Kata Formula 1 memang tidak asing di telinga kita karena kita sering melihatnya di televisi. Mobil balap tersebut memang banyak digemari orang karena dapat melaju kencang di atas lintasan balap. Tapi taukah kamu apa saja bagian dari mobil formula satu ? Untuk itu mari kita bahas lebih lanjut.
Bahan Baku Jet Darat
Balap F1 selalu menarik perhatian. Mobil-mobil paling cepat di dunia itu, biasa disebut jet darat, saling adu kecepatan, juga teknologi. Peran sains material yang kental berlandaskan kimia dan fisika sangat besar. Kita bedah yuk.
F1 menarik, antara lain, karena merupakan olahraga canggih yang memerlukan mental dan stamina yang tangguh dari pembalapnya. Ketangguhan pertama para pembalap adalah waktu tanggapnya, yakni hanya sekitar sepertiga orang rata-rata. Jagoan seperti Schumacher dan Ayrton Senna mampu membaca keadaan jalan walau kendaraannya melaju dengan kecepatan 3 kali kecepatan mobil yang dikendarai orang rata-rata. Di Melbourne, tempo hari Schummy dilaporkan melaju dengan kecepatan rata-rata 219,010 kilometer per jam. Selain itu, ketangguhannya juga diuji karena selama berpacu, para pembalap harus duduk di tempat yang sama sekali tidak nyaman.
Tidak hanya pembalapnya saja yang harus prima, F1 juga mensyaratkan kendaraan yang secara teknis mampu bertahan di kondisi yang ekstrem. Kondisi yang ekstrem itu, antara lain: kecepatan yang sangat tinggi dan suhu tinggi. Untuk menggambarkan ekstremnya kondisi mobil F1, cukup kiranya untuk mengutip perbandingan jarak yang ditempuh dalam 12 detik dari posisi diam antara mobil biasa dan mobil F1: mobil biasa rata-rata menempuh 120 m, sementara mobil F1 1.000 m! Tentu untuk mencapai dan menjaga agar mobil dan pembalap aman dalam kondisi yang ekstrem itu diperlukan material khusus. Kita akan bahas bagaimana kimia berperan lewat tiga contoh, yakni kain tahan bakar, ban khusus F1, dan bahan chassis F1.
Kain tahan bakar
Mobil F1 membawa lebih dari 100 liter bahan bakar dan mengingat kecepatannya yang sangat tinggi, kemungkinan tabrakan dan kebakarannya pun tinggi. Oleh karena itu, persyaratan ketat diterapkan untuk kain yang digunakan, baik untuk pakaian dalam maupun pakaian luar pembalap, maupun para petugas track. Kapas yang sangat nyaman dan cukup aman bagi kita yang menggunakan kendaraan umum yang melaju dengan kecepatan biasa tidak akan aman bila digunakan untuk para pembalap yang melaju dengan kecepatan sangat tinggi.
Untuk memenuhi persyaratan itu, Duppont telah berhasil mengembangkan material yang diberi nama Nomex. Nomex adalah polimer poliamida aromatik yang mudah dibentuk menjadi serat untuk dibuat baju yang dikenakan oleh para pembalap. Selain itu, Nomex juga dapat mudah dibentuk menjadi bentuk mikro segi enam, seperti sarang laba-laba yang digunakan untuk moncong mobil F1. Ketahanan bakar Nomex telah memenuhi persyaratan, yakni dapat tahan tidak terbakar pada suhu 1200 derajat Kelvin (923 derajat Celsius) selama 12 detik. Hal ini dibuktikan, misalnya, ketika Gerhard Berger pada tahun 1989 menabrak tembok pembatas dengan tabrakan yang hebat di Imola. Saat itu tangki bahan bakarnya robek sehingga ia terendam bahan bakar yang terbakar hebat. Tanpa baju yang terbuat dari Nomex, bisa dibayangkan bagaimana jadinya Berger? Namun, berkat baju pengaman dan kesigapan para petugas, dapat dikatakan tak ada kulit Berger yang terluka sekalipun dan di tahun itu Berger dapat kembali berlaga.
