Yep, racing is antithetical to being ecologically minded, and being ecologically minded is antithetical to racing. So why try to mix the two?
I'll admit I was 100% wrong. I really believed that Honda's money and technical capability would put Macca midfield right from the beginning, and challenging Ferrari and Williams by the end of the season. Wrong-o! I really miscalculated the handicap of being late to the game and the ridiculous in-season testing rules.
I'm a huge Honda fan, but I had my doubts they would be competitive this year, but damn, didn't think they would be this bad. On the other hand, looks like Honda/Marc Marquez /Dani Pedrosa are back in form in MotoGP. It's an uphill battle, but there's still a chance for Marc to catch up in the championship.
Honda was only successful in the late 80s because they were able to obfuscate their boost and ran above the legal limit. They were good at cheating, not engine building
I think it shows, as others have said, designing the basic systems and engine is tough enough, making it competitive requires testing, testing and more testing. Although I haven't cheered a McLaren since Senna, I do hate to see them languishing so far down the grid all for want of some testing and development due to a stupid ban, that also sets the winners of WDC and WCC from race one each year. F1 should not be pandering to Eco-evangelists, they are never going to enjoy or support F1, and will continue to legislate against Motorsport harder and harder every year until they manage to destroy it, all the current rules do is to help them destroy it quicker by ripping out its most ardent supporters from within
And how well did they solve their problems internally last time they were in F1? - Ah yes, they walked away having spent a fortune and failing miserably! Is it really so clever to pig-headedly refuse to accept outside assistance? - As the old saying goes: "Pride comes before a fall!" So what are the differences between Ferrari's F1 car and their hybrid road car - LaFerrari? (apart from the F1 cars small capacity turbo engine of course!). LaFerrari uses it's hybrid power to assist the petrol engine pretty much exactly as their F1 car does! LaFerrari isn't a hybrid to save the planet, the Hybrid technology is used purely to help make the car as fast as possible. You can't even run LaFerrari on it's battery power alone because it's not been designed for that. You do realise that not all hybrid cars are made for the same purpose don't you?
They are better off at Le Mans. The problem is, people start thinking and linking F1 to road cars. It's not and never has been. .
Yes, they had Q engines, however, I was referring to during the race. The boost was supposed to be limited but Honda were able to run higher boosts during the race without being caught. A clever cheat rather than a clever engine.
Here you go: Corporate headquarters: IBM Corporation 1 New Orchard Road Armonk, New York 10504-1722 United States 914-499-1900 Hope that helps!
Boullier is getting ready for a new career McLaren still eyeing a podium finish in 2015 | Formula 1 news | Motorsport.com As a stand-up comedian
Yes part of the appeal for me in F1, is that it can be a test bed for new tech and advancement of all things car related or not, I'am not sure nowadays how much gets filtered down to road fairing end user cars, but I suspect it still does.
A whole world of hurt..... Even though I'm no fan of the boys from Woking, this is getting bad....... Wonder how long until Arai-San falls on his sword? Cheers, Ian From Autosport BTW.
Long time ago, but there were quite a few articles about it. The bar limit was regulated by a pop valve. Honda created a low pressure point where the pop value was and could run half a bar or so higher.
Sounds more like clever engineering than 'cheating' per-se..... Having said that, was it Honda or Subaru (?) that were found to have a completely illegal turbo on their rally cars a few years back. Memories are vague now, but it was something like a 'hidden' valve that was done totally to circumvent the regs. I have no problem with pushing the boundaries - that's what these guys do, but knowingly out & out cheating is another story. Cheers, Ian
LOLOLO..unlock the car potencial..lololo, yap, they jus keep unlocking crap!!! Boulier is clearly aiming for a clown job!!
Neither - Toyota, now 20 years ago: ??????????????? And it was out and out cheating. Beautifully so, but still cheating. Don't get the McLaren obsession with Ferrari fans.
Yes and IIRC lets not forget the time Toyota had tons of Mclaren data on disks for months, and Mosely let them off with a slap on the wrist, whilst he fined Mclaren 100 mil for what tantamounted to be the same thing.
Your example only makes sense when using the Prius (and similar class type cars) as the hybrid example... Change it to 918, LaFerrari, i8, or P1 and it' a different story. Very high performance super cars capable of 30mpg...unheard of not very long ago. Just like "old fashioned" car technology, there are many types of hybrids and they each attract a different crowd. The Prius crowd looks at cars as appliances. Sub compacts that used to get 40mpg have turned into small hybrids that get 70mpg. Super cars used to be lucky to get 7-8mpg...now they are at 30mpg. F1 has always been cutting edge. Cutting edge technology needs to have an incubation period before it is ready for mass production. I'm certain that we will see more and more energy harvesting in mass produced road vehicles...just like we are seeing more and more forced induction on road vehicles.
They may have withdrawn last time, in spite of having spent a fortune, but this was more because of the economic situation at the time, than due to their unability to solve their technical problems. Solutions take time, but if the sheraholders get cold feet, the management has to react by suspending the expense of motor racing; no difference with Peugeot pulling out of F1, or Toyota, etc... You may have your opinion, but I prefer Honda's practise to solve their problems in-house. Consultants come and go, their input don't benefit the company in the long term.
What you say would be relevant had the FIA not so narrowly defined "progress". If they really wanted to go the direction you allude to, they would allow development of diesel and hydrogen hybrids as well as their very specific notion of automobile technology of the future. I don't really think that uber expensive cars that sell hundreds of units really qualify as "production road cars".
Most sportscars makers have adopted the hybrid system on some of their cars to satisfy the legislators, and reduce carbon emission figures in their range. Reducing the CO2 level is what they are looking for, so that their buyers don't get clobbered by insane road tax in some countries, or even banned from town. The hybrid system exempt many cars from road toll, high taxation, congestion charges, etc... In some cities, hybrid cars pay less parking charges, etc... That's the bonus and why they do it. Not to add 300hp of electric for 25secondes to a car that already develops 600hp with its conventional engine! On a racing car (F1 or WEC), the hybrid system is designed to be part-and-parcel of the power unit and to be used lap after lap.
