F1racing

A ‘blown diffuser’ refers to the exhaust manifold designed to take advantage of the exhuast gases leaving the engine and forcing air onto the rear diffuser. The diffuser is the rear underside plate that controls the airflow between the air over the top of the car and the air beneath. This creates ‘upside-down lift’ similar to the of an airplane wing except in reverse. The maximum amount of down-force can be applied to the race car here which is arguably where most of the F! performance is said to come from. In 2009, the winner championship car from Brawn GP was notorious for their double diffuser which arguably gave them the fastest car in F1 and consequently their championship.

Here’s a sneak preview of what a blown diffuser exhaust looks like compared to a normal exhaust system.

Blown Diffuser

Blown Diffuser

At the beginning of 2010, Christian Horner was asked about what he thought of other teams copying his ‘blown diffuser’. He replied, “I’m flattered that when other teams copy what you’ve done. It’s fortunate for us that this is where the least amount of performance is!” Clearly, this was a bluff as most of the big teams have now copied their blown diffuser and have nearly caught up to Red Bull. A lot of other aerodynamics are in play as well but the ‘trick’ diffuser is clearly the biggest advantage. It’s not as easy as copying a blown diffuser though, a lot of teams now have the challenge of making this new aerodynamic advantage work. There is some talk of specific retardation of the engine on off throttle that plays a key part to stability around corners (red bulls advantage is superior cornering together with grip to the rear tyres)

Check out this great HD Video experience that gives you an insight into the ‘behind the scenes’ set up of the 40,000 sq ft USF1 facility in Charlotte North Carolina! The factory is conveniently located near most of their component suppliers making USF1 a true US founded and built team. Berni Ecclestone has granted permission for the USF1 team to test their car at the Barber Motorsport Park in Birmingham Alabama before any other F1 teams considering they have built their car from scratch and need preliminary safety and performance testing.

Check out the new USF1 website here!

If you want a quick history on Cosworth, it is a british company, founded in 1958 by Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth (COStin and duckWORTH). Many people still think that Ford owns Cosworth but this is a legacy of a past partnership. Cosworth is still based in Northampton in the United Kingdom and has satellite factory in Torrance, California.

Cosworth have been in Formula One since 1963 but no F1 teams used the engine from 2007 on. Cosworth will now power to four new teams: Team US F1; Campos Grand Prix; Lotus F1 Team and Manor Grand Prix. Click here for all Formula One constructors engine choices. Surprisingly, Cosworth is second most successful engine in F1 and only Ferrari have more grand prix wins under their belt.

No one knows the output of the current F1 engines but the rumor is that Cosworth needs more fuel to output the same Kw when compared to the current best engine on the grid, the Mercedes FO 108V. Fuel efficiency and weight is just  as key as the engine output and any Formula One team that can run a lap to two more than their opponents will be able to take advantage in pit stop strategies. So the hungry for fuel Cosworth is said to be automatically disadvantaged in the 2010 F1 season. But who knows…

The Mercedes FO 108V is said to be the best engine in the pits in 2009. Check out the awesome power of this engine:

Here are the specs:

Have you ever wanted to know the FIA technical regulations for 2009 and 2010? FIA Technical Regulations 2009 - FIA Technical Regulations 2010.

Despite the rumours you have heard around the web, there is no significant differences:

• All F1 engines are naturally aspirated V8′s of 2400cc

• Engines are limited to 18,000rpm

• The weight is exactly 95kg (each manufacturer easily reaches this regulated minimum weight)

• Engine blocks are constructed of forged aluminium alloy, because of the weight advantages it gives in comparison to steel. Other materials would maybe give some extra advantages, but to limit costs, the FIA has forbidden all non-ferro materials.

• Crankshaft and piston rods are Iron based for strength.

• At its maximum pace the current V8 engines consume around 60 litres of petrol for 100km of racing.

