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F1
Mechanical bolt-on KERS hybrid for buses offers 30% fuel saving
By Gizmag Team
03:05 October 3, 2009 PDT
It seems that the lessons learned in developing a mechanical KERS system for F1 may yet hold the key to a low-cost, high-efficiency hybrid system particularly suited for the stop-start patterns of buses, which are quite similar to the distances between capturing and delivering energy of those of a race car. Torotrak will deliver a paper at the SAE Commercial Vehicle Congress in Illinois next week showing how flywheel KERS for buses can offer more than 30 percent fuel saving over the London bus test cycle, yet package around an existing transmission. Read More
The world's best sports car show
By Gizmag Team
20:19 August 20, 2009 PDT
Imagine a sports car show held not in an exhibition center, but at the safest racetrack in the world, so the cars can be appreciated in their natural surroundings, without speed limits. The first “International GT & Supercar Show” will be held at Circuit Paul Ricard in the South of France on September 26 and 27. Exhibitors include Ferrari, Gumpert, Koenigsegg, Ad Tramontana, Aston Martin, Bentley, Bugatti, F&M, Morgan, Audi Wiesmann, Spyker, Mosler, Pagani, Porsche, Saleen, TVR, Yes, Venturi, Alfa Romeo Zagato, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Mercedes, Castagna Milano, Maserati, Lotus, Lightning and Tesla. Read More
Spyker C8 Aileron Spyder prototype let loose
By Jeff Salton
23:18 August 16, 2009 PDT
Spyker Cars may not have impressed in its F1 venture, but it certainly has made up for it off the track. The exclusive sportscar-maker has kept true to its promise made in March at the Geneva Auto Show by debuting the first prototype of the Spyder version of its second-generation Spyker C8 Aileron. The 300kmh open-top model is scheduled to go into production in the first half of 2010. Read More
Toyota F1 team puts hardware up for sale
By Mike Hanlon
18:32 May 28, 2009 PDT
Despite a propensity to eat its own, Formula One is still the globe’s most watched sporting series, and its merchandising machine is evident on the streets of every country in the world. The t-shirt, cap and key-ring knock-off makers will have a hard time replicating the latest offerings from the Toyota Panasonic F1 team though. The company has begun selling the used high-tech parts from its racing cars. A complete rear wing, engine cover and underbody section, virtually half a car, can be had for just UKP4,400 – we suspect some very realistic game console accessories will emanate soon due to this very clever move. “While stocks last” promises to be an apt sales pitch as F1 nutters rush to snap up the bargains. Read More
Ferrari set to withdraw from Formula One
By Mike Hanlon
16:51 May 12, 2009 PDT
May 13, 2009 In an announcement that shocked the motor racing world yesterday, Ferrari has signalled its intentions to withdraw from Formula One next year. Ferrari’s Board of Directors announced a EUR 54 million Q1, 2009 trading profit, only slightly down compared to EUR 59 million last year. At the same time it criticised the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile for its decision to introduce “two different sets of regulations based on arbitrary technical rules and economic parameters.” The Board announced that unless the regulatory framework for Formula 1 is changed, then “the reasons underlying Ferrari’s uninterrupted participation in the World Championship over the last 60 years – the only constructor to have taken part ever since its inception in 1950 – would come to a close.” Read More
Prost's infamous 1990 F1 Ferrari to go under the hammer
By Mike Hanlon
19:21 April 21, 2009 PDT
A Formula One car at the centre of one of the most bitter battles in F1 history, as well as one of its most infamous acts, goes under the hammer at the highly anticipated Ferrari Leggenda e Passione event at Ferrari’s home in Maranello on May 17. The car is the Ferrari 641/2 F1 car driven by Alain Prost in 1990 during his acrimonious run-ins with his McLaren rival, Ayrton Senna. It is also the actual car that Prost was driving when Senna punted him off the track in Japan within seconds of the start of the race, handing the Brazilian the 1990 title – an act which prompted an appalled Prost to make the comment that “motor racing is sport, not war.” In the hands of Prost, chassis 121 scored in total two third-place finishes, two second places and a victory in 1990, and is expected to fetch an estimated USD$700,000 at auction. Read More
Red Bull takes maiden F1 win – KERS dropped by all but three cars
By Mike Hanlon
03:24 April 19, 2009 PDT
Red Bull Racing finally took its maiden Formula One victory in a rain-soaked Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai today. German prodigy Sebastian Vettel took his second career win in the wet (he won in the rain at Monza last year for the other Red Bull Team, Torro Rosso), followed home by team mate Mark Webber to give the team a 1-2 finish. Only three cars elected to use the KERS hybrid systems after Ferrari, Renault and one BMW car dropped the system for the race. Read More
Formula One Double Deck Diffuser explained
By Paul Evans
06:59 April 7, 2009 PDT
Only two rounds into the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship and the largest number of rule changes in the history of the sport have well and truly reshuffled the deck. We took a close look at the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) before the opening round got underway in Melbourne, Australia, but it turns out the biggest news in Formula One at the start of the season is the rear diffusers being used by the Brawn, Toyota and Williams teams. The diffusers in question were cleared by the FIA as long ago as January but the matter will again be considered by the FIA's International Court of Appeal on April 14. Paul Evans investigates. Read More
