I'll have to revive the blinding theory. That seems like it wouldn't fit in the tightly bound regulations of F1 racing. Have you ever been blinded by someone's high beams? It takes a moment or two to regain your vision. In F1 at 150+mph, you don't have a couple seconds to readjust. A split second could mean losing the race, or worse, losing a life. I'll have to chuckle at the racing suit parody. Hahaha. <--- seriously. That being said, I like the look. Good stuff. Now onto a question. Would it be against regulations to race in bare carbonfiber with a few ad stickers slapped on the sides? That could shave a few lbs. Maybe the home country's flag adorned on the spoiler.
In a word, YES. The last period that we actually saw any development on an F1 find it's way into a road car application was in the 1980s and early 1990s. Specifically the ECU (thanks to the No Refueling regulations, that I'm sure most here on the board would have been screaming about) and then the continued electronic revolution in the early 1990s, traction control, active suspension, furtherer ECU development. These days if you want to see what race cars are going to have an impact on road cars you need to look to either WRC or LeMans. I include LeMans because of the current inclusion of the turbo Diesels. Green technology is the future whether we like it or not. I say WRC because you can go down to your local Subaru or Mitsubishi dealer and get a watered down version right off the lot. No such luck at your local Ferrari dealer. As a matter of fact the Ferrari F1 engine team brought in the V8 road car engine designers in order for them to get help on vibration and design for the new F1 V8. So, in this instance the technology has run in the opposite direction. The internal combustion gas engine's been around for a good long time and I doubt we'll see anything as ground breaking as Renaults air-valve technology that hit in the early 1990s. But, once again, when was the last time you saw a road car that had no valve springs but an air system such as in an F1 engine? Ok, you can get a F1 paddle system but as said before that came about in the early 1990s. And that system will more than likely be relegated to the technological dust bin by the numerous Zero-shift systems being developed: http://www.racecar-engineering.com/images/features/paradigmshift.pdf Also there is nothing aerodynamically developed on a F1 car that can be used to benefit a road car. They're just too different. A LeMans car well that's a stretch but not as much. If you look at the bottom of a Ford GT, Ferrari 355, 360, 430, etc... more of that development has to do with the Group C cars of the 80s and the subsequent evolution of that breed than an F1 car. They have to seat "two" people and have their wheels and suspension "covered." Let's face it the market place is driving more development than the race track is. For instance I needed a new turbo for my car as mine was worn out (had a bit of shaft play). I went to my "local" tuner on the MR2 board (mr2oc.com) and was able to buy not only a rebuilt unit but they also had an upgrade for it. They do some machining on the exhaust side an intake and add a larger impeller. On a stock car like mine it adds about 35hp to the rear wheels. All for $750. They also do a ROM tune (I didn't get that) where they open up the ECU and use a TECHTOM Rom board to reprogram it, which they can do in real time as you would a stand alone ECU like a Motec. All developed not because of "The panicle of motorsport" but because people wanted it and the market responded. Yes you could argue that the Motec and other ECUs came from F1 and the Group C cars and you would be right. But that, as I have said, was a very long time ago. I’ll admit I rambled “a bit” above but, I think you can gather where I’m coming from. More and more I'm starting to think about the futility of F1. I'd love to go see another race this year but, I think I might head up and try to the bay and see the Audi Diesel run instead. 850-some odd- ftlbs of torque I bet it'll get out of the turns like nothing else, I also hear it's really quiet which is something I'd like to experience as well. Just to see if I like it or not. P.S. Jarno Trulli's had a Chrome style helmet for a few years now http://www.motorsport.com/photos/f1/2006/gen/f1-2006-gen-xp-0808.jpg
Back on the topic, it looks like the MP4 21 development is lagging about a month behind. According to N. Haug, if the race was held in Bahrain today, they would finish behind, Ferrari, Renault, and Honda. They should stop wasting money and time on B.S. like livery and get the car sorted. McLaren really have become too blingish the last few years, first with their McLaren Shop they bring to the races, than with the Uniforms, and now with the Livery.
Why do people think that if you work on coatings it diverts energy away from mechanical/aerodynamic development? The two things are completely different, different sciences, different people, etc. and I am sure that there is enough money at McLaren to go around. The loss of top people now that's a different matter altogether.
As a note; my older brother towed my first car ( MGB-GT ) home one day by wrapping a chain around a nerf bar and pulled the chrome right off. My solution was to buy a "chrome" refinishing kit from that technologically inovative firm of J.C.Whitney. One hour of simple work and it looked very much like real chrome. It could be applied to cardboard if needed. This was 1974. Nothing new under the sun.
