In Formula
1, nothing is as old as yesterday’s technology. The teams not only present
new cars each year, but also continuously develop their vehicles over the
course of a season. As early as the San Marino Grand Prix, the first new
parts will be employed. “In this business, those who do not constantly
implement new ideas are left far behind,” says Gavin Fisher, Chief Designer
for WilliamsF1.
In the beginning, there is more than just an idea. To construct a new car,
an entire collection of ideas is necessary. Specialists from various
departments, especially aerodynamics, chassis and engine, all add their
latest innovations to a basic concept. This first exchange of thoughts
usually takes place 18 months before the new car makes its debut at a race
and is – because the technical regulations at such an early stage are still
quite vague – a rather theoretical enterprise. The only reliable
specification is: cars in the future should always be lighter, faster, and
better. |
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In Formula 1,
neither money nor time is available for any kind of detour, least of all in
development. Therefore, parts that have proven their worth in the previous
season’s car are very often adopted, especially those components that do not
directly affect performance. A Formula 1 race car consists of approximately
5,000 individual parts ranging from the common screw to complex electronic
components. Such is the pace of Formula 1 that roughly 3,500 of these are
modified over the course of a season. “The car is constantly being changed,”
Fisher says. “There is always something that can be improved even further.”
The complex jigsaw of new ideas and tried and tested parts is pieced
together step by step using computers. The simulations, using powerful CAD
(Computer-Aided Design) workstations, are the crash tests for ideas.
High-performance computers use special software to create three-dimensional
models of the individual components and complete vehicle. Other software
systems, such as CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), illustrate how the
model will behave in the wind tunnel and how the various environmental
factors will affect the car. Despite all this technology, the designers
still occasionally pick up their sketching pens. A race car is not created
with logic alone: intuition also plays a part. It’s 50 per cent science, 50
per cent emotion – although the days of the one-man show at the drawing
board are long gone, this rule of thumb still applies.
During the development phase of the new car, a constant comparison with data
recorded in the current season takes place. Once the design of the parts has
been completed and their effect on the vehicle as a whole has been tested by
the computers, the corresponding data is fed into the CAM (Computer-Aided
Manufacturing) systems. Maximum-precision machines then manufacture the
parts, usually from very expensive materials. For the metal components of
the engine block, human effort is almost entirely unnecessary, while
carbon-fibre parts, such as the monocoque, still require a good deal of
manual labour. Even this early in the process, the first testing of sample
parts in the wind tunnel is intended to provide the maximum possible
operational safety of the new developments. This way, trust in exact
procedures is created.
Throughout the year, the teams’ technical departments conduct a very special
kind of division of labour. One part of the team takes care of the current
car, while another works on improvements for the current season, and a third
concentrates on developing the new vehicle. The resources need to be
carefully balanced. There are tripwires everywhere: if one starts
concentrating on the new car too early, there is the risk of falling behind
in the remaining races of the current season. If, on the other hand, too
much time is spent with the current vehicle, the new season can begin with a
nasty shock.
It is mostly between seasons that the race factories begin their final
countdown. The past season is history; now all production capacity is
focused solely on the new model. During this transitional period, the teams
usually use interim cars that are partially equipped with components of the
as-yet incomplete new vehicle – these are, of course, still excellently
camouflaged because the competition is also still testing. The necessary
test kilometres away from the test stands and the wind tunnels are
accumulated by the new generation of race car in the two months before the
start of the season. The teams work virtually round the clock to make the
race car reliable quickly (and reliably quick).
And before the new car has even run its first grand prix, the team
specialists are already working on the next season’s vehicles. The cycle
begins again and the speed is as fast as ever.
And did you know...
...that designing a Formula 1 chassis takes around 250,000 hours of labour,
and the actual construction requires a further 250,000? During the design
phase of the new FW27, WilliamsF1 created 4,500 drawings, and roughly
another 4,000 drawings will be added over the course of the season. For its
vehicles, WilliamsF1 produces approximately 200,000 individual components a
year. |
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