Understanding Formula 1: a series of videos by the BMW Sauber F1 Team
Formula One is a seriously expensive sport but it’s really hard to visualize how expensive it really is by just looking at the race cars battling it out on the circuits. There’s a tremendous amount of hard work, time and money put into the development of Formula One cars, and to even begin to grasp the idea of how much equipment and etc it takes, you will have to take a stroll behind the scenes to check out the development and manufacturing of the car. Look after the jump for a series of videos released by the BMW Sauber F1 Team called “Understanding Formula 1″. It looks like there are plenty more to come but these are the few released so far, so please enjoy!
Understanding Formula One: Robert about Helmet.
Formula One is truly a high-tech sport. Members of the BMW Sauber F1 Team explain some basic terms and let you into some of the technical secrets: Robert Kubica speaks about his helmet.
Understanding Formula One: Nick about Helmet.
Nick Heidfeld speaks about his helmet.
Understanding Formula One: Tyres.
Members of the BMW Sauber F1 Team explain some basic terms and let you into some of the technical secrets: Willy Rampf, the teams Technical Director, speaks about tyres.
Understanding Formula One: Pit Stop.
Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica speaks about pit stops.
Understanding Formula One: Robert on Drivers’ Clothing.
Understanding Formula One: Steering Wheel.
Understanding Formula One: Telemetry.
Understanding Formula One: Aerodynamics.
Understanding Formula 1: Factory Hinwil. Atrium.
The Formula One race cars of the BMW Sauber F1 Team are serviced on the second floor of the new factory building in Hinwil. This area is designed as an atrium to allow the cars to be seen from the third floor as well. The second floor also accommodates the carbon-fibre, car body, hydraulics and rapid prototyping departments.
Understanding Formula 1: Factory Hinwil. Design Office.
The heart of the BMW Sauber F1 Teams aero department beats in the Design Office. Here, the engineers analyse the results from the CFD simulations, create new ideas and explore innovative ways to enhance the performance of the BMW Sauber F1.09.
Understanding Formula 1: Factory Hinwil. Silicone.
For the construction of a modern Formula One car, many sophisticated materials are used in order to achieve the best performance. One of these materials is silicone. Here, you can watch how it is used to create a high-tech model of a vehicle component.
Understanding Formula 1: Factory Hinwil. Rapid Prototyping.
Rapid Prototyping provides assistance to speed the development of new components. As soon as such components have been designed on a CAD system, computer-guided machines can use laser sintering or 3D printing technology to create scale models from resin, plastic powder, acrylic, wax or metal.
Understanding Formula 1: Factory Hinwil. Autoclaves.
Carbon-fibre components of the BMW Sauber F1 Team car are being cured in the autoclaves between ten and 20 hours at a temperature of around 50 degrees Celsius.
Understanding Formula 1: Factory Hinwil. Composite Assembly.
In the composite assembly, the BMW Sauber F1 Team is completing the different composite components. A front wing unit for example consits of ten different components.
Understanding Formula 1: Factory Hinwil. Cutting.
In the cutting room at the team’s site in Hinwil, all the carbon fibre parts from the BMW Sauber F1.09 are given the “right cut”. The result are high-precision carbon parts. Engineers use up to 1500 of these parts when constructing the monocoque.
Understanding Formula 1: Factory Hinwil. Truckhall.
In the truck hall, the team members in Hinwil load and unload the equipment required during Formula One races and tests. The fleet at the European Grand Prix consists of five trucks from Hinwil and one engine truck from Munich.
Understanding Formula 1: Factory Hinwil. Clean Room.
In the clean room, the BMW Sauber F1 Team produces all the components made of composite materials. The high degree of cleanliness in the room provides ideal conditions for manufacturing vehicle parts that are sensitive to dirt, such as various chassis elements.
Understanding Formula 1: Factory Hinwil. Wind Tunnel.
In the wind tunnel, the BMW Sauber F1 Team develops the aerodynamics of the F1.09. To do this, the engineers use virtual tools, such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), as well as real methods. These include a 60-percent model, which the team uses to realistically create and trace the effects of various forces on the car.
