Technical 2014 Technical Regulations

[Brogan]

The FIA have published the 2014 Technical Regulations.

http://argent.fia.com/web/fia-publi...ECHNICAL_REGULATIONS_-_Published_on_20.07.pdf

No doubt there will be many changes between now and the first race of the season, but it should give us some idea of what to expect.

For example, drivers must be able to start the engine themselves in the cockpit without external assistance. Which will mean some kind of starter motor is required.

 

[sushifiesta]

Must admit I'm struggling to decipher anything from this, except: 1600cc V6s limited to 15000rpm, KERS power doubled to 120kW (and they're not calling it KERS any more). Had the rev limit been confirmed before?Ma I fail to see the need for a rev limit imposed by the FIA personally - let the teams decide how often they want their engines to explode.

Are the pink bits things that have changed?

EDIT:

Each competitor must nominate the forward gear ratios (calculated from engine crankshaft to drive shafts) to be employed within their gearbox. These nominations must be declared to the FIA technical delegate at or before the first Event of the Championship. For 2014 only, a competitor may re-nominate these ratios once within the Championship season, in which case the original nomination becomes immediately void. Ratio re-nominations must be declared as a set and may only be effected by the substitution of change gears.

???!!! This sounds like the drivers/teams won't be able to change the gear ratios between races? Won't that cause havoc at Monaco, for example? Am I missing the point?

 

[Brogan]

I'm struggling to decipher that bit at the moment.

Currently teams are allowed to choose 30 ratio pairs which they can use throughout the season.
Prior to each race, they have to nominate their final gear ratios by FP3.

There's no way the same set of ratios can be used for every race.
At some circuits they will be bouncing off the rev limiter for half the straight.

 

[Galahad]

Lots of pink revisions in there.

Article 5.3 is a bit depressing. Anyone who thought the new rules would open up an era of powertrain innovation is probably mistaken.

 

[Galahad]

Currently teams are allowed to choose 30 ratio pairs which they can use throughout the season.
Prior to each race, they have to nominate their final gear ratios by FP3.

There's no way the same set of ratios can be used for every race.
At some circuits they will be bouncing off the rev limiter for half the straight.

From 9.6.1 it looks that the number of ratio pairs will be reduced to 8?

 

[Brogan]

That just means there are 8 forward gears I think.

Although it does seem to indicate that is also the number of ratio pairs.

I just can't see how that's going to work.

I suppose we could compare the document to this year's, to see how the wording differs on ratio pairs.

 

[sushifiesta]

I thought that might mean 8-speed gear boxes, rather than 7 .

EDIT: ARGH! Beaten to it! I guess having an extra gear will help to balance out the power lost from moving down to a V6? The drivers hands will be even more busy though!

 

[Galahad]

That just means there are 8 forward gears I think.

Although it does seem to indicate that is also the number of ratio pairs.

I just can't see how that's going to work.

I suppose we could compare the document to this year's, to see how the wording differs on ratio pairs.

Ah yes. In the current document, 9.6.1 states that the maximum number of forward gear ratios is 7. 9.6.2 goes on to say that a competitor has a maximum of 30 pairs available over the season, which must be declared before the first race.

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From 5.4.4 it appears implicit that the only permitted energy storage medium will be batteries, rather than a flywheel.

5.19 is very intriguing.

 

[Brogan]

Hmmm, some major changes are going to be required to design in a starter motor and electric engine/motor for the pits.

 

[sushifiesta]

The one about the car having to go through the Pit Lane using electric power only? I quite like that one, it seems like a good green initiative to me rather than a destroy the soul of F1 green initiative. Also, the devil inside me comments that a Red Bull would have got stuck in the pit lane on multiple occasions this season with KERS problems, so the championship would be closer at the minute if this regulation was in place.

Will there be enough energy stored in the batteries though? Isn't a full discharge at the minute only worth 6 seconds or so? This means they might need more than double the batteries - although if the max power of the energy recovery system is going to be doubled maybe that's the case anyway.

Having said all that, the idea of a silent pit lane is strange...

 

[Enja]

From what I've read of it it does seem like they'll only have two choices of gear ratios throughout the season? That's the impression I get. Am I right or wrong? Not a great technical guy here!

 

[Galahad]

Will there be enough energy stored in the batteries though? Isn't a full discharge at the minute only worth 6 seconds or so? This means they might need more than double the batteries - although if the max power of the energy recovery system is going to be doubled maybe that's the case anyway.

My guess would be that they will reduce the rate of energy discharge from the batteries from the maximum of 120kW, just providing the minimum amount of energy needed to keep the car moving at the speed limit, which they would then able to do for longer?

 

[Galahad]

From what I've read of it it does seem like they'll only have two choices of gear ratios throughout the season? That's the impression I get. Am I right or wrong? Not a great technical guy here!

I think it's worse than that - effectively they only have one choice. It seems that they will be able to change this set of ratios once during a season, but having changed they will then be stuck with the second set for all the remaining events - they won't be able to switch back and forth between the two.

 

[Brogan]

I just can't see this making it through to the final version of the regulations.

What's the purpose of it?
Is it another futile attempt at saving costs?

 

[Enja]

Yeah that's what I meant essentially, one "choice" at the beginning, then they can choose another at a later date.

I don't understand the rationale behind it - what benefit is there? You might save a tiny amount of money because there might be less to lug around? Even that's not plausible because the teams, as far as I know, don't bring a dozen or two sets of gears with them. They have a good idea of what they're going to be running before they even hit the track.

It seems completely unfair if it is the case.

 

[Cookinflatsix]

Hmmm, some major changes are going to be required to design in a starter motor and electric engine/motor for the pits.

No doubt this is part of the drive to force development of electric storage and use, the starting energy will have to somehow come from the 'Kers unit' or whatever same as pitlane runs

I guess if all the teams have to abide by this we will see some clever light electric storage and harvest systems, maybe some solar panels, lol

 

[Brogan]

A bit more on engines.

The V must be 90 degrees.
The turbos must be inside the V.
The exhausts must be outside the V.

 

[sushifiesta]

Having to fix the ratios before the teams have even completed a race with the new engines as well is just ridiculous. No doubt some teams will predict the performance of their engine better than others and those who don't get it quite right will be stuck with long/short gears for the whole season basically - and that's before you even consider circuit differences.

 

[Brogan]

Well they will have winter testing, but I agree this particular regulation makes no sense.

 

[sushifiesta]

A couple of little other things I noticed:

Minimum weight increased by 20kg to 660kg
Fuel mass flow restriction - is this new or just changed?
Various ERS related safety changes