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Formula 1 Revised Requirements

Remus6

ViVa La Fuga!WLF
Location
San Dizzle
I was reading this section on the F1 site and they put in new rules. It seems that FIA decided to go low tech and disallow traction control and engine breaking. This is interesting as to how the newer drivers will handle this year's adjustments. I'm rooting for Lewis Hamilton this season. Please discuss.

http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2008/2/7393.html

Taming the beast - driving without driver aids
A major talking point for the new season surrounds the arrival of the Standardised Electronic Control Unit, or SECU, and with it the elimination of driver aids such as traction control and engine braking systems.

The SECU enables the FIA to police an article of the regulations central to the ‘DNA’ of Formula One racing - that “the driver shall drive the car alone and unaided”. But, what should we expect as this new era dawns? And how difficult is it to tame a 2008-spec Formula One car? Double world champion Fernando Alonso and Renault team mate, Nelson Piquet Jr, explain…

“It is in the low-speed (second gear) corners that you notice the difference because that is where the traction control would normally kick in,” reveals Alonso. “That means you have to change your driving style quite dramatically. Last year we used to go straight to full throttle, but now we need to be gentler and feather the throttle.

“Another difference this year occurs when you get wheelspin because, in the absence of traction control, it becomes impossible to stop it - even if you back off the throttle. When you have wheelspin, the revs rise and you have more torque, which makes the wheels spin even more. Therefore, to deliver a good lap time, it is essential to avoid wheelspin through all parts of the corner, and that is not easy.”

Alonso also highlights the variation in steering inputs: “With traction control we used to get more understeer at the exit of the corner, but this is no longer an issue. Rather, from midcorner onwards, the car oversteers and slides more, which again influences your driving style and the racing line.”

The new regulations have also removed the engine braking systems (EBS) that used to moderate the locking of the rear wheels, and give greater stability, under heavy braking. It is the loss of this system, rather than the loss of traction control, that Piquet believes has the greatest impact.

“The biggest difference you notice with the 2008 cars is not the loss of traction control, but the absence of engine braking control because the car is much more unstable, especially on used tyres,” says Nelson. “When you look at the telemetry, the brake pressure is now much less compared to last year. With EBS you could brake much harder; if you did that without the electronics, you will simply lock up your wheels.”

Alonso echoes Piquet’s sentiments and emphasises the need to adapt set-up accordingly. “Without EBS you do suffer with locking of the rear tyres because stopping a car travelling at 300 km/h is not easy,” he explains. “You have to adapt the set-up of the car to compensate for the loss of all the systems. It will be down to the driver to adapt and I am convinced that as the season develops we will have forgotten what it was like to drive with these aids.”

And yet, despite all the changes, the speed of the cars remains almost unaffected. The loss of the driver aids represents a loss of between three and four tenths per lap, a difference that is unnoticeable to the naked eye. More important, perhaps, is what the fans now know they are watching: 22 of the world’s best drivers, in total control of the most demanding racing cars on the planet.
 

absoluteczech

GolfMKV ADMlN
Location
SoCal
Car(s)
981 Cayman & GTI SE
as fast as your rabbit probably...

im stoked for the night race in singapore
 

Remus6

ViVa La Fuga!WLF
Location
San Dizzle
as fast as your rabbit probably...

im stoked for the night race in singapore

Speaking of night races, MotoGP will be racing at night for the first time ever in the 60 year history of the GP. It will be at Losail in Qatar. I'm stoked about that and hoping for a Vale victory!

Yeah, I think FIA is trying to slow the cars a bit for safety's sake. I think that they could go much faster if the enforcers didn't apply so many technical rules on the cars.
 

gmakdaddy

Yummy
Location
SE MI
Car(s)
Red 4 Door
I think this will help the races be more even (if that can happen after last year) and the drivers will make the difference. I have a feeling a few of the younger guys with their aggressive driving styles will find themselves beached in a gravel pit before too long. I was also reading that true slicks might be coming back to the races.
Also, it looks like Australia will be done hosting the event seeing Bernie wants a night race there and the locals do not want to fork out the money.
 

Remus6

ViVa La Fuga!WLF
Location
San Dizzle
I think this will help the races be more even (if that can happen after last year) and the drivers will make the difference. I have a feeling a few of the younger guys with their aggressive driving styles will find themselves beached in a gravel pit before too long. I was also reading that true slicks might be coming back to the races.
Also, it looks like Australia will be done hosting the event seeing Bernie wants a night race there and the locals do not want to fork out the money.

Agreed. It will boil down to whoever can control their respective cars better.
 

