Formula One - 2016

The performance from Honda, should basically say to other manufacturers who want to get into F1, to go somewhere else.

Who knows the benefits of what Honda has learned, if anything. I guess their Indycar V6 isn't of much help to them. From what I've learned the past few seasons, much of the trouble comes from learning to manage the electrical power and directing that to the right spot at the right time. It's a mess when you get it wrong, but it's a beautiful thing when it's right. I look at Hondas problems more as- "Hey,this crap isn't as easy as it might look."

Many of us on this board are very much rooting for this team. And some are even qualified to work there...

https://www.haasf1team.com/careers

Haas F1. I live about 5 miles away, maybe less. I really don't think I'm qualified to do much over there besides sweep floors, empty out garbage cans, and keep the CNC machines maintained, but I'm dropping off a resume soon. Sometimes stupid things happen and it would be nice to put some of my F1 research into actual practice.

So. We got a preview of what the improved head protection will look like. Thoughts?

That's not a "will look like", that's "here's an option, let's test it". It looks like a fairly terrible idea to me.

I think F1 protests too much about the open cockpit. Heck, it's not really open anymore, it's more like an open sunroof on top of a very enclosed cockpit. LMP cars have it figured out, airplanes haven't been open cockpit for what, 75 years? Just put a canopy on it and get on with things.

Seriously. Airplanes can survive bird strikes at 450+ MPH, so a basic clear berking canopy isn't that hard to do. The halo just looks ridiculous. I'd imagine it sucks to drive with, too.

The rollover extraction argument does hold up against a canopy, though. Prototypes don't really have that problem with side doors.

In reply to unevolved:

Not really- that's a pretty easy problem to solve. The whole top can come off- as it probably would be the door for the car anyway. And that kind of driver extraction would be easier than doors as well.

Hmmmmm what about a partial canopy... fully surrounding the drivers head but the very top is open????

As to bird strikes @ 450... although the impact is very large, a bird isn't quite the projectile like a chunk of metal spring coming @ you.... like Massa's incident.

HAAS coming to grips with F1 technical......

Hmmm... could it just be bugs... or is there something in the Dalara chassis that may have caused issue with the Ferrari go bits...????

There's a video of Kimi pulling back into his pit box after the test laps, and his body language is less than enthusiastic, even for him.

I'm definitely on board the fully enclosed, clear canopy train. The only time it doesn't make sense is if a car were to go completely upside down, but I'm sure a hatch could be developed right beneath the driver for that rare occurance, and it would be much safer in nearly every other situation.

Also find it funny that they didn't miss the opportunity to sell some add space on that silly thing

oldeskewltoy wrote: Hmmmmm what about a partial canopy... fully surrounding the drivers head but the very top is open???? As to bird strikes @ 450... although the impact is very large, a bird isn't quite the projectile like a chunk of metal spring coming @ you.... like Massa's incident.

Isn't that basically what they have now? There's only just enough room for the driver to see.

RCE just had an article on this which concentrated mostly on identifying problems and using a lot of WWII-era examples.
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/features/how-easy-is-it-to-introduce-closed-cockpits-to-f1/

"Open cockpits give the sport the benefit of driver identity, your favourite drivers helmet should be distinctive, and often the only way to tell two team cars apart, it also offers a perception (and reality) of danger, one of the key draws to the sport. "

Of course, there's a much easier way to make the two team cars easy to tell apart, and that's to change the rule that requires them to look identical other than a bright green camera mount on the second driver car.

unevolved wrote: The rollover extraction argument does hold up against a canopy, though. Prototypes don't really have that problem with side doors.

Considering we can extract military personnel from a helicopter upside-down in water, there really is no excuse.

Also, they've pulled John Force's carcass from a funny car who's entire body was on fire like what, 1,827 times in the last 15 years?!? I mean come ON. Bonneville guys crash at 400+ MPH and we get them out.

oldeskewltoy wrote: HAAS coming to grips with F1 technical...... Hmmm... could it just be bugs... or is there something in the Dalara chassis that may have caused issue with the Ferrari go bits...????

I suspect part of the unexpected challenges are the severely constrained test sessions. In most race series, you can test the car until it's ready. Not in F1. They had a problem with fuel delivery and all of a sudden they lost a significant amount of their testing time for the year. That's challenging!

Javelin wrote: Bonneville guys crash at 400+ MPH and we get them out.

No, actually they don't. Sadly. One venue where crashing still has a pretty high mortality rate.

Javelin wrote:

unevolved wrote: The rollover extraction argument does hold up against a canopy, though. Prototypes don't really have that problem with side doors.

Considering we can extract military personnel from a helicopter upside-down in water, there really is no excuse.

I dunno, that doesn't seem like a fair comparison to me. Not that I'm a proponent of the halos, but it seems like an issue that hasn't been resolved to me.

This may be the wrong driver to use as an example, but it's amazing how little protection there used to be. In my mind, this will always be F1 at its pinnacle. Nice, clean cars with smooth lines and no clutter. I'll bet Senna never bitched about not being able to overtake.

Good news: http://www.autoblog.com/2016/03/09/us-grand-prix-cota-confirmed/

Good news, American Formula One fans – the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas is reportedly part of the 2016 F1 schedule, which ends doubts about the race's future. Anonymous insiders claim that organizers have a deal to make the event happen, and they'll announce details soon, according to USA Today citing an Associated Press report.

Rossi is going to compete in the Indycar series and hold the reserve role at Manor. He may still have a chance, in F1.

Tom_Spangler wrote: Good news: http://www.autoblog.com/2016/03/09/us-grand-prix-cota-confirmed/

Good news, American Formula One fans – the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas is reportedly part of the 2016 F1 schedule, which ends doubts about the race's future. Anonymous insiders claim that organizers have a deal to make the event happen, and they'll announce details soon, according to USA Today citing an Associated Press report.

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/14934375/cota-confirms-us-grand-prix-go-ahead

Confirmed by COTA today that the race will happen. Woot!!!

-Rob

Too bad they have Taylor Swift as the Musical act. So this year I'll be run over by Tweens girls instead of baby boomer women like last year. I guess they are both a step up from Kid Rock.

If they go with closed cockpits, I'll be even less interested than I've already become.

z31maniac wrote: If they go with closed cockpits, I'll be even less interested than I've already become.

I know right? The sport would be completely ruined if the cars looked like this: