Anybody catch the F1 race on TV today? It was pretty exciting. So many mechanical failures, lots of passing, and a few stupid moves by drivers, it was almost like watching an FSAE competition...

It was pretty cool to see Sato's rear brakes lock up and catch on fire:




I guess our brakes are too small if they're not doing that...

yep, i watched that. amazing that those top 3 cars all dropped out for various reasons within a few laps of each other. and i guess that champion's wall is pretty deceiving, yeah? i LOVE watching f1 track racing as opposed to ovals (*yawn*).

I was all excited to see the Renaults out front as I am going to scrutineer in their garage this week. Then of course, both either broke or were broken

But did you see how hard they rocketed off the start? Amazing.

Denny,

You're brakes are TOO BIG if they're not catching on fire! Or else you're too small??

Canadian GP is a good brake test circuit (straight/hairpin or chicane/repeat..) - should be something like it in FSAE. It started at 2.30 AM here. I fell asleep during the Melbourne GP which started ~2.30pm Sunday afternoon. Figured no point staying up for Canadian GP...

Also a lesson to be learnt from the Renaults. Rearward weight bias??

Z

Yea, I've heard that the Renault is a bit tail "heavy" from their cast titanium case. That would also explain why the Honda with their all carbon case does not launch as well. I'm still sad from Alonso nailing the wall though... but it made me happy to see Button do the same thing. Tricky little corner that is. I remember last year when Sato came off that corner a bit fast in qualifying, spun 360, barely missed the wall, corrected like it was nothing, and still qualified higher than 3 other drivers...

quote:

Originally posted by Tony K:
still qualified higher than 3 other drivers...

I don't see how you can comment on the fact that sato outqualified 2 minardis and a jordan. last year, they were always 3-4 SECONDS off the qualifying pace of the people right in front of them (the jaguars)!

my only complaint is derek daly and ralph sheehan...wow.

i think this is the first F1 race i've actually sat down and watched all the way through. It was pretty entertaining, especially the fire in the wheel and how the guy putting it out looked like he'd never used a fire exstinguisher. When's the next race?

I leave tomorrow afternoon for Indy. Race is Sunday at 1pm.

Evidently the Renault launch performance is still a function of their amazing clutch setup.

Renault keeps saying they are not running an extreme rear wieght bias, but this may have to be taken with a grain of salt. They have said that thier extreme launches are because of a "fundamental understanding" of the process, whatever that means. It could very well mean a large rear wieght bias helps.

Renault's side of the story has always been that they do run a little heavier at the rear, but not by much and that that isn't the main reason behind their performance. Pat Symonds (Renault F1's "executive director of engineering") came to visit Warwick in November, and told us then "I'm amazed that, after three years, the other top teams haven't caught on to what we're doing"! That was about as much detail as he'd give us.

Incidentally, both BARs struggled at the start in Canada, but looking at past races (e.g. Imola), they've started OK this year. If weight bias was all that was stopping BAR launching well, they'd just move some of their ballast backwards a bit.

Jenson's snail pace warmup lap to cool off Schui's Bridgestones was funniest/smartest tactic seen in a long time. watching it again I reckon that Jenson ran his car a little too straight in the 1st half of the lap and the Renault guys can be seen really working their tyres in the background almost like they knew what Jenson was going to do......Anyhow I'm sure the Renaults looked good because their tyre temps were higher. The McLarens launch was as good and both teams were carrying 30-40kg more fuel than Button and Schui.
F1 racing has been top shelf this year,and this race was prob best. First time I have stayed bright eyed at 4am watching any kind of racing.

60% rear weight bias was last years drama for Renault, I'm sure they wouldn't go there again.
My guess is 55% to 56%

quote:

Originally posted by EliseS2:
Renault keeps saying they are not running an extreme rear wieght bias, but this may have to be taken with a grain of salt. They have said that thier extreme launches are because of a "fundamental understanding" of the process, whatever that means. It could very well mean a large rear wieght bias helps.

what i have read is that they're running a torque-biased engine and a beefed up gearbox. Not only is the gearbox stronger(heavier) but they also run thicker driveshafts. All this strengthening resuslts in a rearward bias by default. Another component they've beefed up is the clutch which is apparently 5" in dia(others run 4-4.5"). The purpose of all this strengthineing is to allow the drivers to 'pre-load' the drivetrain by slipping the clutch and holding the car with the brakes. Their engine supposedly provides enough torque under 2500 to get them going (others are only effective above 5000). The article (from 2004) has a couple great drawings of the ferrari and renault 'boxes, the renault is about 50% longer from the front mounting face to the centers of the driveshafts.

oh, and one last thing. F**k Albers!