Motorsports V8 Super Cars, Formula 1, Motorcycle Racing, Betting

V8 Supercars
Greg Murphy in a Holden Commodore leads 3 other cars at Bathurst V8 Supercar is the most popular category of domestic motorsport in Australia, and one of the world's biggest and most professional racing championships. A V8 Supercar is a 650+ hp 5.0 litre V8 powered touring car. V8 Supercar events are held in all states of Australia as well as New Zealand, China, and Bahrain drawing crowds up to 170,000 spectators.

The cars competing in the series are based on either the Ford Falcon or Holden Commodore, historically the two most popular passenger cars in the Australian market. Rivalry between fans of different makes is a major aspect of the sport's appeal.

V8 Supercars Australia
The Australian Touring Car Championship was transformed into V8 Touring Cars in the early 1990s. Event management company IMG was given the rights to the series in 1997, and led the championship on a rapid expansion. The Australian Vee Eight Supercar Company (AVESCO) was later formed to run the series directly and later became an independent organisation from its IMG origins. In 2005 the name was changed to V8 Supercars Australia.

V8Supercar Australia introduced carnivale street-race V8 Supercar events such as the Clipsal 500, and strived to turn Australian touring car racing into a world-class product. The name "V8 Supercar" was invented, and "Shell Australian Touring Car Championship" was replaced by "Shell Championship Series", now called the "V8 Supercar Championship Series presented by Bigpond & VB".

TEGA
The Touring Car Entrants Group Australia (TEGA) is owned by all of the teams, and owns half of V8 Supercars Australia. TEGA has a board of 4 representatives and drafts the regulations.

To the disappointment of a majority of fans who had watched a long history of Ford-Holden battles in Australian touring car categories since the 1960s, international touring car regulations (which moved from Group A to Supertouring) seemed destined to preclude the Australian-built Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon in the early 90s. However V8 only regulations were drafted, in partnership with Ford and Holden, to avoid this and to showcase their large Australian made cars.

Nissan who had dominated in the early 90s had their Turbo AWD Skyline GT-R controversially excluded from the series, whilst BMW (with their non-turbo M3s) were allowed to continue. Nissan vowed never to return to touring car racing in Australia again, and a short time later ceased Australian production.

Eventually the BMW team of Paul Morris left to head a separate new Australian Super Touring Championship (ASTC), and in the mid 90s this ST series ran in opposition to the V8 category. Super Touring with its many makes had the backing of the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) and sensationally two Bathurst 1000s were held each year in 1997 and 1998, one for V8s and the other (backed by tradional custodian ARDC) for ST. The bulk of sponsorship, driver talent, and fan attention remained with the more popular V-8 category during this era leaving the ASTC to later collapse as an amateur category.

TEGA are now looking to instigate control floor pans and cylinder heads for both Commodores and Falcons so they are cheaper and easier to build and fix, potentially meaning that more rounds can be raced in a season and teams can afford to run multiple cars and have spares in case a car is severely damaged

The V8 Supercar
The regulations are designed to balance the desire for technical competition and fast vehicles with the requirement that costs are kept reasonable. Racing is close, and the cars bear some resemblance to production models.

Power: A V8 supercar is powered by either a 5.0L Ford SVO or Chevrolet Aurora race engine (depending on the make) which produces 600+BHP. Engines have pushrod actuated valves and electronic fuel injection. Both Ford and Holden engines are based on racing engines from their respective US parent companies. Engines are electronically restricted to 7,500 rpm. The recent application of "Project Blueprint" - introduced at the beginning of the 2003 season (where both makes of car were examined to insure parity) the racing between Holden and Ford has become closer than ever (reducing the risk of a one make dominated series).

Weight: The minimum category weight is 1,355 kg (not including driver).

Cost: Reported to be approximately $AU 500,000 per car and $AU 100,000 per engine.

Bodyshell: Each V8 Supercar is based on either Commodore or Falcon production bodyshells, with an elaborate roll cage constructed into the shell from aircraft grade materials. Other modifications include wider wheel arches.