• It’s not exactly known how much oil such a top engine contains, but this oil is for 70% in the engine, while the other 30% is in a dry-sump lubrication system that changes oil within the engine three to four times a minute.

• Before its first track time and after each race, each engine is tested on an engine dyno to validate its performance and identify problems. A videoclip of Renault’s RS24 on the dyno can be found here.

So will the Cosworth V8 be good enough to win races in 2010? Given their 3 year absence from the F1 arena, I think reliability will be an issue in their first year. However, their history as a winning engine cannot be disputed and they will likely be the winning engine again. Probably sooner rather than later.

BMW Sauber is now Qadbak Sauber

BMW Sauber team have sold to Swiss company Qadbak Investments and this could be the 14th race car to enter the 2010 F1 season. Bernie Eccelstone is looking at increasing the current 13 car entries to 14 teams to let the new Sauber team owners to race.

Lotus formerly Pacific Team Lotus

Lotus F1

The Malaysian Government has funded Lotus F1 Team along with private such as the lotus car manufacturer Proton, Airasia, Sepang International Circuit, the Malaysian Motorsports Association, Naza Motors, and Malaysian Automobile Association. Team principal Tony Fernandes will be managing the Lotus F1 Team up until the first Grand Prix in Melbourne 2010. Formula 3 team, Litespeed, acquired the rights to use to the Lotus name but for legal reasons it will not be called Team Lotus. Nevertheless, Lotus will reentry Formula One under the historic name.

Mike Gascoyne, Lotus F1 team technical director said, “We are not just a small new team; we have the possibilities to be a very substantial team. And the FIA recognize that, combined with the name and that we’re also a team based outside Europe”. The Lotus F1 team will be based in Norfolk, England, but will move to the Proton manufacturers n Malaysia. Plans are underway for a purpose-built facility at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit which will no doubt help their chances of a good result at Sepang.

Campos Grand Prix

Adrian Campos currently runs a team in the European F3 Open Championship and has a lot of experience in lower level Formula Racing. Campos Grand Prix is partly funded by a Madrid sports agency called Meta Image. Campos Grand Prix is using Dallara Automobili, which has built Indy Cars, Formula 3 & GP2 cars will build the Campos Grand Prix chassis for 2010.

USPGE

USPGE stands for United States Grand Prix Engineering which is the All-American USF1 Team. Click here for more details on USF1.

In 2008, the FIA dropped Montreal and Indianapolis off of the Formula One calendar due to sponsorship disputes and contract disagreements respectively. Today, it is confirmed that F1 will return to the beautiful Montreal race track in Canada!

I am especially pleased that an announcement is forthcoming to the effect that the Canadian Grand Prix will be back on the FIA calendar as of 2010

Montreal Formula One Track

Normand Legault, president and CEO of Grand Prix F1 du Canada, announced that they had an agreement with the FIA and the Canadian race will return in 2010. “I am very happy, and fully satisfied, with this outcome,” Normand said, “I have always been confident of being able to resolve the dispute, given the in-depth understanding I have had to develop of the Formula One racing situation in Canada and I am especially pleased that an announcement is forthcoming to the effect that the Canadian Grand Prix will be back on the FIA calendar as of 2010.”

This is great news for F1 fans in the North America, having lost two formula one grand prix races in 2009. The inclusion of the USF1 Team in the 2010 season has likely played an influential part in Bernie Eccelstone’s decision to renegotiate the Canadian Grand Prix. “I never doubted that the Canadian race would regain its rightful place on the FIA schedule, and my discussions with F1 management led me to believe that the event would return soon” said Legault. Given it’s proximity to the United States, established infrastructure and track record for hosting some of the great Grand Prix’s in history, Montreal was always going to first on Bernie’s agenda to break into the US audience.

Source: planetf1.com
Renault will face the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council on September 21st to answer charges of race-fixing relating to last year’s Singapore GP.

