Ask an F1 Engineer anything

[exelero]

DanielSan said:

AnonymousF1 said:

Jehu son of Nimshi said:

How much would it cost to photocopy, say, 780 pages of technical documentation? Asking for a friend.

I have no idea, but I'm told there's a shop in Surrey that offers very favourable rates.

(Best question yet).

Surely the answer to this is US$150million. You can cover the fine and make a good profit then

That was back in the day. Nowadays you just e-mail it to silverstone, they print the car. No fine whatsoever

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

petop said:

Have you ever when no one is around in the Factory got in a car and done your best F1 engine noise impression?

Awesome question. It simply has to be yes. Every man is, at heart, a 12 year old.

Years ago after a very very long and hard period of trials we were 'playing' in a very expensive military submarine sim.

The scenario we tested was a kraken attack.

I gave the order to electrify the hull plating# doing my best James Mason impression.

We may also have pretended to make battle noises and swayed ftom side to side as the giant monster attempted to drag us to our doom.

I know for a fact that certain RAF sims have also re-enacted various scenes from star wars and top gun.

1. for the record you can't electrify Hull plating. But you should be able to IMO.

[StevieBee]

What's the view on fans from the inside?

There's a book by a former mechanic that came out a fair few years back now in which he alluded to his view that fans were a 'necessarily burden' and I'd be interested if this a widely held view the other side of the fence.

[CallMeLegend]

How long before your employers get the grump about this thread?

[Nampahc Niloc]

take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:

#for the record you can't electrify Hull plating. But you should be able to IMO.

Actually ships and submarines do “electrify the hull plating”. Unfortunately it’s just to prevent corrosion (google cathodic protection), not anything nearly as exciting as warding off krakens.

Edit: “Cathodic Protection” not “Catholic Protection” - slightly different things. Great work auto correct.

Edited by Nampahc Niloc on Wednesday 6th January 08:51

[anonymous-user]

Nampahc Niloc said:

take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:

#for the record you can't electrify Hull plating. But you should be able to IMO.

Actually ships and submarines do “electrify the hull plating”. Unfortunately it’s just to prevent corrosion (google catholic protection), not anything nearly as exciting as warding off krakens.

They're penguins, not nuns.

ETA you got there first!

[Benrad]

take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:

1. for the record you can't electrify Hull plating. But you should be able to IMO.

/Pedant mode on
It wouldn't electrocute the kraken because there would be no voltage difference between it and the sea surrounding it, due to sea water being an excellent conductor.

I hope I'm never in a submarine under your command during a kraken attack
/Pedant mode off

[BaronVonVaderham]

Great thread, thank you op!

Have you ever driven an F1 car?

Best perk of the job?

Is it well paid or something people do for passion?

Are the current tyres hated by the engineers as a much as the drivers?

Would you bring back refuelling?

Can you tell the FOM lot that we all hate the hairdryer hybrids and lobby for the return of louder/simpler engines?

Do you think the 2022 rules will actually improve the racing and mix up the field?

Have you ever been on the podium as winning constructor?

[StevieBee]

AnonymousF1 said:

long-term engineer working in F1. I've learned a lot from PH over the years, from finance to building regs

I'm not certain this got the recognition it deserved.

It's interesting to note the absence on this thread of the most vociferous "experts' found elsewhere!

[Integrator_Type_R]

What's the most embarrassing or funny to you at the time, mistake/mishap/common sense failure/blunder that you've seen or even had a hand in? Not talking drivers pranging it on an install lap in testing or even various pit stop shenanigans but anything like making a part but misreading the scale or dimension on the drawing? Threads the wrong round? Buttons or switches not connected to anything?

As an adjunct to that... the best/most hilarious workshop or garage prank? Or are F1 engineers and technicians too straightlaced and serious for such japes?

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

Benrad said:

take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:

1. for the record you can't electrify Hull plating. But you should be able to IMO.

/Pedant mode on
It wouldn't electrocute the kraken because there would be no voltage difference between it and the sea surrounding it, due to sea water being an excellent conductor.

I hope I'm never in a submarine under your command during a kraken attack
/Pedant mode off

... and the fact it's covered in very thick insulating 'rubber' anechoic tiles.

That's what the SBS lock in lock out system is for. "Deploy the anti-kraken booties" 10 pints and a commando knife and no kraken is safe.

Sorry OP. Didn't mean to de-rail your thread. I'll shut up now.

[DanielSan]

The worst driver you've had to work with? Either from a lack of feedback point of view or them just being an almighty bell end?

[Gary C]

C2Red said:

AnonymousF1 said:

sgtBerbatov said:

I asked this on Twitter to Gary Anderson, he didn't respond, so I'll ask here.

So Nick Writh did a lot of work with CFD, both with Simtek and Marussia/Virgin/Manor racing. The latter being CFD only, having never seen a wind tunnel. It didn't work out, and none of the F1 teams seem to use CFD only, and use it in conjunction with a wind tunnel.

My question though is, why? Is it because CFD match the data given by wind tunnels? Or is it a cost thing?

CFD is a simulation of reality. A wind tunnel is a scale of reality. Guess which one's closer to reality?

Is there a point though in which the scale modelling is ineffective, or less effective; due I suggest to the simple physical nature of air molecules being a fixed size.
Their proportional size to the scale of the models must surely have an impact on how they react to the surface of any part of a F1 car; don’t they?

Unless of course you use a full size car with a moving road surface too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szYlGeEx-OE

[egomeister]

What's the best F1 party you have been to?

[CallMeLegend]

egomeister said:

What's the best F1 party you have been to?

I have one for that, one of the Williams F1 parties, think it was 2003, I fell in the (not small) hole that was being dug for the new wind tunnel whilst going for "a bit of an explore" whilst very well hydrated.

[FNG]

StevieBee said:

AnonymousF1 said:

long-term engineer working in F1. I've learned a lot from PH over the years, from finance to building regs

I'm not certain this got the recognition it deserved.

It's interesting to note the absence on this thread of the most vociferous "experts' found elsewhere!

Ah but that's because they already know it all, and don't need to ask

[FNG]

DanielSan said:

The worst driver you've had to work with? Either from a lack of feedback point of view or them just being an almighty bell end?

He's already inferred he's worked with Maldonado so this one will be interesting. That'd take some beating.

[patmahe]

Did you ever get to work at Jordan? I was a huge fan of them when they were around and am curious what it was like to work there (fun, frustrating, fantastic, all of the above?)

How has working in F1 lived up to your expectation, what is it like in reality?

How do you feel about the number of races that are being run nowadays and the impact that could have on the home lives of staff at time when teams are being forced to cut back because of budget restrictions?

[JulietRomeo]

Any staff perks around being able to have a go in previous gen simulators? (In your own time...)

[shirt]

What's the piece of work that you're most proud of. As in you had full responsibility, so I don't expect it to be a full car. Could be a part that gave a performance edge, or could be having to do a lot with very little. I'm sure one or two things stick out more than the rest.

What's the most cringeworthy post you have read in the F1 forum?