Some common components: differentials and gearboxes are identical in all cars in the category. The category uses 6 speed Holinger gearboxes (Australian made), in the familiar 'H' pattern. Differential ratios used throughout the season are 3.75, 3.5, 3.25 and 3.15 (3.15 introduced in 2005 to be used at Bathurst - cars now (hypothetically, this has yet to be proven, but Castrol Perkins Racing claims to have exceeded this speed multiple times in the 2005 event) reach over 300km/h down Conrod straight). All cars have a 120L fuel tank.

Suspension: Basic front suspension configuration is double wishbone (made compulsory for both makes through Project Blueprint), whilst rear suspension is a "live axle" design. Spring and damper design is unrestricted.

Tyres: A Dunlop "control tyre" is supplied to all teams. During the year, there are large restrictions on the number of testing days (6 a year), along with the number of tyres used during those days. During race meetings, teams are allocated a set number of tyres for the entire weekend.

Aerodynamics: A standard "aerodynamic package" of spoilers and wings is supplied to the teams of each make. Testing is conducted so the two makes have as similar aerodynamic characteristics as possible.

The V8 Supercar Championships
Two separate V8 Supercar Championships are held. The first is the main "Level One" championship called the 'V8 Supercar Championship Series'. A Level Two championship called the 'HPDC Supercar Series', for privateers who formerly raced in the same races as the former before bulging grids forced a split.

Level One
The Level One Australian Touring Car Championship now known as the V8 Supercar Championship Series caters for the 34 (32 cars at some rounds as they don't have big enough facilities, any driver who finishes 33rd or more in the championship the previous year requires a wildcard entry to participate in the race) fully professional cars run by the 15 two-car and 4 one-car well-sponsored V8 Supercar teams. The series is commercially successful and highly competitive, with races all over Australia, one in New Zealand, and in 2005, the first race in China. Tracks range from street circuits in Adelaide to more permanent road courses at Phillip Island. The largest single event is the Bathurst 1000.

The racing is very close and aggressive between all the V8 Championship Series teams, with usually less than a second separating the top 25 cars. Teams design and construct their own cars and engines (Some teams opt to buy engines from stronger teams, eg SBR, 888, BJR & LMS use SBRE developed Ford V8's, while HRT, HSVDT and Castrol Perkins use HMS developed Holden V8's and GRM and SCAR/PWR use GRM developed Holden V8's) leading to minor/major (depending on teams) engineering differences among teams despite the cars being the same make.

Both Ford and Holden provide significant, though varying, levels of sponsorship to all teams that run their cars. From 1996 to 2002, V8 Supercars Holden Racing Team, had a decisive competitive edge over most of the opposition. More recently, the sport has seen the return to prominence of Ford through Marcos Ambrose and Stone Brothers Racing, winning in 2003 and 2004, as well as teammate Russell Ingall who kept the title at SBR, winning a tight series in 2005

V8 racing is Australia's third largest sport behind AFL Football and Cricket.

The first Australian Touring Car Championship under the V8 Supercar rules was won by Glenn Seton with his team-mate former Formula 1 world champion Alan Jones taking second in the championship.

In 2005, A team competition has been created to dertermine the best Ford/Holden and Overall team.

Level Two
The privateers were split from the main series in the year 2000.

Their Level Two category is known as the HPDC Development series and runs identical specification V8 Supercars. (Except for an additional 100kg added on the minimum weight in 2005, intended to both help the overweight older cars run by some privateers, and to stop main series teams gaining advantage from their secondary series satellite cars. This extra ballast requirement has been dropped for the 2006 season).

The Development series has been such a success that it itself has also fielded full grids up to 34 cars on many occasions, but concern has been raised by AVESCO because only about 20-22 cars competed in 2005, out of an expected 30-33.

Both young up-and-coming drivers hoping to break into a Level One drive, and privateers, race in the Level Two category.

Marquee events
The Bathurst 1000, Clipsal 500, Sandown 500 and V8 Shanghai Round are the marquee events of the V8 Supercar calendar.

Bathurst 1000
Known as the "Great Race", the Bathurst 1000 is a traditional 1000 km test of team, driver and machine held at the Mount Panorama Circuit near Bathurst in New South Wales. It has been the preeminent domestic motor racing event in Australia for decades, well before the development of the V8 Supercar category. It is conducted over 161 laps, on a track that features two long straights, that contrast with a tight section of fast blind corners across the top of the mountain. In past eras, the race was open to almost anybody with a car that met (considerably more relaxed) regulations and held an Australian motorsport licence. The resulting wide variety of cars, driver talent, and budgets ensured that large margins split the placings. In the modern V8 era, the field consists of professional teams only, and the introduction of the "safety car" bringing the field together when an accident makes the track unsafe, has radically changed the nature of the race, now a flat out, and closely fought, sprint all the way.

Clipsal 500
The Clipsal 500 is held in Adelaide on a shortened version of the former Grand Prix Circuit. The event in the heart of the city has a carnival atmosphere, and crowds of over 150,000 racing fans and socialites turn out each year. Two 250km races are held on each of Saturday and Sunday, and this has proven to be a very successful format.

Sandown 500
The Sandown 500 is the 1st of the 2 endurance races on the race schedule. Always a host to thrilling races, it has a reputation as the "unpredictable track" as the weather there is hard to predict.

V8 Shanghai Round
The V8 Shanghai Round is held in China on a shortened version of the Shanghai Grand Prix circuit. In 2005, the entire V8 circus was air freighted overseas for the first time, and encouraging crowd figures of 70,000 were recorded before an enthusiastic Chinese audience. The winner of the inaugural Shanghai round was Todd Kelly (HRT)(188pt/192pt), 2nd place was Steven Richards (Castrol Perkins) (186pt/186pt) and 3rd was Paul Radisich (TKR) (170pt/180pt)

Bahrain Round
In 2005 a contract was confirmed to hold V8 Supercar races at the Bahrain International Circuit from 2006 onwards, the same track that hosts the Formula 1.

The V8 Supercar teams
Holden Racing Team (Holden)
Championships: 6, Bathurst Wins: 4
Founded by Holden in the late 1980s in partnership with Tom Walkinshaw (TWR) to promote Holden Special Vehicles, who produce highly tuned road V8 Commodores. The 'HRT' took over where Peter Brock's Holden Dealer Team (HDT) empire and vehicles left off, after the collapse of HDT with, among other things, a debacle over the fitment of crystal energy polarizers to HDT cars. Initially HRT struggled through a number of lean years, in one year only attending a handful of rounds, however later the team improved after the drafting back in of Brock, his sponsorship from Mobil and input from Harrop Engineering. In their hey-day from 1996-2002 this well-financed team collected 6 championship wins. After the collapse of TWR, the team is now owned by successful team driver Mark Skaife and is to be managed once again by Tom Walkinshaw, this is likely to help the team owner perform better on the track.

Dick Johnson Racing (Ford)
Championships: 6, Bathurst Wins: 3
The oldest team in V8 supercar Racing was formed by Dick Johnson, in the late 1970s. Dick Johnson Racing (DJR) provided formidable competition for the Holden Dealer Team of Peter Brock in the 1980s, and were a consistent force up to the year 2001 regularly winning races. They have struggled since then, although DJR retains a strong financial backing. Son Steven Johnson contunies the legacy by carrying the most famous Ford number, possibly the most famous. The legandry #17.

Stone Brothers Racing (Ford)
Championships: 3, Bathurst Wins: 1
Established in 1996, after Alan Jones left Glenn Seton Racing and joined forces with former Dick Johnson Racing engineers Ross and Jim Stone to form a new team. The team was originally known as Pack Leader racing and had underhanded cigarette backing from the former Glenn Seton Racing sponsor, however shortly afterwards Jones left. The team slumped somewhat into the midfield wildnerness in the year 2000 before the arrival of Marcos Ambrose sent to the team to a period of rapid expansion which culminated in wins of the 2003 and 2004 championships. Veteran team mate Russell Ingall kept the championship within the team in 2005.

Ford Performance Racing (Prodrive)/Glenn Seton Racing (Ford)
Championships: 2
Glenn Seton formed his own team in 1989, using Sierras. Seton had been a protege of the works Nissan team, and took the cigarette sponsorship of that team with him. Former F1 champ Alan Jones was secured as his team-mate late in 1992. The team was one of the first to debut the new V8 Touring Car regulation car in place of the Sierra. GSR were a top V8 Supercar team in the early V8 years and won championships in 1993 and 1997. Glenn Seton came famously close to winning the Bathurst 1000 in 1995, retiring due to a minor part breakage while in the lead with just 8 laps to go. The team became known by the new name "Ford Tickford Racing" in 1999, which was a pseudo works deal, and the team gradually slipped in performance as V8 Supercar became more competitive. Ford diverted their attention to 00 Motorsport in 2002, and GSR reverted to a small battling one car outfit for that year before being purchased by Prodrive and reinvented as "Ford Performance Racing" to promote the high performance road Falcons built by "Ford Performance Vehicles".

Perkins Engineering (Holden)
Bathurst Wins: 3
Former F1 driver Larry Perkins has long been an identity of the Australian Touring Car Championship. His team has collected three Bathurst wins, although championship wins have often slipped away in the V8 Supercar era and the team has had to settle for a number of runner-up positions in this era.

Tasman Motorsport (Holden)
Formed by V8 driver Greg Murphy's father Kevin Murphy, in partnership with the long-time privateer touring car team Lansvale Racing Team. Tasman has enlisted the support of engineer Ron Harrop and his large engineering business in their attempt to establish themselves as a prominent force in V8 racing and have established a name for themselves after coming 3rd at the Sandown 500 and narrowly missing out on first at the Bathurst 1000.

Holden Special Vehicles Dealer Team (Holden)
Bathurst Wins: 2
The HSV Dealer Team started as the Holden Racing Team junior team called the Holden Young Lions in the year 1998. The Holden Young Lions expanded to 2-cars in the year 2001 after a solution was desperately needed to accommodate Greg Murphy and his K-Mart sponsorship after Murphy's former team Gibson Motorsport had hurriedly switched to run a Ford for former Holden star Craig Lowndes. With Holden Racing Team machinery the team which was then known as K-Mart Racing were instant winners, and collected two Bathurst wins in 2003 and 2004. K-Mart quit the sponsorship after 2004, and the team is now known as the HSV Dealer Team.

Garry Rogers Motorsport (Holden)
Bathurst Wins: 1
Garry Rogers started out as privateer in the late 70's running a Holden Torana. The team disbanded in the early 80s and re-emerged in the late 80's running a Commodore. Over the next ten years the organisation ran in several categories, NASCAR, AUSCAR and Production Cars, as well as supporting some Formula Ford teams. A Super Touring team was established in 1995 and ran for three years utilising Alfa Romeo, Honda and Nissan cars, before concentrating on their V8 Supercar Holden Commodore team, established in 1996, and eventually going on to challenge for the year 2000 championship with Garth Tander finishing runner up, and also to win the Bathurst 1000 in that year.

SuperCheap Auto/PWR Racing (Holden)
The current PWR Racing outfit was formed in 2003 as Kees Weel reinvented his Queensland based Ford team into a Victorian Holden team aligned with the powerful Holden Motorsport (Holden Racing Team) group. Initially a deal was done to call the team "Team Brock" after Peter Brock, but this deal fell through after one season and since then the team has been known as "PWR Racing". PWR Racing recruited Holden star Greg Murphy for the 2005 season.

Triple Eight Engineering (Ford)
Formed by UK group Triple Eight Racing with their purchase of Briggs Motorsport in 2003. Triple Eight owner Roland Dane attracted significant Ford funding for their team, and set about turning Briggs Motorsport into a winning operation. Subsequently Craig Lowndes narrowly lost the 2005 title.

Tony Longhurst Racing (Holden)
Formed in 2005 by Tony Longhurst's aqusition of the licenses owned by Team Dynamik. For 2005 the cars were contracted to be run by Team Dynamik, but Longhurst has relocated the team to Queensland for the 2006 season. Longhurst had formerly run a separate team up to the year 1999, before joining Stone Brothers Racing for the 2000 season only.

Brad Jones Racing (Ford)
Brad Jones' Albury based team Brad Jones Racing (BJR), managed by his brother Kim Jones, joined the V8 Supercar Series in the year 2000 after buying Tony Longhurst's old licenses. BJR had formerly run the works Audi team in Australia for the Australian Super Touring Championship, and were multiple champions in Super Touring and Australian NASCAR based series.

Rod Nash & Paul Little Racing (Holden)
WPS Racing (Ford)
WPS Racing was formed in 2004 by businessman Craig Gore who also is a part-owner of Champcar team Team Australia.

Larkham Motor Sport (Ford)
Formed behind Mark Larkham as a Formula Brabham (now Formula 4000) team in 1991, the team fielded their first Falcon V8 Supercar part-way through the 1995 season. Fortunes have ebbed and flowed since then peaking in the late 90's with a win at Surfers Paradise in 1998 and pole position at Bathurst the following year.

Team Kiwi Racing & Paul Morris Motorsport (Holden)
Two single car Holden teams merged for the sake of expediency in 2005 but retaining separate identities. Paul Morris Motorsport was originally a Formula Ford team in 1990 and had a long invlvement with BMW's works supported operation in 90's, winning four Super Touring titles. Converted to V8Supercar in 2000. Team Kiwi Racing was formed late in 2000, carrying a strong nationalist New Zealand identity and was centred around Jason Richards for several seasons. After Richard left Craig Baird drove with them for a single season before Paul Radisich joined.

Jason Bright Britek Motorsport (Ford)

 

List of Australian Touring Car Champions
1960 - David McKay (Jaguar 3.4)
1961 - Bill Pitt (Jaguar 3.4)
1962 - Bob Jane (Jaguar 3.8 MkII)
1963 - Bob Jane (Jaguar 4.1 MkII)
1964 - Ian Geoghegan (Ford Cortina GT)
1965 - Norm Beechey (Ford Mustang)
1966 - Ian Geoghegan (Ford Mustang)
1967 - Ian Geoghegan (Ford Mustang)
1968 - Ian Geoghegan (Ford Mustang)
1969 - Ian Geoghegan (Ford Mustang)
1970 - Norm Beechey (Holden Monaro 350 GTS)
1971 - Bob Jane (Chevrolet Camaro)
1972 - Bob Jane (Chevrolet Camaro)
1973 - Allan Moffat (Ford Falcon XY GTHO Phase III)
1974 - Peter Brock (Holden Torana LJ XU1)
1975 - Colin Bond (Holden Torana LH L34)
1976 - Allan Moffat (Ford Falcon XB GT)
1977 - Allan Moffat (Ford Falcon XB GT / XC)
1978 - Peter Brock (Holden Torana LX A9X)
1979 - Bob Morris (Holden Torana LX A9X)
1980 - Peter Brock (Holden Commodore VB)
1981 - Dick Johnson (Ford Falcon XD)
1982 - Dick Johnson (Ford Falcon XD)
1983 - Allan Moffat (Mazda RX-7)
1984 - Dick Johnson (Ford Falcon XE)
1985 - Jim Richards (BMW 635 CSi)
1986 - Robbie Francevic (Volvo 240 Turbo)
1987 - Jim Richards (BMW M3)
1988 - Dick Johnson (Ford Sierra RS500)
1989 - Dick Johnson (Ford Sierra RS500)
1990 - Jim Richards (Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R)
1991 - Jim Richards (Nissan Skyline BNR32 GT-R)
1992 - Mark Skaife (Nissan Skyline BNR32 GT-R)
1993 - Glenn Seton (Ford Falcon EB)
1994 - Mark Skaife (Holden Commodore VP)
1995 - John Bowe (Ford Falcon EF)
1996 - Craig Lowndes (Holden Commodore VR)
1997 - Glenn Seton (Ford Falcon EL)
1998 - Craig Lowndes (Holden Commodore VS)
1999 - Craig Lowndes (Holden Commodore VT)
2000 - Mark Skaife (Holden Commodore VT)
2001 - Mark Skaife (Holden Commodore VX)
2002 - Mark Skaife (Holden Commodore VX)
2003 - Marcos Ambrose (Ford Falcon BA)
2004 - Marcos Ambrose (Ford Falcon BA)
2005 - Russell Ingall (Ford Falcon BA)
[edit]
Level Two V8 Champions
2000 - Dean Canto (Ford Falcon EL)
2001 - Simon Wills (Holden Commodore VT)
2002 - Paul Dumbrell (Holden Commodore VX)
2003 - Mark Winterbottom (Ford Falcon AU)
2004 - Andrew Jones (Ford Falcon AU)
2005 - Dean Canto (Ford Falcon BA)
 