Renault are alleged to have “deliberately” caused Nelson Piquet Jr’s crash on lap 14, which brought out the Safety Car and helped his team-mate Fernando Alonso claim the win.

The allegations have made by Piquet Jr, who gave a statement to investigators, which was subsequently leaked to the media.

It is not yet known who leaked the information, however, it has caused great concern for FOTA who feel it could cause prejudice ahead of the hearing.

“FOTA today express concern at the leakage of information, which may or may not be relevant to the FIA current enquiry into the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix,” FOTA said in a statement.

“All parties to the dispute should have the right to a fair hearing carried out in private and not in the public arena, which is producing adverse publicity damaging to the corporate image and credibility of Formula 1.

“FOTA believes that differences within the sport should be handled in professional manner and condemns the habit of intentionally releasing confidential documents to influence public opinion. Confidential documents should remain under the control of the competent authority.”

FOTA, though, aren’t the only ones who are concerned by the leak.

“That is actually very unfortunate because it is just one side of the story,” FIA President Max Mosley told Autosport. “We are quite genuinely curious as to how that happened.

“Next time, when we send out to 20 or 30 people, we will probably arrange it in such a way that we can tell who is leaking stuff. We don’t know how it happened.”

Peter Windsor

Source: www.formula1.com
The US-based operation founded by Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson is one of three new teams due to join the grid for 2010. With their debut season rapidly approaching, more and more pieces of the jigsaw are falling into place for Team US, not least the recent announcement of YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley as a major backer. It brought the Charlotte-based squad to the attention of global media – and Windsor hopes it won’t be the last time…

Q: Peter, now that all the formalities are wrapped up, there must be no holding back at your Charlotte factory in North Carolina. Where are things with the car and team development right now?
Peter Windsor: Well, all the politics that happened this year have delayed us in some respects, but not in the critical respect of the car. We’ve been working on the design and the construction of the car since the start of the year, so that hasn’t been delayed at all. We are right on schedule for that. As (team co-founder) Ken (Anderson) said a couple of weeks ago, we should soon have what Americans call a ‘roller’ – not a complete car, but basically the chassis, with the suspension and gearbox in place – ready to do some full-scale aero tests. Then we are ready for the final bodywork around October and, like with everybody else, our car will be ready for the first test in January. There is no other deadline we have to meet.

If you are a new team and you don’t have in place existing cars, drivers, factories and everything else. When you are a start-up operation it is very important from a marketing point of view to get all the hardware in place as quickly as possible. Due to all the politics we’ve slipped a bit on time and now we are making up for that and working very hard on the marketing side of the company. The first phase of that was the announcement of our involvement with Chad Hurley. From there we will be ‘all hands on deck’ and marketing the team as what we are: an American team with a franchise in Formula One on a global platform in the best sport in the world.

Q: How are you and Ken dividing the work at the moment?
Peter Windsor: Basically Ken is the team principal, but primarily he is more on the technical side. The last time he was over here in Europe was for the meeting of the Technical Working Group, but then he flew straight back to Charlotte because there is so much going on at the moment. I am more on the driver/operational side. We both have an overview of the marketing side and, of course, we both have an overview what’s going on in every aspect. For me, Ken is an unusual engineer in Formula One because he does have a very good feel for the business side of the industry and for how F1 works as an entertainment business. Both of us keep reminding each other that we are in the entertainment business – and we should never let any of the little short-term problems that we all face in Formula One interfere with that. It should always be a main focus of what we are doing, particularly in our case of being an American team and building the car in the United States. We have a certain role to play for Formula One in the United States in trying to rekindle enthusiasm for this great sport.

Q: You will be based in Charlotte, but rumours have it that you are looking for a European base as well, linking you with the new Motorland Aragon…
Peter Windsor: Well, there are lots of rumours about that and they are not very far from the truth. But for the moment being we haven’t finished any deal yet, so I’d rather not comment too much. But we are very interested in that Motorland Aragon facility. It is a fantastic location for winter testing, very minimal chance of rain and lovely weather in the winter. If we can do a deal there it would be fabulous for us.

