Spending upwards of £10 million on an F1 car might seem logical if the money went towards the engine. Guess again. It's the high price of Titanium and Carbon FIbres that make building an F1 car so costly. To better understand why they would spend so much money on materials we have to understand the importance of margins in F1
In a race consisting of 50 laps, if a car comes ...
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How Amateur Motorsport Teams Select Budget-Friendly Materials
Being part of an amateur motorsport team means you tackle the same engineering problems as the big dogs like Formula 1, but with a measly 0.1% of the budgets. This means making some very tough decisions regarding what materials can be used. Carbon fibre monocoques are not within the realm of possibility, nor are Inconel exhaust systems. This means being smart with the budget w...
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Why Are F1 Cars So Fast? The Important Materials
When a person sees an F1 car accelerate to 100 mph in 3 seconds, they know they are seeing an engineering marvel. The engines get a lot of focus, but the real speed comes from the materials they use to build the car. F1 sees the value in their materials and weighs the value of the heat, and the rigidity and structure of each part of the car.
A major part of F1 cars are the ...
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How Innovative Materials Progress in Motorsport
The phrase “Race on Sunday, sell on Monday” suggests a successful race could lead to sales on the Monday after the event. This is particularly relevant in the automotive industry. However, it does take longer than a day for technology to trickle down from motorsport to road cars.
The advancement of materials technology in road cars is exemplified by carbon fibre. In the 90s...
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The Science Behind the Exhaust Systems
It may look like a collection of basic metal tubes, but an F1 exhaust system is a carefully crafted component of the car. The engineering challenges involved in the designing, shaping, and manufacturing of each part stretches the limits of the science of materials and their uses.
In F1, the main problem concerning exhaust systems is the heat. When the engine ignites, the ex...
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