Technical 2014 Technical Regulations

Hmm it appears the front wing's width is being reduced from 1800mm to 1650mm and it's a bit dissapointing that the engine and (K)ERS unit together must weigh 155kg as some teams may have wasted the money that they spent 'trimming' their KERS units.
 
Hmm it appears the front wing's width is being reduced from 1800mm to 1650mm and it's a bit dissapointing that the engine and (K)ERS unit together must weigh 155kg as some teams may have wasted the money that they spent 'trimming' their KERS units.

Adrian Newey won't be happy!
 
We've been discussing them Brian.

The most unusual one seems to be that only one set of gear ratios is permitted, with one change allowed.
Currently teams are allowed 30 pairs, and they choose their set up by FP3.
 
Hmm it appears the front wing's width is being reduced from 1800mm to 1650mm and it's a bit dissapointing that the engine and (K)ERS unit together must weigh 155kg as some teams may have wasted the money that they spent 'trimming' their KERS units.
They can still put ballast in "the engine" if the functional unit is underweight, but it reduces flexibility and probably adds cost...
 
I'm going to need some time to plough through these but I am dissapointed at forcing bttery KERS on the teams.
I'd love the options on new technolgies / systems to be kept open so that F1 could at least keep some areas of inovation and development. Fly wheel KERS and supercapacitor storage seem obvious things to explore in F1.

And I agree with no rev limits... keep the reliability restrictions by all means but let the engines get tougher rather han just nailng them down before they've started.

I know engine development costs and it did get silly for a while but this is just too blunt a tool for restricting costs. There has to be a balance between budget and innovation. It's as if the FIA are keeping the worst parts of Max's plans and throwing out the good bits.
 
Sam Michael made some comments about the 2014 regulations during Practice 2 today when he was in the commentary box with the five live guys.

In essence all our conclusions are correct - 8 speed gearboxes, fixed gear ratios, electirc power only in the pit lane, fuel flow rate restrictions etc. all came up. He also made a few interesting comments that I will try and summarise here, though you may be better off trying to find it on iplayer later!

  1. Fixed Gear Ratios - Apparently this is possible because the new engines will have a 'flat torque profile', I think he linked this to the fuel flow rate restrictions (in which the allowed consumption rate is linked to the revs) in some way as well. He said that whilst the current V8s are very peaky and only perform well within a small range of revs, the new engines will perform well across a range of 3/4000rpm. It means that at some races all the gears won't be used, I think he said Monaco would only use the first 6 gears.
  2. Electric Power in the Pit Lane - Only 30bhp needed to maintain speed through the pit lane but accelerating out of the pit box could be more tricky.
  3. Turbo Boost - Forgive my complete lack of turbo technical info and terminology, but the turbo settings are likely to be changed during the race to control fuel consumption and this may include another sort of push to pass button that will turn everything to 11 to allow an overtake.
  4. DRS - remains in the 2014 regs.
Disclaimer: The accuracy of this may be zero and I've probably missed some things. My technical knowledge is very limited and my memory is terrible.
 
I would like to see what the fuss is about with active suspension so bring that back! If the cars are going faster and breaking lap records I'm all the more happy!
And bring back re-fuelling!
 
These are tech regs, saying the cars can have DRS. The sporting regs detail when it can be used
 
I have to say I'm not liking the way F1 is evolving.
Having fixed gear ratios is yet one more step towards a spec' series.

Sam Michael made some comments about the 2014 regulations during Practice 2 today...
  1. Fixed Gear Ratios - Apparently this is possible because the new engines will have a 'flat torque profile'... He said that whilst the current V8s are very peaky and only perform well within a small range of revs, the new engines will perform well across a range of 3/4000rpm. It means that at some races all the gears won't be used, I think he said Monaco would only use the first 6 gears.
I read an article the other day on the subject of the 'F1 noise', by someone who had been present at races in the late eighties, when the Mclaren was dominant with a Honda 1.6 V6 turbo engine revving to 12500rpm, saying what an impressive sound those cars made.
Firstly, it interested me that a very similar engine spec to the proposed 2014 rules has already been used before, which makes the posturing about the noise 'not being F1' by certain elements seem rather ridiculous.
Secondly it made me wonder, in regard to gearing; have interchangeable gear ratios always been allowed in F1, or was there ever another period (before engines became as 'peaky' as at present) when only fixed ratios were permissible?
Mods: feel free to move this post to 'Ask the Apex' if you think it's more appropriate there.
 
I think the new engines will have more of a low pitched roar than a high pitched scream. This may make the noise more similar to other race series so I still have some concerns that part of the impact of hearing an F1 car in the flesh for the first time may be lost. We can't know for sure until we hear them for the first time.

The other issue is that there are a lot more restrictions on the new engines than there were in the 80s - we won't be seeing anything like the 1400bhp that they were producing.

I'm not sure what the answer to your gear ratios question is, although I still can't really fathom what anyone stands to gain by fixing them.
 
I am not agreeing with F1 lately...too many regulations which haven't worked, when they don't work instead of tweaking them, they bring new ones in and so on. It seemed to have started since the start of 2009.

Green image, road car technology waaagh waaagh bring more manufacturers in, this and that. F1 has never been "green" never will be green, road car technology? More like aircraft technology the past 20 years. Manufacturers come and go, no need to make drastic rule changes to bring just one other one in.

Sorry for the rant, I am getting really annoyed....all this just to get some casual viewers in, but those that have loved the sport from the start, are slowly losing the lust for it
 
Sorry if this is a repeat post, but on quick glance I didn't see anything about it.

It appears the 2014 regulations have changed yet again, specifically with the aero package of the cars as they will keep 2012 spec. FIA Announcement. Scarbs has a very good write up on 2014 regs from October. Here's a little extra on 2014 regs from TopsSportRacing.

I will assume the 1.6L V6 turbo engines stay, but who knows honestly. All electric pitlane is also postponed to 2017.

Thoughts and hopes for 2014?
 
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