Motorsport Off Topic Thread

Renault were deciding on buying the Lotus team or leaving the sport all together. They decided to stay.

Renault openly stated that if the V8's were to continue they would leave. Honda have also stated that were the engines still NA V8's they wouldn't have returned either. That would have left Ferrari and Mercedes.

Ferrari care about one thing and one thing only; Ferrari. it's not unheard of that Ferrari supplied teams have been 'advised' on how to vote in strategy meetings in the past, lest the amount of technical assistance might suddenly be reduced or the price of next years engines might suddenly be $5m more than last season for no apparent reason. Mercedes weren't great fans of the NA V8's either. There was, as I've already stated, a drive to make F1 engines more relevant to road car technology. How many road cars have V8 engines that rev to 17k, with 10 year old technology? How many road cars have small capacity, hybrid based, turbo charged engines? Dozens, and they're only going to become more and more prevalent.

As much as you would like it, the V8's won't EVER return in their previous NA format. Not only are the teams against it for reasons of road car relevance and cost (already spent as opposed to on-going) it doesn't make any sense. And I certainly don't agree that the V8's meant more competition. If it did Vettel wouldn't have won 4 WDC's in the same car, although I'll admit one of them was very close. The Engine is a part of the car, a winning car (and team) is the sum of it's parts. If the Engine was the most important factor then why are Williams and Force India not following in the Works Mercedes' wheel tracks every race?
 
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MissChief said:
As much as you would like it, the V8's won't EVER return in their previous NA format. Not only are the teams against it for reasons of road car relevance and cost (already spent as opposed to on-going) it doesn't make any sense. And I certainly don't agree that the V8's meant more competition. If it did Vettel wouldn't have won 4 WDC's in the same car, although I'll admit one of them was very close. The Engine is a part of the car, a winning car (and team) is the sum of it's parts. If the Engine was the most important factor then why are Williams and Force India not following in the Works Mercedes' wheel tracks every race?
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more different teams won races as I posted already regarding V8s over V6s
 
ThestigGT999 said:
more different teams won races as I posted already regarding V8s over V6s
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Eight seasons vs two and a half. Yeah, that's a fair yardstick. :confused:

Take the first two and a half years of V8s and the winning engines are still Renault,Ferrari and Mercedes. Plus a single BMW win in Canada, but they're not around any longer. Not exactly a slam dunk for V8s then.
 
There were more manufacturers then too. Wasn't there 7 at one point (Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault, BMW, Toyota, Honda, BMW and Cosworth)?

So 3 out of 6 or 7 is less competitive than 2 out of 3.
 
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How awesome the bigger tyres look, next year's cars are going to look brilliant.
 
The depressing thing is they're running ground effect on that car to simulate the 2017 level of downforce, yet this isn't allowed in the regulations still due to safety concerns. Woe is the FIA.
 
Marvin said:
The depressing thing is they're running ground effect on that car to simulate the 2017 level of downforce, yet this isn't allowed in the regulations still due to safety concerns. Woe is the FIA.
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Was thinking that earlier when I read the BBC Sport article. Using something outlawed on safety grounds to help test 2017 tyres? :D
 
The issue with Ground Effect is if the effect is lost as it usually results in a very sudden and dramatic loss of downforce, often with big and costly consequences. If you're able to go round, say, 130R at 160MPH thanks to the massive levels of downforce and this downforce were suddenly halved or even lost altogether then the shunt would be mighty.
 
MissChief said:
The issue with Ground Effect is if the effect is lost as it usually results in a very sudden and dramatic loss of downforce, often with big and costly consequences. If you're able to go round, say, 130R at 160MPH thanks to the massive levels of downforce and this downforce were suddenly halved or even lost altogether then the shunt would be mighty.
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Isn't that the same if the rear wing producing the down force where to fall off during the corner? Yes ground effect could be lost as well but the risk is slim is it not? Sorry for the silly question, I'm no expert.
 
Blackvault said:
Isn't that the same if the rear wing producing the down force where to fall off during the corner? Yes ground effect could be lost as well but the risk is slim is it not? Sorry for the silly question, I'm no expert.
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Not quite.

The chances of a total rear wing failure are extremely slim and if that did happen mid-corner there would be an enormous accident but at, say, 120mph. DRS makes a mid-corner failure more likely but in this scenario you'll still have some downforce and so the accident is likely to be less severe.

What you have with ground effect is where relatively trivial things can cause the total loss of almost all of the downforce generated by the car - which is enormously more than with the wings we have today. So the crash might happen at 160-180mph instead of the 120mph around the same corner. By trivial I mean things like hitting a bump, gusts of wind, front wing damage etc.
 
It's not like today's cars don't generate down-force using ground effects, but if regulations changed to allow the teams to seal that underbody airflow using side skirts like Ferrari's modified test car than the potential loss of down force in the event of that seal failing (for whatever reason) could be significant.

It will be interesting to see how the tyre changes affect things next season. Having loads more mechanical grip will make it fun to watch how quickly they can go around corners!
 
Caught up with the 3 races last night, those were some pretty big crashes. Glad no one was seriously injured, especially the cameraman.

Also on a side note, I know it's BTCC and there is always rubbing and bumping etc, but can Gordon Sheddon ever pass someone without tapping them out the way/giving them a bump on the way through? :p
 
Blackvault said:
Apparently the camera man was unhurt in that crash at the start.
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Just a few bruises from what they said at the circuit, but could have been far worse :(


Spuj said:
Also on a side note, I know it's BTCC and there is always rubbing and bumping etc, but can Gordon Sheddon ever pass someone without tapping them out the way/giving them a bump on the way through? :p
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It looked pretty bad to me, and there was a clear "atmosphere" when Collard and Sheddon went to the podium, with them avoiding each other before they stood up for the trophies. Will have to watch it and see if it comes across on the TV interviews etc.
 
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