Ban khusus mobil F1
Ban mobil F1 memegang peranan sangat penting karena melalui interaksi antara ban dan track gerakan mobil, percepatan, pengereman, pembelokan, dan sebagainya dimungkinkan. Sekali lagi, kondisi kecepatan yang ekstrem mengakibatkan ban yang khusus harus pula digunakan. Ban mobil F1 slick (kering) bekerja optimal pada suhu 100 derajat Celsius sehingga sering teman-teman lihat ada unit pemanas untuk memanaskan ban-ban serep sebelum dipasang. Suhu optimal itu dipertahankan oleh mobil saat melaju. Ingat, sebagian energi gesekan antara ban dan track diubah menjadi energi panas. Namun, itu pun harus dijaga agar panasnya tidak terlalu tinggi. Persyaratan agar ban lebih kuat dipenuhi dengan menambahkan Kevlar, polimer yang sekeluarga dengan Nomex, pada ban F1.
“Chassis” mobil F1
Berdasarkan riset, material yang ideal untuk chassis dan bagian-bagian mesin F1 adalah komposit serat karbon. Sekadar mengingatkan, komposit itu mengambil analogi dengan beton ada bagian penguatnya (di beton berupa kawat baja) dan bagian matriknya (di beton campuran semen, pasir, batu kecil, dan air). Nah, di serat karbon, yang bertindak sebagai bagian penguatnya adalah serat karbon, sementara resin PEEK sebagai bahan matriksnya. Komposit serat karbon ini mempunyai sifat ringan, kuat, dan tangguh sehingga cocok digunakan untuk mobil yang memerlukan kondisi ekstrem dan harus melaju dengan sangat kencang.
Beberapa bagian chassis mobil F1 masih belum sepenuhnya menggunakan komposit serat karbon karena harganya yang masih sangat mahal. Namun, untuk bagian kopling yang memerlukan bahan yang tahan aus, ringan, dan mudah dibentuk, mahalnya harga komposit serat karbon ternyata tertebus oleh berbagai keunggulan yang diberikannya. Oleh karena itu, hampir dapat dipastikan bagian kopling F1 menggunakan komposit ini. Disebutkan di atas, bahan kopling ini harus lebih tahan aus daripada kopling mobil biasa karena untuk sirkuit seperti yang ada di Monako rata-rata pembalap harus mengubah gigi tiap 3 detik atau selama berpacu dia harus mengubah gigi sampai 1.500 kali.
Dampak bagi mobil biasa
Selain sebagai hiburan, sebenarnya F1 juga berjasa bagi kita semua karena sering kali pelajaran penting yang didapat dari mobil F1, baik itu tentang bahan-bahan, teknologi, dan desain, digunakan dalam mobil yang kita gunakan. Misalnya, Kevlar kini telah banyak digunakan untuk penutup silinder di bagian rem atau kopling. Desain ban mobil yang baik juga banyak berutang dari desain ban mobil F1. Nah, ternyata banyak kan dukungan sains bagi F1, dan F1 kan tidak melulu pemborosan uang hanya untuk hiburan, tapi juga banyak bermanfaat untuk mobil kita.
Video tentang Formula 1
Jika Ingin lebih mengerti lebih lanjut silahkan membaca berikut ini
Aerodynamics
A modern Formula One car has almost as much in common with a jet fighter as it does with an ordinary road car. Aerodynamics have become key to success in the sport and teams spend tens of millions of dollars on research and development in the field each year.
The aerodynamic designer has two primary concerns: the creation of downforce, to help push the car’s tyres onto the track and improve cornering forces; and minimising the drag that gets caused by turbulence and acts to slow the car down.
Several teams started to experiment with the now familiar wings in the late 1960s. Race car wings operate on exactly the same principle as aircraft wings, only in reverse. Air flows at different speeds over the two sides of the wing (by having to travel different distances over its contours) and this creates a difference in pressure, a physical rule known as Bernoulli’s Principle. As this pressure tries to balance, the wing tries to move in the direction of the low pressure. Planes use their wings to create lift, race cars use theirs to create downforce. A modern Formula One car is capable of developing 3.5 g lateral cornering force (three and a half times its own weight) thanks to aerodynamic downforce. That means that, theoretically, at high speeds they could drive upside down.
Early experiments with movable wings and high mountings led to some spectacular accidents, and for the 1970 season regulations were introduced to limit the size and location of wings. Evolved over time, those rules still hold largely true today.
