More Innovations - Amazing - DAS system

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.new-das-steering-wheel-system-legal-and-safe-insist-mercedes.6pSo0iDVCZ0HBdcz2MvMPd.html

Check out the video.

Formula 1 V6 / V8 / V10 engine sound comparison

Listen to some of sounds of old era. I want V12 back . 

Sound comparison :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ54pVSkjww
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6FrfNH01s4

Ferrari Charming sound of V12's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psp31ZAprUg


FIA seems to forget the basic quality of F1 mainly in fans point of view, Sound and pure racing and unfortunately with hybrid F1's we seem to miss both. Hope they can fix it before it's too late.

Must watch Film or documentary for Formula 1 fanatic fans

Grand Prix (1966)[ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060472/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1] - Movie

Senna (2010) [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1424432/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1] - Documentary

Rush (2013) [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1979320/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1] - Movie ( Niki Lauda vs James Hunt)

1 (2013) [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2518788/ ] - Documentary

ENJOY!!!

Do leave comment stating  the one you like the most.

Turbocharger

This year 2014 , one of the significant changes in formula 1 is change of power units from 2.4L V8 to 1.6 L V6 turbo engines. 

Question is what turbo engines really means. 

In nutshell, current engines leads to lot of waste gases after the combustion cycle, but with introduction of turbo modules the exhaust gas is used to compress and feed more air into the combustion engine leading to improves combustion and improved power with smaller engines. 

Put it this way, 

Old technology theory states.: 

More Power directly proportional to number of combustion chamber. So V8 generates more power than V6 

Turbo technology states: 

More power directly proportional to improvement in air combustion by compressing more gas in combustion chamber. So V6 with turbo can generates pretty much same power as non turbo V8's

If all the above are still confusing, check the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfU8t6P9zmQ

The only loss would be (which i hope not) is engine noise.I still love the V8 sound, will take some time to get used to V6 turbos.

Check out the image from honeywell site. 

Throttle System Cleaning - Toyota Camry 2002 - Idling Issue

In my previous post i did mention about idling issue which i did hope will be resolved by cleaning throttle system.

So i tried to clean and to be honest won't say  it was a cake walk mainly for a person who is new to ripping car parts. There is always an element of unknown(anxiety' probably is right word) when you are trying to open up some of  the car parts yourself.

Well to summarize if you are planning to clean yourself, so have the following handy :

- CRC Throttle Body and Air-Intake Cleaner [ There are more brands but i used this one]
- Screw driver / Rachet with 10mm screw opener.[ I got this from home depot for 6 bucks]

Image below shows the part you need to clean.

Search for "Toyota Camry Year XXXX" in youtube and there are tons of video to take you through the steps.

Also putting all parts together if you see engine or any other light on then you can get rid of it by disconnecting the negative terminal of battery and putting it back.

Just be cautious, its quite easy to pull some tubes and  break it.

Enjoy Ripping :-)

2014 Cars Designs Unveiling

Force India  VJM07
Amazing color theme. Black color giving it a mean look.

Williams :  This is just a design . am sure final car will look more attractive.

2014 Car Launches - Formula 1

Team	Date	Venue
McLaren	January 24	Online
Ferrari	January 25	Online
Sauber	January 26	Online
Toro Rosso	January 27	Jerez, Spain
Mercedes	January 28	Jerez, Spain
Caterham	January 28	Jerez, Spain
Red Bull	January 28	Jerez, Spain

Ferrari launching on day of my birthday. Well this will bring them luck this year :-). 

I hope the cars are  not bad looking , reading after charlie's comments , i think we are going to be in era of great machines and bad looking car. I hope not.

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/9123502/Whiting-Cars-could-be-ugly-and-odd

Engine Check Light On

Last week drive, stuck in LA traffic creeping my way through. As there is not to much to do , i have a habit of gazing my dashboard and keep checking the RPM meter. 

But this day was different , Apart from the regular lights in my dashboard, i saw an engine check lights on. 

