F1 Hints Regulations To Freeze Engine Requirement – An Analysis
The very mention of the F1 World Drivers Championship evokes immediate recognition of the name. Being there as a spectator or participant invariably sets one’s adrenalin rushing - be you a sports car aficionado or someone who does not really know much about it. The reason - the F1 racing competitions are distinguished for being the playground to lightening speed, gregarious guts and unmatched technology as compared to the road cars.
With time, the competition has grown grimmer and the technology-led speed incredible. So much so that warned by the risk to life of the participating drivers and fans alike, and yet not loosing the basic philosophy of the world drivers championship, FIA has been laying down rules and restrictions that have in effect funneled down the engine specification to narrower choices.
As per latest developments, Max Mosley, president of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has recently hinted three sets of rules and regulations coming up in the succeeding years to freeze engine specifications in zist. Two of the three overlapping sets of regulations have been predicted to show up by 2010 season.
Mosley intimated the plan to introduce regulation for specific use of “energy-recovery and re-use from braking†in 2009. Mosley also revealed that the teams in 2010 would be required to work on “recovery and re-use of excess heat or waste heat from the enginesâ€. Mosley also justified the regulations that they are in complete tandem with the ethos of F1 – that is to develop “a completely new F1 engine reflecting the industry tendency which is to have a downsized, turbo-charged engine.â€
Though the announcements may not have gone down positively with most of the people concerned with the World Drivers Championship, the anticipated technical regulations by F1 may actually trigger on increased competitiveness and justify major player’s magnanimous investment in F1 events.
From observing the prevailing trend at F1, the higher speeds are being achieved based on excessive burden on engine components, resulting into higher risk of failure and short-lived machines that last only 1400 km normal usage. Thus, the breakthroughs in terms of performance on the track are irrelevant to the contemporary or future commercial market of automobiles. While demand is on a steady rise for high-performance yet fuel-efficient cars, the F1 engineers have been conveniently neglecting the fuel-efficiency aspect to provide their team plenty of horsepower.
In short, though performance gains have been proved again and again, F1 has been unable to deliver any technological contribution from its store so as to relate and lend it to the road cars and hence yield handsome dividends for the manufacturers. In order to squeeze out meaningful technology out of engineers involved in turning the tables at F1, the rules and regulations as regards freezing engine specification are due to be introduced. With standard guidelines, the designers and engineers of F1 will have to work on an identical idea and come up with their innovative and developmental ideas to refine the unsophisticated technology of today.