By the mid 1970s ‘ground effect’ downforce had been discovered. Lotus engineers found out that the entire car could be made to act like a wing by the creation of a giant wing on its underside which would help to suck it to the road. The ultimate example of this thinking was the Brabham BT46B, designed by Gordon Murray, which actually used a cooling fan to extract air from the skirted area under the car, creating enormous downforce. After technical challenges from other teams it was withdrawn after a single race. And rule changes followed to limit the benefits of ‘ground effects’ – firstly a ban on the skirts used to contain the low pressure area, later a requirement for a ’stepped floor’.
Despite the full-sized wind tunnels and vast computing power used by the aerodynamic departments of most teams, the fundamental principles of Formula One aerodynamics still apply: to create the maximum amount of downforce for the minimal amount of drag. The primary wings mounted front and rear are fitted with different profiles depending on the downforce requirements of a particular track. Tight, slow circuits like Monaco require very aggressive wing profiles – you will see that cars run two separate ‘blades’ of ‘elements’ on the rear wings (two is the maximum permitted). In contrast, high-speed circuits like Monza see the cars stripped of as much wing as possible, to reduce drag and increase speed on the long straights.
Every single surface of a modern Formula One car, from the shape of the suspension links to that of the driver’s helmet – has its aerodynamic effects considered. Disrupted air, where the flow ’separates’ from the body, creates turbulence which creates drag – which slows the car down. Look at a recent car and you will see that almost as much effort has been spent reducing drag as increasing downforce – from the vertical end-plates fitted to wings to prevent vortices forming to the diffuser plates mounted low at the back, which help to re-equalise pressure of the faster-flowing air that has passed under the car and would otherwise create a low-pressure ‘balloon’ dragging at the back. Despite this, designers can’t make their cars too ’slippery’, as a good supply of airflow has to be ensured to help dissipate the vast amounts of heat produced by a modern Formula One engine.
In recent years most Formula One teams have tried to emulate Ferrari’s ‘narrow waist’ design, where the rear of the car is made as narrow and low as possible. This reduces drag and maximises the amount of air available to the rear wing. The ‘barge boards’ fitted to the sides of cars also helped to shape the flow of the air and minimise the amount of turbulence.
Revised regulations introduced in 2005 forced the aerodynamicists to be even more ingenious. In a bid to cut speeds, the FIA robbed the cars of a chunk of downforce by raising the front wing, bringing the rear wing forward and modifying the rear diffuser profile. The designers quickly clawed back much of the loss, with a variety of intricate and novel solutions such as the ‘horn’ winglets first seen on the McLaren MP4-20.
Most of those innovations have been effectively outlawed under the even more stringent aerodynamic regulations imposed by the FIA for 2009. The changes are designed to promote overtaking by making it easier for a car to closely follow another. The new rules take the cars into another new era, with lower and wider front wings, taller and narrower rear wings, and generally much ‘cleaner’ bodywork. Perhaps the most interesting change, however, is the introduction of ‘moveable aerodynamics’, with the driver now able to make limited adjustments to the front wing from the cockpit during a race.
All this will make the cars slower initially, but as ever Formula One’s best brains will be working flat out to make up the performance shortfall as quickly as possible.
Brakes
When it comes to the business of slowing down, Formula One cars are surprisingly closely related to their road-going cousins. Indeed as ABS anti-skid systems have been banned from Formula One racing, most modern road cars can lay claim to having considerably cleverer retardation.
The principle of braking is simple: slowing an object by removing kinetic energy from it. Formula One cars have disc brakes (like most road-cars) with rotating discs (attached to the wheels) being squeezed between two brake pads by the action of a hydraulic calliper. This turns a car’s momentum into large amounts of heat and light – note the way Formula One brake discs glow yellow hot.
In the same way that too much power applied through a wheel will cause it to spin, too much braking will cause it to lock as the brakes overpower the available levels of grip from the tyre. Formula One previously allowed anti-skid braking systems (which would reduce the brake pressure to allow the wheel to turn again and then continue to slow it at the maximum possible rate) but these were banned in the 1990s. Braking therefore remains one of the sternest tests of a Formula One driver’s skill.