Notable figures in V8 Supercars
Peter Brock, Multiple Series Champion, 9 x Bathurst Winner
Craig Lowndes, 3 times champion, 1 x Bathurst Winner
Glenn Seton, 2 times champion
Marcos Ambrose, 2 times champion
Russell Ingall 2 x Bathurst Winner, 2005 Champion
John Bowe, 1 times champion, 2 x Bathurst Winner
Mark Skaife, 5 times champion, 5 x Bathurst Winner
Greg Murphy, 4 x Bathurst Winner
Larry Perkins, ex-F1 and team owner, 6 x Bathurst Winner
Steven Richards, 2 x Bathurst Winner - Son of Jim Richards, 7x Bathurst Winner
Rick Kelly 2 x Bathurst Winner
Garth Tander 1 x Bathurst Winner
Jason Bright 1 x Bathurst Winner
Todd Kelly 1 x Bathurst Winner
Max Wilson, ex-F1 test driver, ex-Champ Car World Series
Paul Radisich, World Touring Car Cup winner
James Courtney, former Jaguar Racing prodigy.

 

Formula 1 Grand Prix
Formula One, abbreviated to F1 and also known as Grand Prix racing, is the highest class of single-seat open-wheel formula auto racing. It consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held on purpose-built circuits or closed city streets, whose results determine two annual World Championships, one for drivers and one for constructors. The cars race at speeds often in excess of 300 km/h (185 mph) with engines that produce, as of 2005, around 950 bhp at just over 19000 rpm.

Europe is Formula One's traditional centre and remains its leading market; however, Grands Prix have been held all over the world, and with new races in Bahrain, China, Malaysia and Turkey, its scope is continually expanding. As the world's most expensive sport, its economic impact is significant, and its financial and political battles are widely observed. In recent years, it has also become known for glamour.

The sport is regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile,with its headquarters in Place de la Concorde, Paris. Its present President is Max Mosley, and is generally promoted and controlled by the official commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone through a variety of corporate entities.

Formula One cars
Michael Schumacher driving a modern Formula One car at the 2004 United States Grand Prix

Modern Formula One cars are single-seat, open cockpit, open wheel race cars that have substantial wings at front and rear, and position the engine behind the driver. The regulations governing the cars are unique to the championship. The current Formula One regulations specify that cars must be constructed by the racing teams themselves.

Engines
The regulations specify that the cars must be powered by 2.4 litre eight cylinder naturally-aspirated engines in the V8 configuration that have no more than five valves per cylinder. All cars have the engine located between the driver and the rear wheels.