Q: Yours is one of three new teams to have gained entry to the 2010 championship. What do you know about the other two? Is there any sort of information flow between the new kids on the block?
Peter Windsor: We communicate with them as much as we do with any of the other teams, but in terms of knowledge Ken and I would know much more of what is going on at Ferrari or Toyota. From our perspective the other two new teams are very, very quiet, but I suppose I’m the wrong person to ask.

Q: The Team US-Chad Hurley cooperation has raised a few eyebrows. How did the two of you get together?
Peter Windsor: Ken and I – with a very good support team behind us – did a series of presentations around the US last winter, in the dark days of the recession. When there was all doom and gloom globally and nobody wanted to do anything, we were out in America just doing road shows on the east and west coast. We had a good team of people putting together a collection of potential partners and investors in the company and at one of them Chad was invited through ‘a friend of a friend of a friend’ and although I didn’t get to meet him that night of the presentation, I think Ken shook hands with him – but that was about it. But obviously our presentation was very much in the YouTube mould – guys starting small in the back of an office somewhere, coming up with a great idea, working hard – and that’s to some extent what we hope to be doing.

I think Chad liked that idea and invited us to a working breakfast the next morning in Silicon Valley. Ken and I went there and it went on for about four hours. Chad asked a lot of intelligent questions – the politics, the technology, the people, the television, the media, everything, and we obviously covered all that to his satisfaction because from then on he was pretty much on board with what we wanted to do. He could see that despite Formula One not having a great profile in America right now – for a number of reasons, like no driver, no team, no race right now – its strength as a global television sport in a recession is resilient. There are a lot of statistics that show that live televised sport is resilient to economic downturns and he loved that idea. I think he also loved the idea of Americans taking on the big guns and proving that we can do it. He did believe in us – and here he is, believing in us. I cannot tell you how nice it feels to have somebody as nice as Chad behind us. It’s a great honour and privilege for us being associated with him.

Q: What form will the partnership take exactly? Financial support only, transfer of business know-how, YouTube becoming an integral part of the team’s strategy – or what?
Peter Windsor: Chad’s involvement is much more than just a stakeholder in the team. He is very keen to apply all the things that he has learned about new media and video and the way it works to this amazing television model that we have that is called Formula One. There is an enormous synergy between the two. He doesn’t want to do anything in a rush, but wants to learn about Formula One, to come in and understand where the opportunities are. And – without wanting to sound pretentious – we hope that Chad’s presence in F1 will have a huge impact on the sport in general – not just be a useful, great partner for us, but to be somebody to bring enormous benefits to F1. And we are already starting to see that. We all know that America is an important market for the Formula One industry and to have somebody of Chad’s stature in America – in a part of America where F1 has no real profile at all – standing up and saying ‘I think this is a great sport and we’re going to commit to it’ is a fantastic thing for F1. The fact that Chad Hurley has committed to Formula One was global news and had a big impact in many dimensions.

Q: …and Chad will make sure that you always have enough money in the bank to run the team?
Peter Windsor: Ken and I have never been specific about the details of our budget. All I’m going to say is that we will be very lean and mean. We are not moving away from our business model.

Q: All new sponsors and partners in Formula One racing quickly learn that success does not come overnight, and that sometimes it takes years to start winning. Is Chad Hurley prepared for that?
Peter Windsor: I have to be honest – Ken and I have never said to Chad that it might take years to win races. Ken and I are incredibly hungry for success. We will work very hard, trying to do the best job that we can given the fact that we are a ‘from zero’ start-up operation, doing things in a logical way with the best people we believe we can find, to the budget we believe is the right budget. If you do all that there is half a chance that you will be rewarded with success at a proportional rate!