The technical regulations also require that each car has a twin-circuit hydraulic braking system with two separate reservoirs for the front and rear wheels. This ensures that, even in the event of one complete circuit failure, braking should still be available through the second circuit. The amount of braking power going to the front and rear circuits can be ‘biased’ by a control in the cockpit, allowing a driver to stabilise handling or take account of falling fuel load. Under normal operation about 60 percent of braking power goes to the front wheels which, because of load transfer under deceleration, take the brunt of the retardation duties. (Think of what would happen if you tried to slow down a skateboard with a tennis ball on it).
In one area Formula One brakes are empirically more advanced than road-car systems: materials. All the cars on the grid now use carbon fibre composite brake discs which save weight and are able to operate at higher temperatures than steel discs. A typical Formula One brake disc weighs about 1.5 kg (versus 3.0 kg for the similar sized steel discs used in the American CART series). These are gripped by special compound brake pads and are capable of running at vast temperatures – anything up to 750 degrees Celsius. Previously different sized discs would be used for qualifying and racing, but the 2003 changes to the rules means that all cars enter parc ferme after qualifying – and so therefore set their one-lap time on their race brakes.
Formula One brakes are remarkably efficient. In combination with the modern advanced tyre compounds they have dramatically reduced braking distances. It takes a Formula One car considerably less distance to stop from 160 km/h than a road car uses to stop from 100 km/h. So good are the brakes that the regulations deliberately discourage development through restrictions on materials or design, to prevent even shorter braking distances rendering overtaking all but impossible.
From 2009 teams have the option of harnessing the waste energy generated by the car’s braking process and reusing it via a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) to provide additional engine power, which can be made available to a driver in short bursts to help facilitate overtaking.
Cornering
Cornering is vital to the business of racing cars, and Formula One is no exception. On straights the battle tends to be determined by the power of engine and brakes, but come the corners and the driver’s skill becomes more immediately apparent. It’s the area where an ace pilot can extract the tiny advantage that makes the difference between winning and losing.
The fundamental principle of efficient cornering is the ‘traction circle.’ The tyres of a racing car have only a finite amount of grip to deliver. This can be the longitudinal grip of braking and acceleration, the lateral grip of cornering or – most likely in bends – a combination of the two. Racing drivers overlap the different phases of braking, turning and applying power to try and make the tyre work as hard as possible for as long as possible. It’s the skilful exploitation of this overlap, releasing the brakes and feeding in the throttle to just the right degree not to overwhelm the available grip, which is making the best use of the ‘traction circle’. The very best are those who can extract the maximum amount from the tyres for as long as possible.
Oversteer and understeer are vital to understanding the way a car corners. They refer simply to the question of which end of the car runs out of grip first. In an understeer situation the front end breaks free first, the car running wide as centrifugal force takes over. Oversteer is where the back end of the car loses adhesion and tries to overtake the front – think in terms of a road car’s ‘handbrake skid’.
Understeer is inherently stable – once the car reduces speed sufficiently grip will be restored, which is why almost all road cars are set up to understeer at the limit of adhesion. But it also slows down a car, which is why Formula One chassis engineers try to avoid it. Oversteer is, by contrast, highly unstable. Unless a driver acts to correct it quickly with skilful use of steering and throttle it can result in a spin. But an ‘oversteery’ chassis helps the driver to turn into a corner and, at the limit of adhesion, it enables a skilled driver to carry far more speed through a corner than understeer. Which is why, to a greater or lesser extent, all Formula One cars are set up with an oversteer characteristic.
A racing car takes a corner in three stages – turn-in, apex and exit. Turn-in is, like it sounds, the broad term given to pointing the car into the corner. Weight transfer under braking, moving the effective mass of the car from the back axle to the front, encourages oversteer during this phase, which the driver will use to help make the turn. The apex or ‘clipping’ point is the corner’s neutral point, the place where the transition between entry and exit is made. Different corners may have different natural apexes, whether early or late (before or after the mid-point of the corner), and individual drivers may also use different apexes according to their personal technique. (A late apex can allow power to be applied earlier and can help to ’straighten out’ the corner). And the exit phase is where the driver will blend the throttle back in as the steering is progressively wound off: ideally keeping the car right on the edge of the traction circle through an acute sense of balance.
The traction circle is also affected by grip levels (dramatically reduced on a wet or dirty bit of track), and even the subtle changes in the camber of the road (its side-on gradient). The most successful drivers are consistently those who are best at judging the limits they can take their cars to under cornering – and go there as often as possible.
Driver fitness
Formula One drivers are some of the most highly conditioned athletes on earth, their bodies specifically adapted to the very exacting requirements of top-flight single-seater motor racing.
All drivers who enter Formula One need to undergo a period of conditioning to the physical demands of the sport: no other race series on earth requires so much of its drivers in terms of stamina and endurance. The vast loadings that Formula One cars are capable of creating, anything up to a sustained 3.5 g of cornering force, for example, means drivers have to be enormously strong to be able to last for full race distances. The extreme heat found in a Formula One cockpit, especially at the hotter rounds of the championship, also puts vast strain on the body: drivers can sweat off anything up to 3kg of their body weight during the course of a race.
Physical endurance is created through intensive cardio-vascular training: usually running or swimming, although some drivers prefer cycling or even roller-blading! But the unusual loadings experienced by neck and chest muscles cannot be easily replicated by conventional gym equipment, so many drivers use specially designed ‘rigs’ that enable them to specifically develop the muscles they will need to withstand cornering forces. Strong neck muscles are especially important, as they must support the weight of both the driver’s head and his helmet under these intense loadings. Powerful arm muscles are also required to enable the car to be controlled during longer races.
In terms of nutrition, most Formula One drivers control their diets in much the same way as track and field athletes, carefully regulating the amount of carbohydrate and protein that they absorb. During the race weekends proper most drivers will be seen eating pasta or other carbohydrate-rich foods to provide energy and to give the all-important stamina for the race itself. It is also vitally important that drivers take in large amounts of water before the race, even if they do not feel thirsty. Failure to do so could bring on dehydration through sweating – not surprising given that the physical endurance required to drive a Formula One race is not dissimilar to that required to run a marathon.
Engine / gearbox
The engine and transmission of a modern Formula One car are some of the most highly stressed pieces of machinery on the planet, and the competition to have the most power on the grid is still intense.
Traditionally, the development of racing engines has always held to the dictum of the great automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche that the perfect race car crosses the finish line in first place and then falls to pieces. Although this is no longer strictly true – regulations now require engines to last more than one race weekend – designing modern Formula One engines remains a balancing act between the power that can be extracted and the need for just enough durability.
Engine power outputs in Formula One racing are also a fascinating insight into how far the sport has moved on. In the 1950s Formula One cars were managing specific power outputs of around 100 bhp / litre (about what a modern ‘performance’ road car can manage now). That figure rose steadily until the arrival of the ‘turbo age’ of 1.5 litre turbo engines, some of which were producing anything up to 750 bhp / litre. Then, once the sport returned to normal aspiration in 1989 that figure fell back, before steadily rising again. The ‘power battle’ of the last few years saw outputs creep back towards the 1000 bhp barrier, some teams producing more than 300 bhp / litre in 2005, the final year of 3 litre V10 engines. Since 2006, the regulations have required the use of 2.4 litre V8 engines, with power outputs falling around 20 percent.
Revving to a limited 18,000 RPM, a modern Formula One engine will consume a phenomenal 650 litres of air every second, with race fuel consumption typically around the 75 l/100 km (4 mpg) mark. Revving at such massive speeds equates to an accelerative force on the pistons of nearly 9000 times gravity. Unsurprisingly, engine-related failures remain one of the most common causes of retirements in races.
Modern Formula One engines owe little except their fundamental design of cylinders, pistons and valves to road-car engines. The engine is a stressed component within the car, bolting to the carbon fibre ‘tub’ and having the transmission and rear suspension bolted to it in turn. Therefore it has to be enormously strong. A conflicting demand is that it should be light, compact and with its mass in as low a position as possible, to help lower the car’s centre of gravity and to enable the height of rear bodywork to be minimised.
The gearboxes of modern Formula One cars are now highly automated with drivers selecting gears via paddles fitted behind the steering wheel. The ’sequential’ gearboxes used are very similar in principle to those of motorbikes, allowing gear changes to be made far faster than with the traditional ‘H’ gate selector, with the gearbox selectors operated electrically. Despite such high levels of technology, fully automatic transmission systems, and gearbox-related wizardry such as launch control, are illegal – a measure designed to keep costs down and place more emphasis on driver skill. Transmissions – most teams run seven-speed units – bolt directly to the back of the engine.
