Formula One Cars - Unsurpassed Technology at Its
Finest
by: Michael Walker
Formula One Racing is, quite simply, the paramount of karting. It
is the professional form of the sport in its entirety. Formula
One is an international phenomenon, a media conglomerate that
rakes in millions and millions of dollars a year from
advertising, sponsorship, and broadcast revenues. Professional
drivers with millionaire bank accounts race these majestic kart
marvels that are unprecedented, flush with technological luxuries
– everything from hard to produce lightweight frames that glide
the machine to tires with unsurpassed grooving style that
exemplify powerful movement on the circuit.
There is no sport that bests epitomizes the term “global sport”
like Formula One racing. Many countries serve as active
participants in shaping the professional karting scene – for
example, Malaysia is a hot spot for racing (Fernando Alonso, a
Spanish-born driver under Team Renault recently won a race there)
and Italy plays a vital role in designing and manufacturing first
class, top-of-the-line karts. Drivers and racing personalities
hail from all parts of the word – you have the charismatic and
popular Italian Renault boss Flavio Briatore, the handsome young
23 year old racing prodigy in Fernando Alonso who stars in a
Renault Megane commercial with his pet pig, and one of the
highest earning sports figures in world history in Michael
Schumacher. Rivalries are common in Formula One – adding the edge
of excitement with every zip of the curve and nitrous boost of
the machine.
In order to better become acquainted with Formula One racing, we
must understand its organization. Karting goes way beyond pitting
3 2-cycle engine machines against each other on an oval circuit.
Formula One is divided into drivers & their respective teams.
Under such trademark car companies like Renault, Ferrari, and
Toyota – each driver has an assembling cast of staffers
consisting of mechanics, engineers, and designers all working
towards one goal: to make that speedster faster using all the
resources at their disposal. Headed by team bosses that are adept
at creating sponsorship opportunities and assembling the best
cast for each team, Formula One employs the finest specialists in
the business with backgrounds in computer and automobile – even
specialists with aerospace experience! High end, (rare technology
reserved for space projects) in some instances, create the
fastest and most efficient car possible. According to FI rules,
racing teams must design, construct, and built their own karts
from scratch. The staff is the pride of each individual team –
capable and able to win every 57 lap enduro race from Malaysia to
Great Britain.
Formula One cars can be summed up in two words: technological
marvels. These sleek, low riding gems ripping through laps at
speeds topping 200 mph. consist of more than just a chassis, an
engine, and four wheels. For starters, the engine is located
behind the cockpit as opposed to standard automobiles. They
consist of 10 cylinder engines that produce heat which propel the
kart forward. Team engineers are always looking into ways to make
their engines more powerful. Currently, 1000 bhp (a scale for
horsepower) has not been topped – it is up to the teams to
produce an engine which would fare well supporting speed as well
as support the chassis. And as we know, there is a snug open
cockpit for Jarno Trulli to maneuver his machine in.
Construction of Formula One race cars is unprecedented. The first
rule of thumb in designing a bonafide piece of framework is to
make it weigh as least as possible. Less kart weight correlates
to faster speeds. For this reason, team brains use lightweight
material that is hard to construct. The minimum weight of a kart
must be 600 kg including the driver. This ensures a level playing
field, although teams are allowed to keep their money making
construction methods a secret from other teams. Team staff is
very highly regarded in the Formula One business. Their
technological and dynamical know-how of the machines they build
is a valuable asset to any team. And like free agents, they are
lured and signed by the likes of companies creating a recruiting
war for their services. Of course, there are restrictions for
creating karts. You cannot add nitro boosts to your machine or
use technology that resembles life in the year 3000. Teams are
always looking to bend the rules slightly and coming up ways to
beat the competition legally.
Professional kart tires have to have optimum characteristics to
ensure smooth driving. For one, tires have to have grooving
technology built into them. For the novices, grooves are indented
lines in tires that allow for it to slow down considerably on
turns and to adapt to the track surface. No matter what the
technology, kart tires are simply not adept at withstanding the
rigors of asphalt, concrete, and dirt. For this reason, Formula
One racers are allotted two pit stops during the course of a 57
lap race to change tires. If you’ve ever watched a Formula One
race, team staffers with lightning quick hands have an extremely
limited time for which to remove and replace tires in the pit
stop – often times not exceeding over 7 seconds! Regulations are
placed on tire grooves (a minimum of four) to allow for an even
playing field for all racers. Remember enthusiasts, grooves serve
more to slow down the kart than to speed it up.
Chassis construction with its illustrious carbon fiber material,
tires with indented grooves, team specialists with a knack for
speed, and engines which burn heat like calories is the epitome
of a Formula One race car. All of these attributes contribute to
the performance of the vehicle in racing lap after lap. As a
result of all this technology, Formula One cars leave people
breathless reaching consistent speeds of 200 mph. on the race
track. More impressive is the time needed to go from 0 mph to 100
mph – 5 seconds! Formula One is only moving forward with the
advent of new features - like improved horsepower engines, more
lightweight materials, new ballasts to add weight to the car, and
more. Behind that stylish, mind blowing chassis that pique our
interest is that top-class technology that makes Formula One
racing so great.
Michael Walker is a freelance author providing information about
a variety of go-kart topics including
http://www.go-kart-kits.com
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