Race Engine Technology

054A great look at the engine technology in F1 in this months Race Engine Technology magazine. Have a look at the press release below, and rush and pick your copy up, every ‘techy’ F1 fan needs to have a read of this one.

Over the last decade Grand Prix engines have attained levels of RPM never previously envisaged and have also undergone an unthinkable extension of mileage.

How did the 3.0 litre V10s, which gave way in 2006 to 2.4 litre V8s break through perceived barriers to progress?

Mercedes’ Launch

Some pics from the Mercedes’ Launch event. Note however this is not the 2010 car launch (the W01 will launch February 1st), rather the colour scheme launch.

Mercedes’ have this to say about the colour scheme

Toyota Out

toyota-3 Akio Toyoda : "Based on the current economic environment, we realise we have no choice but to withdraw. This has been a very painful decision. I offer my deepest apologies to Toyota’s many fans for not being able to achieve the results we had targeted."

Seems that Toyota are not going into the next season of Formula 1. That will Leave F1 with just 3 Manufacturer’s in the sport next year, Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari.

Historic

Nice post about some of the historic F1 cars over here. Great pics.

4065185357_cfc3b3d66d_o[1]Translated version of the page here

Bridgestone Out?

21_f109_Make_Cars_Green_Tyres_02 Hiroshi Yasukawa – “The decision made by the board of directors comes after considerable and lengthy evaluations and has been based on the company’s need to redirect its resources towards further intensive development of innovative technologies.”

This today from the current exclusive tyre supplier to F1, saying they will not continue to supply tyres after the 2010 season is over. This means that they will pull out of the sport after their 3 year exclusivity contract expires. What this means to F1 is unsure at the moment. Will the FIA try get another manufacturer in on an exclusive deal? or will we have the ‘tyre war’ back that added so much spice to the sport while Michelin and Bridgestone competed?

Abu Dhabi Quali

Capture Interesting Qualifying session from the newest, and has to be said, most visually impressive track on the grid.

Hamilton with the KERS helping in sector 2 comes out on top, with the two Red Bull cars 2nd and 3rd on the grid.

Rubens is then followed by world Champion elect Jenson Button. Jarno Trulli lines the Toyota up to what looks to be his final drive with Toyota in 6th, closely followed by the two BMW’s of Kubica and Heidfeld on their last race under the German car manufacturers leadership.

Brazilian GP

CaptureMark Webber wins the Brazilian Grand Prix, with a mature and strong drive from start to finish.

The story however is the world championship wins by Brawn, both Constructors and Drivers world championships have been wrapped up at the track.

However it was a great race from start to finish, with some great overtaking moves, and some great strategy by all the teams.

Jenson Champion

JensonButtonBrawnGP Jenson Button has wrapped up the title championship with a great drive from 14th on the grid. He made some great overtaking moves to finish 5th in the Brazilian race, and take the Drivers championship.

It has been 40 years since we had a British driver hand his drivers title over to another British driver. Jenson will make a worthy world champion, and be a true ambassador for the sport.

Brawn also celebrate by taking the constructors championship, a true achievement when you consider the issues they had at the start of the season.

McLaren Vodafone

Nice video about the Singapore GP published by Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

Gives a great insight into what goes on in the leadup to the race weekend, and shows what the team back in Woking can and does do for the race team all the way from the UK.

Mobil1 Comp

The official Mobil 1 competition I mentioned a couple of months back is coming to an end, so it’s your last chance to play and win. Pop along to willyoubethe1.com and have a play, and just to get the juices flowing, here’s Lewis playing the game.