Technical 2014 Technical Regulations

I think I remember seeing something last year about how the main benefit of tyre-warmers is in terms of rear-tyre traction when exiting one's pit-box during the race. By the time the car finishes exiting the pit-lane though the tyres have already lost their heat.
It probably would have been different in the days before pit-lane speed limits, when they raced full throttle in the pit-lane. It seems totally mad now thinking back about those days.
 
Well they're going to ban tyre warmers anyway, so we'll see what happens. Hopefully not another Alex Zanardi-type episode though.
We'll have to wait to see how the ban is worded. When tyre warmers were banned in other racing leagues, they simply began storing the tyres in a heated cabinet located just outside the pit garage proper. Or you could store tyres uninflated, then fill them at the last moment with warmed gas. It might require a very precise quick-filling device be invented, but this is F1 we're talking about.


Or at least, it once was.
 
Reading drivers' accounts of their experiences with the V-6t in the simulator, I think I probably have been a touch too apocalyptic in my view of the severity of 2014 season fuel constraints, because I failed to consider the effect (on performance and economy) of the V-6t's massive torque band. Where the 2.4L V-8s were so gutless, they spent the majority of every lap in the upper 33% of the rev range, and hit the rev limiter on virtually every acceleration, the V-6ts will spend most of their working lives in lower 2/3° of the tach, and only rarely will see the redline. If the simulators are accurate.

In 2013, drivers wore out throttle stops; in 2014, they might never need them. And keeping the engines so far away from the thirsty end of the rev counter definitely will pay an economy dividend. So were I had been expecting to see cars coasting silently across the finish at the majority of the circuits, now it might only be the case at those circuits with the highest historic consumption levels. But I still believe the only variable that could prevent fuel economy deciding the season ...is reliability ...or the lack of it.
 
Newey concerned with low nose regulations

http://www.f1technical.net/news/19095

"The regulation has been introduced following some research by the FIA which suggests that nose height reduces the chances of cars being launched. I must admit I am concerned that the opposite may now happen, that cars submarine effectively. So if you hit the back of the car square-on, you go underneath it and you end up with the rear crash structure in your face which I think is a much worse scenario."
 
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It seems strange that the first time Newey says that he has safety fears is just before the first winter test. He never mentioned them in the long run up to testing. Is it possible that he has found that his design has problems?
 
An online article today at Autosprint states that the 2014 cars have 40 electronic controlling units, compared to 12 in 2013, and require 40 kilometers of wiring to rig them all together.

Regarding the "submarining" problem, in the past decade, the era of the high snouts, I can remember at least two incidents of one car mounting another in a collision, putting the head of the driver in the "mounted" car in grave peril, but not a single incident of submarining. The lady protests too much, methinks.
 
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That's even longer than an Andrex toilet roll. I haven't got the figures here for the weight of 40 kilometres of wiring but it must be a very large percentage of the weight of the car.:thinking:
 
An online article today at Autosprint states that the 2014 cars have 40 electronic controlling units, compared to 12 in 2013, and require 40 kilometers of wiring to rig them all together.

Regarding the "submarining" problem, in the past decade, the era of the high snouts, I can remember at least two incidents of one car mounting another in a collision, putting the head of the driver in the "mounted" car in grave peril, but not a single incident of submarining. The lady protests too much, methinks.

Barrichello at Melbourne almost beheaded someone and Grosjean on Alonso at Spa?
 
Pedro Diniz's crash at the 1999 European GP at the Nurburgring is one example of the "submarining". Bear in mind that the cars already had high noses at the time. The nose of Jean Alesi's car tucked under the rear of Diniz's Sauber tipping it into a roll. You can this at 2'21" into the video. It was not an uncommon kind of accident in the low nose days so Newey has a point.


Edit: Having watched that again a couple of times it nay be that wheel to wheel contact caused the lift. Further analysis required on that one but I do recall other instances and if I can remember which races I'll try to find better examples!
 
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The thing is that now the low noses stretch quite far against the low noses before 2009. So i can imagine the submarining can happen more easy than in the past.

Can't see the vid.
 
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