I was watching Formula 1 the other day and heard the announcers talking about one of the team’s, they were talking about how powerful the engines were and some other facts about them. Some where along, one had mentioned something about the rev-limiters ( not rev-limiters but how high they rev during a race ) and how one of the teams car hit’s 19k plus !?!?! Almost 20k.!!!
I thought that was crazy, but then they started to say something about how the pistons could maybe reach the speed of sound!!!, or something like that. I didn't catch all of it because I was still pondering the thought of 19k rpms and what it would feel like.

Anyone else hear anything about this?
I'd like to know more about it.

 

They also explode alot.

 

F1 teams spend millions upon millions of dollars to make sure that they extract 100% of the potential power from thier engines. Current v8 engines are revving to the area of 20,000 rpm's, and as a result of being relatively new (this is the first season of V8's in F1) there have been a number of engine failures.

It's not really so different from last year, though, when the v10's were revving to 17-18 grand. The "cost savings" of the v8 engines has proven to be a twisted joke, since the same power reduction could have been acheived with a lower rev-limited v10 and a $2 inlet restrictor.

Go FIA! (not)

 

I don't think they should restrict power because it is F1, the ultimate in automobile racing.

If there were no power cap, we'd see much faster cars.

 

I can see trying to slow the cars down, since in the end Physics wins every time. As the cars go faster, you've got more and more energy to try and disappate in a crash - it's inevitable that drivers, crews, and fans will get killed at some point.

The FIA and FOM try too hard to specify exactly *how* to slow down - which is where the problems come in. Quit trying to limit costs. Teams are going to spend whatever they can afford to, regardless of what restrictions are placed on them. The way to go for techical regulations is to create broad general guidelines and then encourage innovation within the rules.

If someone comes up with an innovative technology that lets them win a bunch of races, great! That's the beauty of F1 - technical innovation combined with some of the finest drivers in the world (although I personally rate WRC drivers higher in terms of car control skill).

 

I too would say that there better drivers........but to a point.
WRC drivers drive production based cars and have mods done to them to make them faster, handle better, etc, etc. With F1, they drive “race cars” with no modle avalible to the public for purchise. So they are in a sence, full out race cars. With WRC, cars remain pretty close to stock looking exterior wise ( don’t quote me on that )

The two are on tottly different levels of preformance and setup for different styles of driving. ( dirt/gravle ) ( smooth tarmack, high speed turns ) Don’t get me wrong, I love WRC, but F1 is a whole different ball game.

But hey, thats just my 2 cents.

 

Peak track speeds for F1 racing are often between 230-260mph. That is more than double what any rally driver will see. A very different skill set for a totally different car. Anyone who doubts the skill of an F1 driver needs to actually watch a race and study the in-car camera.

 

I'm not saying that one's better or worse than the other but that they can't be compared to each other. That's all.

 

who doubted the skill of F1 drivers?

The are some of the finest in the world, as I said previously. F1 is repeated perfection, the driver must be inch-perfect every single lap, every single time. That takes immense skill, as the weight of the car changes, the tires degrade, the brakes degrade, weaving through traffic, temperatures change, etc, etc, etc. To maintain the *exact* same laptimes through all the varying conditions is an amazing display of skills.

Rally driving is more akin to inspired improvisation. You have to get the car to work at its maximum every corner, but every corner is unique and must be approached slightly differently. To maintain maximum speed through constantly changing condidtions, again, is an amazing display of skills.

I love to watch both f1 and wrc, but I am more in awe of the skills of the wrc than F1.

 

F1 "is the most expensive sport in the world"
I just wanted to post up some interesting facts about F1 because personally I prefer it to WRC. The main reason being that I only have to sit down for about 2 hours to see the entire thing. Another point is that the amount of money spent just amazes me and interests me to watch so much money getting thrown around.

-"Ferrari cannot hide from the fact that their budget for 2003 was $US302.75 million " -----------imagine that much money put into a WRC team
-"The cars will accelerate at about 3g, brake at 6, and cornering could be anything up to 4g. This is comparable to the levels of g-force encountered by a jet pilot. To get some real life perspective, an emergency stop in a road car will not be much more than about 1g."
-"Accident data recorders in Formula 1 routinely show that g-forces experienced by drivers in crashes can go as high as 200g which is theoretically higher than the human body can bear - except that they last for only tiny fractions of a second."
-"F1 cars produce so much aerodynamic downforce that they could be driven upside down at speeds of over 100mph."
-"High-tech carbon-fibre discs glow red hot at operating temperatures of up to 1,300 degrees Celsius. They can slow a car from 180mph to 50mph in less than two seconds."

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...431405810&q=f1
-basically a video showing an F1 car giving a huge lead to 2 production car and then owning them

 

...also that most of the f1 engines are 3 liter 900 hp. and that they can't put turbochargers or superchargers because of the power restrictions and the life of the engine. putting a turbo on that will blow the engine almost immediately.

nascar engines are about in the 5 liters range and produces about 750+ hp.

source: howstuffworks.com

my engine is 2.5 liters and 173hp.

 

Not quite, in fact they are never at 260;

"BAR test driver Alan van der Merwe set a new unofficial speed record for a Formula 1 car on Saturday, as the team continued to shakedown its Bonneville 400 car at Mojave Airport in California.

The South African managed three runs at over 400kph, the fastest of which was his last: 415kph (257.88mph)."

 

When you can describe the difference between 257 and 260mph, I'll give you a cookie. For now, you're confined to the Hall of Nitpickers With No Cookie.

 

That 257 was on a runway in the desert, I don't think circuit speeds ever get much above 230.

maybe you can prove me mistaken?

 

To the original poster: They were talking about how the engines are reving so high that the air being sucked into the intake manifold is reaching the speed of sound and creating a sonic boom which is causing the engines to explode. They are trying to figure out a way to have the engines still rev that high with out causing the sonic boom associated with the intake air reaching mach 1.