For any person who does not  know a honest mechanic, such signs are like throwing machine in the Slot machine. It's  one way. 

Initially my thought was that the old  camry is giving up and probably it's giving an indication that it's life is nearing end. It has 137K which is quite an yound age for camry's. It like 40's in human. 

Anyways bit of panic and i started searching internet for solutions. Found lot of articles pointing to loose fuel cap. So this is what i did:

1) Tighten fuel cap

2) Disconnect battery and reconnect [ This helps to reset the code]

3) Start the engine and woooahhhhh..engine light is off and car seem to back in roll

Next day morning , starting for office and down a mile drive and car shut off itslef. . After multiple trials i realized that car shuts off due to very low RPM so i have to keep a foot in gas and another in brakes. 

End of day back home (in some panic) and internet search begins. Lots of article on Re-Learning of ECU to maintain the RPM level. This is what i did:

1) Start the car and keep foot in gas for 15 min to ensure engine doesn't die down

2) Took a car for a long ride in freeway and some short drive inside the city

     Note: I tried this at 1 AM to ensure there is no traffic

3) Came back home and left the throttle assuming things will get well but....... murphys law kicked in...Car  shut down due to low RPM

4) Back home 2 AM and (sleepy and panic) . started search once more and quite a lot of articles but this time, it is asking to do a Throttle system cleaning..

That's my weekend agenda :-). 

Will keep you posted on how that went ..

Karthikeyan apologising to Vettel ( WHY ?)

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227/7667306/Vettel-Narain-put-spat-in-the-past

Not sure , why karthikeyan had to apologies for racing incident. Vettel might be running for world championship but that doesn't mean back markers are not slouch.

2009 Rule Changes

• Slick Tyres are back
• Introduction of KERS
• Engines to be used for 3 races and revs down to 18000 RPM(I hate this change)
• Aerodynamic change :weird lokingcar but better racing 
• Testing : Reduced testing , this will mostly impact the test drivers

Here is complete Article....

http://formula1.com/news/features/2008/11/8741.html

2009 Formula One calendar :Provisional

1. 29 March Australia
2. 5 April Malaysia
3. 19 April Bahrain
4. 10 May Spain
5. 24 May Monaco
6. 7 June Turkey
7. 21 June Great Britain
8. 28 June France
9. 12 July Germany
10. 26 July Hungary
11. 23 August Europe (Valencia)
12. 30 August Belgium
13. 13 September Italy
14. 27 September Singapore
15. 11 October Japan
16. 18 October China
17. 1 November Brazil
18. 15 November Abu Dhabi

Indianapolis F1 race 2007 Pics and Videos

http://picasaweb.google.com/raghunathiyer2501/F1Indianapolis?authkey=lMUZ6pbEZ3Y

F1 Car RingTone

Listen to this excellent F1 cars tone .

Download it from the given link below :

http://www.mediafire.com/?1nikjpsxx2d

ENJOY!!!

One of the Saddest day in F1, Aryton Senna Accident

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/52822/formula_1_ayrton_senna_crash/

How drivers made it to F1 ?

If you thought that the life is f1 is so good and these drivers are lucky to get there, than this article is for u . I have taken some of my drivers whom i follow and put up there biography .All the drivers were not just lucky they actually put there efforts to get here, Well follow links for there biography.

Fernando Alonso
http://www.fernandoalonso.com/DEFAULT2_i.cfm?seccion=0

Kimi Raikonnen
http://www.kimicentral.net/content/view/12/28/

Lewis hamilton
http://www.thef1blog.com/thef1blog/thef1blog.php/2006/05/30/biography_lewis_hamilton

Felipe Massa
http://www.felipemassa.com/index2.php?lang=uk&go=biography/index.php

Jenson Button
http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/drivers/button.shtml

David Coulthard
http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/drivers/coulthard.shtml

A-Z Basic jargons used in F1 Race

Anti lock brake system (ABS)
Electronical system that prevents blocking of the wheels during hard braking. This system is forbidden in formula one, but widely used in road cars.