Mindful of the massive cost of these ultra high-tech powertrains, the FIA introduced new regulations in 2005 limiting each car to one engine per two Grand Prix weekends, with 10-place grid penalties for those breaking the rule. From 2008, a similar policy was applied to gearboxes, each having to last four race weekends. 2009 saw the introduction of even more stringent engine rules, with drivers limited to eight engines per season. On top of these measures, a freeze on engine development imposed at the end of the 2006 season means teams are unable to alter the fundamentals of their engines’ design until at least 2010.
Fuel
” rev=”© No reproduction without permission ” href=”http://www.formula1.com/photos/597×478/manual/fuel03.jpg”>
Surprising but true, despite the vast amounts of technical effort spent developing a Formula One car, the fuel it runs on is surprisingly close to the composition of ordinary, commercially available petrol.
It was not always so. Early Grand Prix cars ran on a fierce mixture of powerful chemicals and additives, often featuring large quantities of benzene, alcohol and aviation fuel. Indeed some early fuels were so potent that the car’s engine had to be disassembled and washed in ordinary petrol at the end of the race to prevent the mixture from corroding it!
Over the years more and more regulations have been introduced regarding the composition of fuel, a move driven in part by the oil companies’ desire to have demonstrable links between race and road fuel.
The modern fuel is only allowed tiny quantities of ‘non hydrocarbon’ compounds, effectively banning the most volatile power-boosting additives. Each fuel blend must be submitted to the sport’s governing body, the FIA, for prior approval of its composition and physical properties. A ‘fingerprint’ of the approved fuel is then taken, which will be compared to the actual fuel being used at the event by the FIA’s mobile testing laboratory.
During a typical season a Formula One team will use over 200,000 litres of fuel for testing and racing, and these can be of anything up to 50 slightly different blends, tuned for the demands of different circuits – or even different weather conditions. More potent fuels will give noticeably more power but may result in increased consumption or engine wear. All of Formula One’s fuel suppliers engage in extensive testing programmes to optimise the fuel’s performance, in the same way any other component in the car will be tuned to give maximum benefit. This will likely involve computer modelling, static engine running and moving tests.
Pit-stop refuelling is once again a vital part of Formula One, and an integral part of modern race strategy. The fuel rigs are designed to operate as quickly and safely as possible, two-stage location and double sealing ensuring the best possible fit. The rigs pass fuel at the rate of about 12 litres a second. The hose itself operates as a ’sealed system’, requiring air and vapour to be extracted as fuel is added. It is very heavy and requires one mechanic to hold its weight while another engages and disengages the nozzle. Another mechanic will stand by a fuel cut-off switch next to the pump itself. Leakages are extremely rare, although accidents have happened, for example to Michael Schumacher at the 2003 Austrian Grand Prix.
The car’s engine oil is also worth a mention. It helps to perform a vital diagnostic role, being closely analysed after each race or test for traces of metals to help monitor the engine’s wear rate.
Pit stops
Drivers get most of the attention, but Formula One racing remains a team sport even during the race itself. The precisely timed, millimetre perfect choreography of a modern pit stop is vital to help teams to turn their race strategy into success – refuelling and changing a car’s tyres in a matter of seconds.
It was not always so. Pit stops tended to be disorganised, long and often chaotic as late as the 1970s – especially when (in the absence of car-to-pit communication) a driver came in to make an unscheduled stop. The age of the modern pit stop arrived when changes were made to the sporting regulations to allow fuelling during the race itself, simultaneously limiting the tank size of cars.
The car is guided into its pit by the ‘lollypop man’, named for the distinctive shape of the long ‘stop/ first gear’ sign he holds in front of the car. The car stops in a precise position and, if a tyre change is required, is immediately jacked up front and rear. Three mechanics are involved in changing a wheel, one removing and refitting the nut with a high-speed airgun, one removing the old wheel and one fitting the new one. At the same time two mechanics operate the heavy fuelling rig, which must be precisely slotted into the car before fuelling can start.
Other mechanics may make other adjustments during the stop. Some changes can be carried out very quickly – such as altering the angle of the wings front and rear, to increase or decrease downforce levels. Other tasks, such as the replacement of damaged bodywork, will typically take longer – although front nose cones, the most frequently broken components, are designed with quick changes in mind.
