed to examine mass, or as usually presented, weight, although one must be careful not to confuse the issue. In everyday usage, the mass of an object is often referred to as its weight, though these are in fact different concepts and quantities. In a scientific context, mass refers loosely to the amount of matter in an object whereas weight refers to the force experienced by an object due to gravity, so an object with a mass of 1.0kg (the unit of mass) will weigh approximately 9.81 Newtons (the unit of force) on the surface of the Earth (its mass multiplied by the gravitational field strength). Its weight…

I suspect the organisations involved in governing, promoting or running motor races are running scared of potential huge claims being made against them My wife was watching the Rio Olympics on TV when I happened to catch part of the cycling road race, and therefore I saw the multiple crashes, including Annemiek van Vleuten’s high-side. Apart from being glad that she survived, I couldn’t help but compare the greater risks in this sport with those that now exist in most of contemporary motor racing. Many other competitive activities also encompass more danger – so how come the ever-increasing emphasis on safety in our sport, particularly by the FIA and ACO? Perhaps I am being hard-nosed in suspecting that the growth of litigation globally and the over-imposition of health and safety directives has…

The Barcelona update saw the introduction of new suspension, bodywork and cooling systems, but the most significant addition was a heavily upgraded front wing Force India’s battle with Williams for fourth place in the Constructors’ standings this season is an interesting one. The top-four finish would pay significantly higher prize money than fifth, yet both teams have turned their attentions to 2017 – when a brand new set of regulations will come into force. So with few, if any, developments coming, Force India is relying on the proven concept embodied in its VJM09 to beat the team that heavily outscored it last year. For technical director Andy Green and his design team, completely changing direction with the car for this season not an option. ‘The VJM09 was a continuation of the philosophy…

With significant changes to the Formula 1 technical regulations on their way, one ongoing development that has clearly frustrated Andy Green is the still unknown final design of the Pirelli tyres for the 2017 season. For the coming year, Pirelli is being charged with not only altering the compound of the tyre rubber for next season, but also reformatting the size and structure of the tyre. Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes have run tyre concepts for Pirelli, but the lack of information regarding the compounds has hampered Green’s efforts in the Force India design office. ‘It’s incredibly frustrating,’ he says. ‘We’re effectively designing the car blind and we have to give ourselves lots of freedom to be able to move in so many different directions depending on what Pirelli bring. Pirelli don’t…

If developing the 2017 car wasn’t enough of a headache for Green and his Force India team, it is looking increasingly likely that its 2018 machine will also have to incorporate the Halo device – at least some version of it or something similar – due to the push to increase driver safety. While from the outside introducing the Halo may not appear too demanding a task, Green revealed to Racecar Engineering just what changes this safety device will entail. ‘A completely new chassis,’ says Green matter-of-factly. ‘The loads that we are looking at to react to the Halo are massive. It is a significant additional structure in the chassis to withstand those loads, so it’s a new philosophy, a new chassis for sure. You couldn’t retro-fit a Halo to a…

‘The Ligier has a lot of downforce by reputation, but we have dropped down the drag, especially for Le Mans’ The new 2017 LMP2 regulations have been a long time coming, but mid-2016 they were finalised and at Spa in September, Ligier became the first of four manufacturers to launch its new challenger. The JS P217, which will be campaigned in Europe and the US from next season, also tested in the week prior to the launch, and its initial speed was encouraging. The new LMP2s are aerodynamically more efficient and the Gibson engine produces 600bhp, around 100bhp more than the 2016 P2s. At its first test at Magny Cours, the Ligier was reputed to be three seconds faster, and the team believes that with development there could be further significant improvement.…