Apex
The inside part of a corner that is considered to be the ideal racing line

Backmarker
A car that gets a blue flag to let someone pass by because he is a lap up.

chassis
Backbone on which a car is based. Older racing cars had a steel or wood chassis. Today's cars use carbon fibre

Chicane
A tight combination of two corners in opposite direction. Most of the time slow and with curbes.

Diffuser
Channels under the car defined by vertical "fences" which increase the airflow beneath the car by drawing it out and improving downforce.

Downforce
Force generated by air passing over the wings, plus the interaction of the flat bottom of the car and the track surface.

Formation lap
Final lap in grid order before the drivers take up their grid positions for the start.

FIA
Fédération International d'Automobile. This is the ruling body of world-wide motorsport based in Paris, France

G force
The apparent increase in weight of an object due to gravitational forces. That way, drivers are pushed backwards when accellerating and pushed to the left of the car when turning right and the other way around.

Hairpin
A very tight and slow corner, that usually is a bend of more than 100°. The most known examples are 'Grand Hotel' in Monaco en 'La source' in Spa-Francorshamps

Horsepower(HP)
A measurement of the engine's ability to perform work. One horsepower is defined as the ability to lift 33,000 pounds one foot in one minute. In metric terms, it is the ability to raise 250 kilograms a distance of 30 centimeters in one second. It is also equal to 745.7 watts

Lockup
The moment when a tire begins to skid during braking. A tire's maximum braking force occurs when it is on the verge of lockup. Ideally all four tires should approach lockup simultaneously to give a vehicle the best braking. Because this ideal is hard to create in the real world, one end tends to lock up before the other.

Lollipop
The sign held on the nose of the car during a pit stop to remind the driver to brake. It is then lifted when the stop is finished and the pit lane is clear for the driver to leave.

Marshal
Marshals are positioned at many places around the race circuit, their job is to look after safety. This includes moving cars from unsafe positions and alerting drivers to on track hazards by waving various coloured flags.

Oversteer
In cornering, oversteer exists when the rear end of the car tends to make a larger radius turn than the front end.

Pit lane
The road that links the pit garages occupied by the various teams to the track
Pit wallThe team have a much of their communication equipment on the pit wall so as the can talk to the driver and monitor his performance over the Grand Prix weekend.
qualifyingIts a run a day before race for identifying the starting position

Racing line
This is the optimum line around a race circuit, therefore in theory it is the fastest way around a circuit. For a lone corner this is usually a wide entrance, followed by a defined ‘apex’ which is near the middle of the corner on the inside, and a wide exit to allow all the power to be used. It is the straightest line through a corner.

Red flag
A solid red flag is used to stop the race immediately. Generally races are stopped for bad accidents or weather. Occasionally, a multiple car pileup will halt a race. Wreckers and fire marshals clear the track of cars, debris and fluids. Alternatively, rain makes the surface of the race track dangerous. Once NASCAR officials authorize the race to start again, a green flag resumes the race.

Safety car
In the event of an accident or blockage on the race circuit the safety car will be sent out in front of the lead car to slow down and control the cars still on track until the debris can be cleared.
StewardThe stewards run the race weekend at a Grand Prix. They make all the decision with regard to rules, penalties and incidents that can happen over the weekend. Stewards are different to marshals in that they control the event from race control as opposed to trackside

Telemetry
Manner of sending radio signals from either the car to the pitbox or the other way around. Particularly useful to determine the right setup as revs, ride height, gear, throttle and brakes can be studied based on these reports. Two way telemetry also enables drivers to change settings on the car to increase performance or avoid problems.

understeer
A lack of grip at the front wheels, which makes the car feel to slip away at the front, when cornering.

Wing
In motorsport, a synonym for aerofoil. Shaped like and aircraft wing, but attached with the downside up to push the car as much as possible to the ground.

Yellow flag
A solid yellow flag is used to slow down the racers in the case of a crash, debris on the
course (like car parts), slick fluids on the track or the weather has become a factor with rain. During a yellow flag the pace car, with the top lights flashing, joins up with the race leader and sets a slower speed on the track. This is done to preserve the driving order on the track as cars cannot pass one another under a yellow after crossing the start/finish line. Drivers generally use this time to hit the pits for refueling, new tires and adjustments. It is an advantageous time to make the race car faster on the track.

For more details check out this excellent site
http://www.f1technical.net/glossary/a

What is Traction control and why is it used ?

We all heard various technical jargons like Traction control , ABS etc when we talk about cars and that too these systems are now effectively used in cars we drive today . Now am sure generally people have no clue what these system does and when it actually works.let me make it simple for all ...

Let's talk about Traction Control today , i will make it as simple as possible.

How many times you started your engine in morning and thought of racing away by the signal .Well result is a big screechy sound due to wheel spin of your car .Why the wheel spins?

Lets understand this part first.
when we press on gas roughly we try to get the maximum power of the engine and the whole torque(power) is applied to one of the wheel set depending on car(front/back/both wheels).Due to such high acceleration one set of wheel tried to move faster then the other set.This leads to a spin of wheel set and believe me this also reduces your acceleration and burns the tire.
So now we come across a technology which will avoid such spin and that's we call as "Traction control". These are electronic device which keeps a check on the actual speed of the car and the rotation of the tire.

For eg if your are driving back wheel drive car as in case of f1 , the sensor for determining the car speed are kept in front wheels . Sensors are also present in back wheels to determine the speed of rotation of tires.

In this case if the "traction control " notices that the back wheels are rotating faster then front wheels (which provides actual speed of car), it retards the rotation of back wheels by one of these mediums:
1) Cut the fuel supply for engine
2) Apply brakes on back tyres

There are more advanced techniques to cut the rotation .

So in this way the rotation of the tires are controlled which helps to prevent slip and the tires remains in ground rather then spinning like a "jack Ass" .

So next time you are racing in streets or in circuits , make sure of one thing "never press on gas paddle completely" to avoid spinning , this will give you much better acceleration .

GREAT NEWS!!!

I am so much happy today , i received my tickets for the Indianapolis Grand Prix 2007 . I am so excited. Keep a watch here , this blog is gonna flood with Pictures.

Keynotes of F1 Spanish Grand prix :

1) Race starts and Alonso tries to make a move over Massa from outside, but i must say it was a great drive by Massa who managed to keep his position and result :Alonso on Mud (he is one lucky guy , car was intact and running good even after MUD drive)

2)Kimi got problems with car and pulls over to pits giving Alonso breathing space

3)Hamilton maintaining a clean drive and managed to get more points

4)Fishicella's wild drive throughout the Race,unfotunately not able to get into the points. But for me it was fun watching him driving , you can actualy see the desperation to get some points

5)David Coulthard strong drive with that Red Bull's

6)Sato getting first point of the season for Super Aguri

Montoyo position in NASCAR

All the F1 fan's am sure aware of the Juan Pablo Montoyo has joined the NASCAR team owned by "Floyd Ganassi" .He runs a car manufactured by Dodge . Am not sure how different Nascar is from F1 , so in order to find out i followed the 499 nextel cup last weekend. I was using the Nascar.com provided "TrackPass" functionality , well i loved this functionality and it would be so great to have a similar stuff in our formula 1 site.

They call it as "TrackPass" , it gives the drives view in a animated form and you will actually feel you are in the car and you can also hear the conversation of your favorite driver with his pit crew,

check the below link
http://www.nascar.com/trackpass/about/

I used TrackPass for Montoyo and followed him for around 100 laps , was also listening to the conversation of driver with pit crew. It was a great experience.

But still i was not able to figure out the strategy in NASCAR , may need to follow some more races.

Anyways check out the below link for current standing of Montoyo in Nascar :
http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/jmontoya00/cup/

More to come....