Understanding Formula 1: Factory Hinwil. Aerodynamics Office
The team from Munich and Hinwil’s aerodynamic specialists and Computational Fluid Dynamics engineers work in the BMW Sauber F1 Team’s aerodynamics office. They come up with new ideas, develop the wind tunnel programme, and analyse the data gained in the tunnel. In supercomputer Albert3 they have one of the most powerful computers in the world as their partner.
Understanding Formula 1: Factory Hinwil. Model Shop.
In the model shop, the BMW Sauber F1 Team assembles its 60-percent model and prepares all the compoments for the next wind tunnel session. This scaled down model was designed and constructed by highly qualified specialists, simplifies development work on the chassis.
March 3, 2009 @ 2:29 am
1st~~~~!
March 3, 2009 @ 2:35 am
owh nice n very informative~ (first~!!!)
March 3, 2009 @ 3:17 am
wah
too many videos
n i have no time to watch them
now i really believe how expensive n how hard to engineered the F1 by the amount of the video shown here
hah
malas gle nk tgk satu persatu, adoi!~
:p
btw nice commitment here paul
March 3, 2009 @ 3:20 am
It’s hard to imagine that these people spent millions to develop/maintain car just for racing. Just imagine how F1 engines can only last for three race weekend (about 2,500km) and remember the price of these engines are more expensive than most car on the road. Also, they have 700 engineers to maintain just two cars.
F1 is awesome. High-tech, incredible speed, lot of fun stuff to watch and to learn.
March 3, 2009 @ 9:21 am
Let those who always ask why F1 tickets is do damned expensive know the answer.
March 3, 2009 @ 11:07 am
driven the current polo for three yrs when i was in china. consider “solid” for budget car like this (it cost just RM55k there but double over here). agree what paul said, this new polo look much better as it gives “man” taste than the previous one.
March 3, 2009 @ 11:53 am
for me.. all the restriction & regulation is just to make ferrari win …
March 3, 2009 @ 12:21 pm
[quote comment="216897"]for me.. all the restriction & regulation is just to make ferrari win …
[/quote]
Could not agree with you more, that is why I support all the teams except ferrari.
March 3, 2009 @ 1:10 pm
[quote comment="216901"][quote comment="216897"]for me.. all the restriction & regulation is just to make ferrari win …
[/quote]
Could not agree with you more, that is why I support all the teams except ferrari.[/quote]
Nonsense. There are some cases which stewards were bias toward ferrari but none of the regulation made to help Ferrari win.
March 3, 2009 @ 1:16 pm
[quote comment="216918"][quote comment="216901"][quote comment="216897"]for me.. all the restriction & regulation is just to make ferrari win …
[/quote]
Could not agree with you more, that is why I support all the teams except ferrari.[/quote]
Nonsense. There are some cases which stewards were bias toward ferrari but none of the regulation made to help Ferrari win.[/quote]
agreed… at least Ferrari don’t need Toyota’s driver to win championship.. LOL
March 3, 2009 @ 6:25 pm
proton…high time for you to enter f1 as well…show us what you have.
March 3, 2009 @ 7:41 pm
[quote comment="216972"]proton…high time for you to enter f1 as well…show us what you have.[/quote]
hhaha..proton can’t even produce thier “own” engine,not even their so called campro is malaysian R&D’ed ..,you are talkin about F1???!!do you thik they are capable??
March 3, 2009 @ 11:21 pm
Of course Campro engines in Proton are engineered by Proton Engineers. The Satria Neo is a pace car in one race in Australia. Soon a Satria Neo S2000 will feature in rallies in Euope… that is the way to go for proton.. just like Subaru and Mitsu.
March 4, 2009 @ 9:45 am
What a fantastic place to work! clean workshop, all the best gear, nice spacious rooms. Oh is great!
If you put economy factor into F1, then it is always a loss. However, the R&D done by these people translate to performance machines like the BMW M-series. Moreover, the passion of winning is one that has more meaning than $$$ of profit in your pocket.
March 4, 2009 @ 10:27 am
i hope this year bmw can win… they start to excel better in every season they entered since bmw joined sauber petronas…
March 5, 2009 @ 2:30 am
bmw can win races this season, no doubt… but win championship I’m not so sure… still need to see how’s everyone sort out in the grid & that can take up to 1/2 of the season races to get the true picture… so still a gamble… & that if u rule out the “all the restriction & regulation is just to make ferrari win” talk.. LOL