The Virgin Brawn GP team's spectacular first up effort
By Mike Hanlon
16:03 March 31, 2009 PDT
The feats of Brawn GP at Albert Park in the team's inaugural race at the first round of World Formula One Championship on March 29, 2009 will surely go down in the pantheon of spectacularly successful first-up sporting efforts. A month ago they were all unemployed, but in just 28 days they put two cars on the track, tested them over a normally-inadequate 2000 km and qualified them 1-2 for the first race, at the same time announcing a heavyweight backer in the form of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and involvement with a new Virgin Fuel, reportedly a clean-burning petroleum replacement. Next day, success fueled more success with a 1-2 finish for the team, and engine supplier Mercedes. Mastermind Ross Brawn was in tears after the race, as no doubt were Honda. Read More
Formula One KERS explained
By Paul Evans
01:33 March 26, 2009 PDT
The 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship starts this weekend with round one in Australia where we are about to witness the biggest number of rule changes in the history the sport. The front and rear wings have been significantly changed in size and height to reduce the aerodynamic effect on cars following each other. Many of the aerodynamic 'extras' added by teams last season around the side pods will be banned and after 11 years of grooved tires slicks will make a return. The aerodynamic changes include a first in F1, driver adjustable front wing flaps, but the rule changes we're most interested in are those concerning the introduction of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) that will eventually make every future Formula One race car a hybrid. Read More
Brawn buys Honda F1 team … is this a fairytale in the making?
By Mike Hanlon
22:07 March 22, 2009 PDT
March 23, 2009 The first cars were unloaded onto the pit apron at Albert Park yesterday in preparation for next weekend's first Formula One Grand Prix of the 2009 season. It already shapes up as the most intriguing F1 season ever. Technologically, despite a raft of changes this year, the wild card not yet fathomable is the implementation of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), a fancy name for regenerative braking, and a technology that will ultimately force all F1 cars to use hybrid power sources, most likely during 2009, but not necessarily. Only a few teams will arrive in Melbourne ready to race with electronic KERS systems that offer approximately 80 bhp extra for six seconds a lap, but we're not even sure which teams they will yet be. The biggest intrigue of the weekend though, will be the performance of the newborn Brawn F1 team. Everyone always knew Ross Brawn was a special talent, but no-one saw this one coming. Brawn is poised to deliver one of the greatest motorsport fairy tales ever. Read More
Lifestyles of the rich, famous and incredibly fast: the Ascari Race Resort
By Loz Blain
00:19 September 22, 2008 PDT
The Ascari Race Resort seems to have been transplanted from a motorsport enthusiast's wildest playboy fantasies into a rolling valley among southern Spain's magnificent Andalusian mountains. An immaculate, 5.425km, FAI-compliant private racetrack awaits its wealthy patrons with 25 demanding and technical turns per lap, some designed to replicate famous turns from F1 tracks around the world. A fleet of hire cars that ranges from a "beginner" race-prepped Lotus Elise up to ex-Formula One machinery sits growling in the pits beside a full-time pit crew, tempting the anointed and the unworthy alike. And in a world first, Ascari's seven-star hotel complex includes serious entertainment, luxury and recreation to keep the whole family occupied as you exorcise your speed demons on the tarmac. As Fernando Alonso described it: "Unusual, exciting, beautiful." Read More
Free Spirit: the world’s lightest wheelchair
By Emily Clark
23:43 May 12, 2008 PDT
May 13, 2008 Drawing on a background that ranges from experience as an aerospace technician to a stint in research and development on the Williams F1 team, Marcus Cunnington has designed and built the 6.3kg (around 13.9 pounds) Free Spirit - a carbon fiber composite design that claims the mantle of the world's lightest manual rigid wheelchair. Read More
Gearing up for Goodwood
23:41 April 16, 2008 PDT
The wheels are in motion for this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed which will be held between 11-13 July under the theme ‘Hawthorn to Hamilton – Britain’s Love Affair with World Motor Sport’. Read More
MotoGP night race testing begins
By Mike Hanlon
20:19 February 27, 2008 PST
February 28, 2008 For all the thrill of attending a Formula One (F1) or MotoGP event, the majority of the live spectators view the races on TV, and the majority of both sports’ income comes from television rights. F1 and MotoGP are both broadcast to more than 200 countries with Formula One attracting television fees of around US$380 million annually for a cumulative season audience of around 580 million unique viewers. In order to “optimize” television rights revenues, both sports are now moving to night Grands Prix in some time zones so the races can be broadcast live in prime time in the key European markets. The first night “test” begins today in Qatar and presents some interesting logistical problems for the teams. Read More
Details confirmed for first-ever Formula One night race
18:24 January 31, 2008 PST
February 1, 2008 The timetable has been set for September's Formula 1(TM) Singapore Grand Prix, the first ever Grand Prix to be held at night. Read More