The engines produce over 100,000 BTU per minute (1,758 kW) of heat that must be dumped, usually to the atmosphere via radiators. They consume around 650 litres of air per second. Race fuel consumption rate is normally around 75 litres per 100 kilometers travelled (3.1 mpg).

The engines are a stressed member in most cars. This means that engine is part of the structural support framework, being bolted to the cockpit at the front end, and transmission and rear suspension at the back end.

In the 2004 championship, engines were required to last a full race weekend; in the 2005 championship, they are required to last two full race weekends and if a team changes an engine between the two races, they incur a penalty of 10 grid positions.

In an attempt to slow the cars down, the FIA has mandated that as of the 2006 season there will be a new engine package. It will be a 2.4 litre, 90 degree V-8 engine and as of this writing, some of the development engines are reportedly operating at more than 22,000 rpm. We will have to wait to see what the final product will provide.

The more poorly funded teams (Ferarri spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year developing their car, while the former Minardi team spent less than 50 million) will have the option of keeping the current V-10 for another season, but the engines will have their components de-tuned to keep them from having any advantage over the V-8 engines.

Transmission
Formula One cars use semi-automatic sequential gearboxes with six or seven forward gears and one reverse gear. The driver signals gear changes using paddles mounted on the back of the steering wheel and electro-hydraulics perform the actual change as well as throttle control. Clutch control is also performed electro-hydraulically except from and to a standstill when the driver must operate the clutch using a lever mounted on the back of the steering wheel. By regulation the cars use rear wheel drive. A modern F1 Clutch is a multi-plate carbon design with a diameter of less than four inches (102 mm), weighing less than a kilogram and handling 900 horsepower (670 kW) or so.

Aerodynamics
The rear wing of a modern Formula One car, with three aerodynamic elements (1, 2, 3). The rows of holes for adjustment of the angle of attack (4) and installation of another element (5) are visible on the wing's endplate.The cars' aerodynamics are designed to provide maximum downforce with a minimum of drag; every part of the bodywork is designed with this aim in mind. Like most open wheeler cars they feature large front and rear aerofoils, but they are more developed than American open wheel racers, which depend more on suspension tuning; for instance, the nose is raised above the center of the front aerofoil, allowing its entire width to provide downforce. They also feature aerodynamic appendages that direct the airflow.

F1 regulations prohibit the use of ground effects, so to minimise the downforce provided by ground effects the undertray is flat between the axles and a wooden "plank", measured before and after a race, runs down the middle of the car to prevent the cars from running so low to the ground that they scrape against it. However, a substantial amount of downforce is provided by using a rear diffuser which rises from the undertray at the rear axle to the actual rear of the bodywork. This downforce comes at the cost of what is actually a quite high aerodynamic drag coefficient (about 1 according to Minardi's technical director Gabriele Tredozi, so that, despite the enormous power output of the engines, the top speed of these cars is less than that of World War II vintage Mercedes Benz Silver Arrows racers; however this is more than compensated for by the ability to corner at huge velocity. The aerodynamics are adjusted for each track; with a relatively low drag configuration for tracks where high speed is relatively more important like Autodromo Nazionale Monza, and a high traction configuration for tracks where cornering is more important, like the Österreichring.

The FIA is hoping to rid F1 of small winglets and other parts of the car (minus the front and rear wing) used to manipulate the airflow of the car. This is in order to not only decrease downforce, but also to increase drag. As it is now, the front wing is shaped specifically to push air towards all the winglets and bargeboards so that the airflow is smooth. Should these be removed, various parts of the car will cause great drag when the front wing is unable to shape the air past the body of the car. There will also be modifications to the rules on rear wings so as to prevent severe disturbances in the air as cars try to pass one another on curves. The overall goal is to increase overtaking by decreasing downforce.

Construction
The cars are constructed from composites of carbon fibre and similar ultra-lightweight (and incredibly expensive to manufacture) materials. The minimum weight permissible is 600 kg including the driver, fluids and on-board cameras. However, all F1 cars weigh significantly less than this (some as little as 440 kg) so teams add ballast to the cars to bring them up to the minimum legal weight. The advantage of using ballast is that it can be placed anywhere in the car to provide ideal weight distribution.