RedRabidRabbit

I want FREE HAM!!
Location
Vancouver
I remember the whole grooved tire thing started after Ayrton Senna's crash... That one really made me shrug my shoulders because how do you make a car safer by giving it less grip? I can completely understand making the car safer but it just seems as if they put so many restrictions on them. F1 still is incredible though, don't get me wrong.

I want to see them go around Nordschliefe again, now THAT would be a crazy race.
 

Remus6

ViVa La Fuga!WLF
Location
San Dizzle
I remember the whole grooved tire thing started after Ayrton Senna's crash... That one really made me shrug my shoulders because how do you make a car safer by giving it less grip? I can completely understand making the car safer but it just seems as if they put so many restrictions on them. F1 still is incredible though, don't get me wrong.

I want to see them go around Nordschliefe again, now THAT would be a crazy race.

I believe the grooving was done to slow down the cars, or at least an attempt to. Just like when they raised the spoilers on the cars around a couple of years ago. And then changed the engine rule in order to even out the teams a little.
 

RedRabidRabbit

I want FREE HAM!!
Location
Vancouver
Yeah I understand they want to keep it close for the fans, but if Ferrari or McLaren or whoever have the technology to dominate... The other teams should just figure it out and catch up. You don't see the PGA tour only let Tiger play with 10 clubs because he destroys everyone.
 

Remus6

ViVa La Fuga!WLF
Location
San Dizzle
Yeah I understand they want to keep it close for the fans, but if Ferrari or McLaren or whoever have the technology to dominate... The other teams should just figure it out and catch up. You don't see the PGA tour only let Tiger play with 10 clubs because he destroys everyone.

I think it's more than just technology. It is all an attempt to level the field because not all of the teams have the purse size of Ferrari or Mercedes or BMW. I think it's better because you really see better races with different winners, and the best drivers come out on top. Not just drivers relying on technology for a win.

Not to take anything away from Schumi, but had he been racing for anyone but Ferrari those 5 or 6 yeas he was killing it, I don't think he would have fared as well as he did. But, he was arguably one of the greatest pilot of all time. My favorite is still The Flying Scot, though, aka Jackie Stewart.
 

Sullitron

Big Poppa Dub
Location
Seattle, WA
Car(s)
'07 GTI
To be accurate, the FIA's knee-jerk reaction to Senna's death (and a few more, as I recall, at the same corner, Tamburello) was to insert chicanes into straightaways and redesign some more dangerous sections of some tracks. They also required tires (and perhaps suspension bits?) be tethered to the car so that they would not fly off and cause damage.

The grooved tires, narrower cars, etc, came at around the same time McLaren came back into power with Raikkonen and Coulthard, and were an effort to curtail costs and keep it from becoming big ten football (which is to say big 2 and little 8).
 

gmakdaddy

Yummy
Location
SE MI
Car(s)
Red 4 Door
Don't forget that in 2009 there will be a budget cap somewhere around $150 mil (US). No matter what it sucks that I will have to go to Montreal to see them now. Indy was only 5 hours away in a car. Bernie...
 

Remus6

ViVa La Fuga!WLF
Location
San Dizzle
Don't forget that in 2009 there will be a budget cap somewhere around $150 mil (US). No matter what it sucks that I will have to go to Montreal to see them now. Indy was only 5 hours away in a car. Bernie...

At least it's accessible to you. I live in SoCal, and it would cost me an arm and a leg to watch a Formula race. However, I'm a huge MotoGP fan, so I have Laguna Seca to go to for the US MotoGP. On that note, Indianapolis Raceway is hosting a MotoGP race this year also. That's wonderful for American fans, we finally get better and more exposure to the pinnacle of motorcycle racing. Not that garbage AMA with big fish little pond inhabiters in the likes of Mladin and others:thumbdown: .
 

heftylefty

golfmkv elitist -_-
Location
issaquah, WA
But, he was arguably one of the greatest pilot of all time. My favorite is still The Flying Scot, though, aka Jackie Stewart.

ahh yes the old greats. my dad has his autograph stored somewhere for me not to touch, along with mario adretti's. but he did hand down James Hunts's and Emerson Fittipaldi's autograph to me though. i just wonder when hes gonna give me his old F1 tire he stole lol.
 

Remus6

ViVa La Fuga!WLF
Location
San Dizzle
ahh yes the old greats. my dad has his autograph stored somewhere for me not to touch, along with mario adretti's. but he did hand down James Hunts's and Emerson Fittipaldi's autograph to me though. i just wonder when hes gonna give me his old F1 tire he stole lol.

Wow!! That is quite impressive. I've been a huge fan of Fittipaldi's, even when he decided to race Indie after retiring from Formula 1. The Brazilians have surely turned out some great drivers, haven't they? (Not to mention attractive models such as Gisele Bundchen).
 
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