Can you imaging  Dan Gurney and Carroll Shelby in a trailer after a race discussing the name of the first formula one team over a few beers? If you can, it’s no surprise that they named it the ‘All American Racers Team’. Dan and Carroll founded the American racing team in 1964 and competed in the 1967 Formula One season with the open-wheeler aptly named the “Eagle”. At the time, the team was based in California which serviced their national racing, but the Formula One team was based in Great Britain using Weslake engines. Therefore the team was aliased as Anglo American Racers. The American Team raced in 25 Formula One Grand Prix Races over 2 years.

The first Eagle was the Lotus 38 in the 1965 Indianapolis 500. Gurney then hired the Lotus designer Len Terry to make their own racing car in 1966 which resulted in the Eagle T2G for Champ Car and the Eagle T1G for Formula One. The ‘Eagle’ never won a race, not did it finish in the points and so they exited Formula One in 1968 to concentrate on Champ Car.

USF1 will be the next American team to grace the Formula One paddocks since since the Eagle in 1967. For much of the last 10 months, USF1 has been designing its race cars from its headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, which is the capital of motor sport in the United States. The unique location of the facility provides the highest concentration of racing-specific suppliers, technical analysis companies and testing partners in the United States.

The hopes and aspirations of many Americans lie in the hands of Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor. Keeping in mind the reduced costs, fairer rules and regulations and the extensive financial backing, the only challenge left is implementing their knowledge and recruiting a champion driver!

Lewis Hamilton has not been able to defend his crown due to the team’s miscalculation of his front wing aerodynamics which had thrown off his cars ability to create sufficient down force to maintain speed around high speed corners. After winning spectacularly at the season finale in 2008, Lewis has finally stormed back into form in the last 3 races at the Nürburgring, Budapest and Valencia and can now compete with his rivals. He has this to say about the year past and ahead:

Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton was born on 7 January 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. He currently holds the record for the youngest ever Formula One World Champion.

When Lewis was 10 years old, he was approached by Ron Dennis at the 1995 Autosport Awards ceremony where he told him, “I want to race for you one day.” McLaren and Mercedes-Benz signed Lewis to their Young Driver Support Program at the age of 13. Having his career path practically predetermined, Lewis went on to win Formula Renault, Formula Three and GP2 championships in consecutive years. Ron Dennis then made the early decision to put Lewis in his McLaren F1 driver in 2007.

Lewis stunned Formula One fans around the world with his raw talent and amazing composure under pressure in 2007 and only just lost the Formula One Championship by one point to Kimi Räikkönen. The second time around, Lewis went one better beating Felipe Massa by the same one point margin.

Having started so young and so successfully, Lewis has a tremendous career ahead of him to potentially be one of the all time greats.

Chad Hurley, Co founder and current CEO of You Tube is the primary investor in USF1!

So what will Chad Hurley for USF1? Well, what better executive to have bought into a US formula one than Chad! A man who helped found a video social media phenomenon that sold for $1.65bn just 17 months after launching could help build (or rebuild) the image of Formula One in the United States. Will we see YouTube logos on the side of the USF1 race cars in 2010?

Chad Hurlet Invests In USF1

Chad had this to say about the purchase:

“Getting in on the ground floor of a project of this size and scope is a tremendous opportunity, and I look forward to helping shape the USF1 vision and corporate strategy for years to come.”

He won’t admit it, but Bernie Ecclestone knows all too well that Formula 1 must succeed in America to get true world wide recognition of the sport. Hurley’s potential contribution to Formula One will help bring the commercial and social side of Formula One to the masses.

“This is a great day for USF1,” said Peter Windsor, sporting director for USF1. “Chad’s commitment to this team is vital and his visionary expertise and leadership will help steer us into the future as we look to attract best-in-class sponsors, drivers, employees and fans in our quest to compete at the highest level of motorsports.”

One thing is for certain, Chad will be a door opener for corporate sponsorship and promotional media to finally put Formula One a mainstream US sport.