Factor 001: BERU f1systems previews high-tech carbon chassis bicycle
19:57 December 17, 2007 PST
Performance engineering specialist BERU f1systems has provided a glimpse of its intriguing new project - the Factor 001 bicycle. Best known for its involvement in Formula 1 racing and as a supplier for supercars like the Bugatti Veyron, the company's latest innovation rolls advanced electronics into a high-tech package that includes carbon chassis, ceramic brakes and bespoke drivetrain. Marked by square, clean lines and its completely metallic finish, the prototype is designed primarily as an advanced training tool, with stored biometric data such as heart and respiration rate available for downloaded for post-training analysis. Read More
F1 shock: no more engine development allowed for 10 years
By Loz Blain
00:30 December 10, 2007 PST
December 10, 2007 Last Friday, at the World Motor Sport Council in Monaco, the FIA, which governs Formula One racing, made a decision to immediately freeze engine development for the next 10 years. Unbelievably, the engine each F1 team presents and homologates by the end of next March will be the engine that team races until 2017 – and the billions of Euros normally spent on engine development will be channeled into peripheral systems. The FIA sees development outside the engine, such as with Kinetic Energy Recovery, as a far more valuable contribution to road car development than spending money on squeezing another 1000rpm and 30 horsepower out of an engine that's already spinning three times as fast as the one in your family sedan. Read More
Caparo’s T1 lays claim to Top Gear’s lap record
19:42 November 19, 2007 PST
News from Caparo that its T1 high-performance two-seater sports car has smashed the leading lap time on the BBC's Top Gear motoring program by seven seconds. But there is a catch – the car wont appear at the top of the lap board because the car's inability to negotiate a speed hump doesn't meet the criteria specified by the programme makers. Drawing on its formidable power-to-weight ratio of more than 1000 bhp/tonne, the T1's lap time of 1:10.6 unofficially beat the previous record held by a modified Koenigsegg CCX. Read More
Ferrari upgrades FXX prototype
By Loz Blain
22:27 November 13, 2007 PST
November 14, 2007 After two years of ferocious testing, Ferrari have made large-scale improvements to one of the most extreme supercars they’ve ever built. Available only to a select handful of owners (including 7-times Formula One champ Michael Schumacher), the FXX prototype now makes a ridiculous 860 horsepower (641.3kW) at a screaming 9500RPM, and incorporates the absolute bleeding edge of barely-filtered F1 technology. Never intended for road use, the car can only be driven at trackdays approved by Ferrari, and all driving data is fed back into the Ferrari roadcar development program. Read More
Ferrari Theme Park underway
By Emily Clark
17:16 November 6, 2007 PST
October 7, 2007 Not satisfied with your Ferrari branded hat, sunglasses, sports-binoculars, speaker system and carbon-fiber laptop? Fans of the famous marque will soon be able to visit the world’s first Ferrari Theme Park in Abu Dhabi. A Foundation Stone Ceremony was held on 3 November to signify the start of construction with the official opening of the park scheduled for 2009. Read More
A1GP World Cup of Motorsport and Ferrari announce landmark partnership
21:35 October 11, 2007 PDT
October 12, 2007 In one of those rare deals which promises great benefits for both parties, the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport and Ferrari have reached a long term agreement for the supply of engines as well as to design chassis and consult on manufacture for new cars. Read More
America’s only 180mph rolling-road wind tunnel
By Loz Blain
01:21 October 1, 2007 PDT
October 1, 2007 The Windshear rolling-road wind tunnel in North Carolina will be one of the fastest and most advanced facilities in the world, and the only in America capable of 180mph (around 300kph) testing. The US$40 million complex will be an excellent resource for Formula One, NASCAR and most other racing teams – but interestingly, street-legal supercars like the Bugatti Veyron at the forefront of high-speed aerodynamic design still have nowhere to test their 250+mph models. Read More
Ferrari crams unprecedented F1 technology into new 430 Scuderia
By Loz Blain
01:40 September 13, 2007 PDT
When Ferrari pulls the covers off a new model, the world stops to look – especially when it’s an up-spec version of an already phenomenal car that’s been lightened, pumped up with a dose of steroids and packed to the gills with barely-filtered technology fresh from the garage of the oldest and most successful Formula One team in the paddock. Here it is: the brand new and much-anticipated Ferrari 430 Scuderia supercar. Read More
UK public contactless payment technology begins roll-out
By Mike Hanlon
03:16 August 26, 2007 PDT
August 26, 2007 Money makes the world go around, and as with any system, reducing the frictional losses should benefit the productivity of that system – so the publicity stunt staged in a McDonalds drive-through in London with a Formula One car is quite significant. It was nominally the first use of contactless payment in the UK and marks the beginning of the roll-out of contactless cards which use radio wave card technology. When the contactless card is placed in very close proximity to the terminal, it transmits data from the card to the retailer’s card reader. The new technology allows contactless purchases up to UKP10 and normal chip & PIN purchases above that amount. Trials have shown the cards can halve the time taken for a cash transaction. Read More
Freedom Glen
- November 25, 2009 @ 02:47 UTC