On tracks with debris or rubbish you often see mechanics removing this from the car’s air intakes during a stop, ensuring radiator efficiency is not compromised. And there is always a mechanic on stand-by at the back of the car with a power-operated engine starter, ready for instant use if the car stalls.
When they have finished their work the mechanics step back and raise their hands. It is the responsibility of the ‘lollypop man’ to control the car’s departure from the pit, ensuring no other cars are passing in the pit lane, though some teams now use semi-automated traffic light systems instead of the lollipop. Such is the skill of mechanics that routine stops can be over in under seven seconds, longer halts tending to be determined by the time it takes to transfer bigger fuel loads.
Suspension
The suspension of a modern Formula One car forms the critical interface between the different elements that work together to produce its performance. Suspension is what harnesses the power of the engine, the downforce created by the wings and aerodynamic pack and the grip of the tyres, and allows them all to be combined effectively and translated into a fast on-track package.
Unlike road cars, occupant comfort does not enter the equation – spring and damper rates are very firm to ensure the impact of hitting bumps and kerbs is defused as quickly as possible. The spring absorbs the energy of the impact, the shock absorber releases it on the return stroke, and prevents an oscillating force from building up. Think in terms of catching a ball rather than letting it bounce.
Following the ban on computer-controlled ‘active’ suspension in the 1990s, all of the Formula One car’s suspension functions must be carried out without electronic intervention. The cars feature ‘multi-link’ suspension front and rear, broadly equivalent to the double wishbone layout of some road cars, with unequal length suspension arms top and bottom to allow the best possible control of the camber angle the wheel takes during cornering. As centrifugal force causes the body to roll, the longer effective radius of the lower suspension arms means that the bottom of the tyre (viewed from ahead) slants out further than the top, vital for maximising the grip yielded by the tyre.
Unlike road cars, Formula One springs are no longer mounted directly to the suspension arms, instead being operated remotely via push-rods and bell cranks which (like the lobes of a camshaft) allow for variable rate springing – softer initial compliance becoming stronger as the spring is compressed further. The suspension links themselves are now made out of carbon fibre to add strength and save weight. This is vital to reduce ‘unsprung mass’ – the weight of components between the springs and the surface of the track.
Modern Formula One suspension is minutely adjustable. Initial set-up for a track will be made according to weather conditions (wet weather settings are far softer) and experience from previous years, which will determine basic spring and damper settings. These rates can then be altered according to driver preference and tyre performance, as can the suspension geometry under specific circumstances. Set-up depends on the aerodynamic requirements of the track, weather conditions and driver preference for understeer or oversteer – this being nothing more complicated than whether the front or back of the car loses grip first at the limits of adhesion.
Tyres
A modern Formula One car is a technical masterpiece. But considering the development effort invested in aerodynamics, composite construction and engines it is easy to forget that tyres are still a race car’s biggest single performance variable.
Traditionally, an average car with good tyres could do well, even very well, but with bad tyres even the very best car did not stand a chance. The move to a single tyre supplier in 2007 altered that equation somewhat, but, even now, optimizing the car-tyre balance is something of a black art.
Despite some genuine technical crossover, race tyres and road tyres are – at best – distant cousins. An ordinary car tyre is made with heavy steel-belted radial plies and designed for durability – typically a life of 16,000 kilometres or more (10,000 miles). A Formula One tyre is designed to last for, at most, 200 kilometres and – like everything else on a the car – is constructed to be as light and strong as possible. That means an underlying nylon and polyester structure in a complicated weave pattern designed to withstand far larger forces than road car tyres. In Formula One racing that means anything up to a tonne of downforce, 4g lateral loadings and 5g longitudinal loadings.
The racing tyre is constructed from very soft rubber compounds which offer the best possible grip against the texture of the racetrack, but wear very quickly in the process. If you look at a typical track you will see that, just off the racing line, a large amount of rubber debris gathers (known to the drivers as ‘marbles’). All racing tyres work best at relatively high temperatures. For example, the dry ‘grooved’ tyres used up until very recently were typically designed to function at between 90 degrees Celsius and 110 degrees Celsius.
