role of f1 in the evolution of the motorcar
Discussion
I doubt you'll find anything at all specific to F1.
I think the Bosch Motronic digital ignition/fuel injection system eventually gave around a 20% increase in fuel economy for the Porsche 956 when Group C came into force in the early '80's. I'd have thought the developments of those systems (if not their use per se) filtered down to road cars eventually.
I think the use of unleaded petrol was used in F1 and Sportscars before it was introduced on road cars (at least in the UK). IIRC it had to be used with the new digital engine controls because lead contamined the exhaust sensors. Not really a development I guess, but it did predate the fuel use by road cars.
Same with turbos - obviously they were around long before F1 engines had them, but there seemed to be a turbo variant in a lot of manufacturers ranges during the F1 turbo era.
I think the Bosch Motronic digital ignition/fuel injection system eventually gave around a 20% increase in fuel economy for the Porsche 956 when Group C came into force in the early '80's. I'd have thought the developments of those systems (if not their use per se) filtered down to road cars eventually.
I think the use of unleaded petrol was used in F1 and Sportscars before it was introduced on road cars (at least in the UK). IIRC it had to be used with the new digital engine controls because lead contamined the exhaust sensors. Not really a development I guess, but it did predate the fuel use by road cars.
Same with turbos - obviously they were around long before F1 engines had them, but there seemed to be a turbo variant in a lot of manufacturers ranges during the F1 turbo era.
davepen said:
70proof said:
re 16v engines, the first mainstream car was the honda integra ex16i, i know...
Oh well, my parents had a series of MKII Jaguars in the 1970's. Mainstream DOHC technology from the 50/60's. 
Fuel injection was on some (German) WWII planes, and on Jaguars at LeMans in the 50's
I'd say F1 is a fast follower/adopter of technology available elsewhere. The design requirements of F1 (fast in low volume, one season, service life of 200 miles or 2hours - or now 4 races ~ 800 miles) are different to road cars - safe in high volume, multi year production, 10 year life, reliable for 100,000 miles. So technology in planes or trucks (Turbo's and KERS) can be made smaller, lighter and used in F1; and then re-engineered for road cars.
Would the Thinwall special (Vanwall GP Cars) be a good example of the power of GP racing in advertising?
Peugeot had a triple overhead cam 5-valve Grand Prix car in 1921
Bentley used multi-valve engines from the beginning. The Bentley 3 Litre, introduced in 1921, used a monobloc straight-4 with aluminium pistons, pent-roof combustion chambers, twin spark ignition, SOHC, and four valves per cylinder.
The first mass-produced car using four valves per cylinder was the British Jensen Healey in 1972 which used a Lotus 907 belt-driven DOHC 16-valve 2-liter straight-4 producing 140 bhp
Eric Mc said:
Pixelpeep7r said:
Flappy paddle gearboxes ?
Carbon fibre?
Diffusers ?
How many normal family cars use flappy paddles?Carbon fibre?
Diffusers ?
Carbon fibre is used rarely in road cars and it came from aerospace originally.
Again, not many road cars need or use diffusers.
In motor sport, the great god is "downforce". For normal road cars, the god is aerodynamic efficiency - which leads to better fuel efficiency. Downforce tends to create drag and works against the principle of "cleaner" aerodynamics.
RichB said:
- Suspension, double parallel wishbones were the result of motor racing
This is the front suspension of the 1934 Citroen Traction Avant, which looks remarkably modern in its layout. The earliest reference to a similar layout that I can find in a GP car is the Mercedes W25, also of 1934, which had very short, stubby wishbones and friction dampers. Most other cars of the period still had a solid beam axle. I think some of the luxury car manufacturers, such as Lagonda adopted something similar to the Citroen layout for the benefit of ride comfort in the later 1930s.
The most significant and important cross over is in safety.
The link is slightly tenuous but exist it does. The Euro NCAP Standard that assess the safety of road cars was developed by the FIA using a framework of standards created originally for F1 following Senna's crash but adapted for road cars.
The link is slightly tenuous but exist it does. The Euro NCAP Standard that assess the safety of road cars was developed by the FIA using a framework of standards created originally for F1 following Senna's crash but adapted for road cars.
StevieBee said:
The most significant and important cross over is in safety.
The link is slightly tenuous but exist it does. The Euro NCAP Standard that assess the safety of road cars was developed by the FIA using a framework of standards created originally for F1 following Senna's crash but adapted for road cars.
not sure that's true.The link is slightly tenuous but exist it does. The Euro NCAP Standard that assess the safety of road cars was developed by the FIA using a framework of standards created originally for F1 following Senna's crash but adapted for road cars.
Yes, the FIA pushed a lot of this though, but the tech was not derived from F1 so much as developed alongside.
Volvo had already worked out a lot of the test stuff years before, and had actually purpose built a test centre at Torslanda.
thegreenhell said:
RichB said:
- Suspension, double parallel wishbones were the result of motor racing
This is the front suspension of the 1934 Citroen Traction Avant, which looks remarkably modern in its layout. The earliest reference to a similar layout that I can find in a GP car is the Mercedes W25, also of 1934, which had very short, stubby wishbones and friction dampers. Most other cars of the period still had a solid beam axle. I think some of the luxury car manufacturers, such as Lagonda adopted something similar to the Citroen layout for the benefit of ride comfort in the later 1930s.Gassing Station | Formula 1 | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff