Some interesting facts about Formula 1 racing

[Zeus_Hunt]

01. An F1 car is made up of 80,000 components, if it were assembled

99.9% correctly, it would still start the race with 80 things wrong!

  02. Formula 1 cars have over a kilometre of cable, linked to about

100 sensors and actuators which monitor and control many parts of the car.

  03. An F1 car can go from 0 to 160 kph AND back to 0 in FOUR seconds!!!!!!!

04. F1 car engines last only for about 2 hours of racing mostly

before blowing up on the other hand we expect our engines to last us

for a decent 20yrs on an average and they quite faithfully

DO....thats the extent to which the engines r pushed to perform...

05. When an F1 driver hits the brakes on his car he experiences

retardation or deceleration comparable to a regular car driving

through a BRICK wall at 300kmph !!!

06. An average F1 driver looses about 4kgs of weight after just one

race due to the prolonged exposure to high G forces and temperatures

for little over an hour (Yeah thats right!!!)

07. At 550kg a F1 car is less than half the weight of a Mini.

08. In an F1 car the engine typically revs upto 18000 rpm,(the

piston travelling up and down 300 times a second!!) wheres cars like

the palio, maruti 800,indica rev only upto 6000 rpm at max. Thats 3  times slower.

09. The brake discs in an F1 car have an operating temperature of

approx 1000 degees Centigrade and they attain that temp while

braking before almost every turn...that is why they r not made of steel

but of carbon fibre which is much more harder and resistant to wear

and tear and most of all has a higher melting point.

10. If a water hose were to blow off, the complete cooling system

would empty in just over a second.

  11. Gear cogs or ratios are used only for one race, and are replaced

regularly to prevent failure, as they are subjected to very high degrees of stress.

  12. The fit in the cockpit is so tight that the steering wheel must

be removed for the driver to get in or out of the car. A small latch

behind the wheel releases it from the column. Levers or paddles for

changing gear are located on the back of the wheel. So no gearstick!

The clutch levers are also on the steering wheel, located below the gear paddles.

  13. To give you an idea of just how important aerodynamic design and

added downforce can be, small planes can take off at slower speeds

than F1 cars travel on the track.

  14. Without aerodynamic downforce, high-performance racing cars have

sufficient power to produce wheel spin and loss of control at 160

kph. They usually race at over 300 kph.

15. The amount of aerodynamic downforce produced by the front and

rear wings and the car underbody is amazing. Once the car is

travelling over 160 kph, an F1 car can generate enough downforce to

equal it's own weight. That means it could actually hold itself to the CEILING of a

tunnel and drive UPSIDE down!

  16. In a street course race like the monaco grand prix, the

downforce provides enough suction to lift manhole covers. Before

the race all of the manhole covers on the streets have to be welded down

to prevent this from happening!

17. The refuelers used in F1 can supply 12 litres of fuel per

second. This means it would take just 4 seconds to fill the tank of

an average 50 litre family car.They use the same refueling rigs

used on US military helicopters today.

  18. TOP F1 pit crews can refuel and change tyres in around 3

seconds. It took me 8 sec to read above point (no.17).

19. Race car tyres don't have air in them like normal car tyres.

Most racing tyres have nitrogen in the tyres because nitrogen has a

more consistent pressure compared to normal air. Air typically

contains varying amounts of water vapour in it, which affects its expansion

and contraction as a function of temperature, making the tyre pressure unpredictable.

  20. During the race the tyres lose weight! Each tyre loses about 0.5

kg in weight due to wear.

21. Normal tyres last 60 000 - 100 000 km. Racing tyres are

designed to last 90 - 120 km (That's Khandala and back from Mumbai).

22. A dry-weather F1 tyre reaches peak operating performance (best

grip) when tread temperature is between 900C and 1200C.(Water

boils boils at 100C remember) At top speed, F1 tyres rotate 50 times a second

[Lite]

F1 car engines last only for about 2 hours of racing mostly

Simply not true, atleast in the current season. As engines MUST be used for TWO full races, thats generally ATLEAST 3 hours, add to that qualifying and practice sessions.

Racing tyres are designed to last 90 - 120 km

This figures bigger for this season.

[nsane]

here's a few more...

1. the fuel used by most racing leagues (f1, indy, & nascar) burns so hot you cannot see the flames. i've actually watched a few pit crew members walk right into a 2000 degree fire and not even know it until after they were burned to shit :o

edit: i think i remember hearing that it's basicly the same as jet fuel (with only a few small difference)

2. at top speed f1 and indy cars can cover a complete 130 yard football field in the snap of a finger, litterally. 1 yard is ~1 meter for the euro peeps

3. FACT: i'd love to drive one of those bad boys :o

that's some nice info tho, both of you :D

[Guest oxygenuk]

some lil intresting facts there