The development of the racing tyre came of age with the appearance of ’slick’ tyres in the 1960s. Teams and tyre makers realised that, by omitting a tread pattern on dry weather tyres, the surface area of rubber in contact with the road could be maximised. Formula One cars ran with slicks until the 1998 rule changes came into effect, and new tyre standards were introduced in an attempt to improve the spectacle of Formula One racing by reducing cornering speeds.
This led to the familiar sight of ‘grooved’ tyres, the regulations specifying that all tyres had to have four continuous longitudinal grooves at least 2.5 mm deep and spaced 50mm apart. These changes created several new challenges for the tyre manufacturers – most notably ensuring the grooves’ integrity, which in turn limited the softness of rubber compounds that could be used.
Coming up to date, the 2009 season brings a much-welcomed return to slick tyres, following the FIA’s decision to limit aerodynamics rather than rubber as a way of keeping cornering speeds under control.
The ’softness’ or ‘hardness’ of rubber compounds is varied for each race according to the known characteristics of the track. Two different compounds are available to each team at every Grand Prix weekend, and every driver must make use of both specifications during the race. The actual softness of the tyre rubber is varied by changes in the proportions of ingredients added to the rubber, of which the three main ones are carbon, sulphur and oil. Generally speaking, the more oil in a tyre, the softer it will be.
Intermediate and wet-weather tyres have full tread patterns, necessary to expel standing water when racing in the wet. One of the worst possible situations for a race driver remains ‘aquaplaning’ – the condition when a film of water builds up between the tyre and the road, meaning that the car is effectively floating. This leads to vastly reduced levels of grip. The tread patterns of modern racing tyres are mathematically designed to scrub the maximum amount of water possible from the track surface to ensure the best possible contact between the rubber and the track.
Formula One tyres are normally filled with a special, nitrogen-rich air mixture, designed to minimise variations in tyre pressure with temperature. The mixture also retains the pressure longer than normal air would.
Fuel
Surprising but true, despite the vast amounts of technical effort spent developing a Formula One car, the fuel it runs on is surprisingly close to the composition of ordinary, commercially available petrol.
It was not always so. Early Grand Prix cars ran on a fierce mixture of powerful chemicals and additives, often featuring large quantities of benzene, alcohol and aviation fuel. Indeed some early fuels were so potent that the car’s engine had to be disassembled and washed in ordinary petrol at the end of the race to prevent the mixture from corroding it!
Over the years more and more regulations have been introduced regarding the composition of fuel, a move driven in part by the oil companies’ desire to have demonstrable links between race and road fuel.
The modern fuel is only allowed tiny quantities of ‘non hydrocarbon’ compounds, effectively banning the most volatile power-boosting additives. Each fuel blend must be submitted to the sport’s governing body, the FIA, for prior approval of its composition and physical properties. A ‘fingerprint’ of the approved fuel is then taken, which will be compared to the actual fuel being used at the event by the FIA’s mobile testing laboratory.
During a typical season a Formula One team will use over 200,000 litres of fuel for testing and racing, and these can be of anything up to 50 slightly different blends, tuned for the demands of different circuits – or even different weather conditions. More potent fuels will give noticeably more power but may result in increased consumption or engine wear. All of Formula One’s fuel suppliers engage in extensive testing programmes to optimise the fuel’s performance, in the same way any other component in the car will be tuned to give maximum benefit. This will likely involve computer modelling, static engine running and moving tests.
Pit-stop refuelling is once again a vital part of Formula One, and an integral part of modern race strategy. The fuel rigs are designed to operate as quickly and safely as possible, two-stage location and double sealing ensuring the best possible fit. The rigs pass fuel at the rate of about 12 litres a second. The hose itself operates as a ’sealed system’, requiring air and vapour to be extracted as fuel is added. It is very heavy and requires one mechanic to hold its weight while another engages and disengages the nozzle. Another mechanic will stand by a fuel cut-off switch next to the pump itself. Leakages are extremely rare, although accidents have happened, for example to Michael Schumacher at the 2003 Austrian Grand Prix.
The car’s engine oil is also worth a mention. It helps to perform a vital diagnostic role, being closely analysed after each race or test for traces of metals to help monitor the engine’s wear rate.
Sumber :
Ditulis ulang oleh : Felix Zelin Pradina
Komentar Terakhir