Steering wheel

2004 Ferrari Steering WheelThe driver has the ability to fine tune many elements of the race car from within the machine using the steering wheel. The wheel can be used to alter traction control settings, change gears, apply rev limiter, adjust fuel air mix, change brake pressure and call the radio. Telemetry data such as rpm, laptimes, speed and gear are displayed on an LCD screen. The wheel alone can cost about $40,000, and with carbon fibre construction, weighs in at 1.3 kilograms.

Fuel
The fuel used in F1 cars is fairly similar to ordinary gasoline, albeit with a far more tightly controlled mix. Formula One fuel cannot contain compounds that are not found in commercial gasoline, in contrast to alcohol-based fuels used in American open-wheel racing. Blends are tuned for maximum performance in given weather conditions or different circuits. During the period when teams were limited to a specific volume of fuel during a race, exotic high-density fuel blends were used which were actually heavier than water, since the energy content of a fuel depends on its mass density.

To make sure that the teams and fuel suppliers aren't violating the fuel regulations, the FIA requires Elf, Shell, and the other fuel teams to submit a sample of the fuel they are providing for a race. At any time, FIA inspectors can request a sample from the fueling rig to compare the "fingerprint" of what is in the car during the race with what was submitted. The teams usually abide by this rule, but in 1997, Mika Häkkinen was stripped of his third place finish at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium after the FIA determined that his fuel was not the correct formula.

Tyres and brakes
By regulation, the tires feature a minimum of four grooves in them, with the intention of slowing the cars down (a slick tire, with no indentations, is best in dry conditions). They must be no wider than 355 mm and 380 mm at the front and rear respectively. Unlike the fuel, the tires bear only a superficial resemblance to a normal road tire. Whereas a normal car tire has a useful life of up to 80,000 km, and even motorcycle tires are normally good for 15,000 km, in 2005, a tire is built to last just one race distance, which is a little over 300 km. This is the result of a drive to maximise the road holding ability, leading to the use of very soft compounds (to ensure that the tire surface conforms to the road surface as closely as possible).

Disc brakes consist of a rotor and caliper at each wheel. Expensive carbon fibre rotors are used instead of steel or cast iron because of thier superior thermal and anti-warping properties, as well as significant weight savings. The driver can control brake force distribution fore and aft using a control on the steering wheel to compensate for changes in track conditions. An average F1 car can decelerate from 100-0 km/h (60-0 mph) in about 17 meters (55 feet), compared with a Dodge Viper (considered one of the best mass-production street cars for braking), which takes around 34 meters (112 feet).

Performance
F1 cars and the cutting edge technology that constitute them produce an unprecedented combination of outright speed and quickness for the drivers, or pilots. Nearly every F1 car on the grid is capable of going from 0 to 160 km/h (100 MPH) and back to 0 km/h in less than five seconds. During a demonstration at the Silverstone circuit in Britain, a McLaren F1 car driven by David Coulthard gave a pair of Mercedes-Benz street cars a head start of seventy seconds, and was able to beat the cars to the finish line from a standing start.

Despite F1 cars being fast, they also have incredible turning ability. F1 cars can take corners at much higher speeds then a normal racing car could because of the intense levels of grip and downforce. The upside-down wings keep the car racing on the ground on corners at speeds where normal cars would flip over and crash. In fact, the downforce at high speeds is greater than the gravitational force, in principle allowing an F1 car to be driven upside down.

In an effort to reduce speeds and increase driver safety, the FIA has introduced new rules for F1 constructors. These rules included restrictions on engine computer technology, as well as the introduction of grooved tires. Yet despite these changes, constructors continue to extract performance gains by increasing power and aerodynamic efficiency. As a result, the pole position speed at many circuits in comparable weather conditions has dropped between 1.5 and 3 seconds in 2004 over the prior year's times.

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