- 09 Oct 12, 15:31#325675BUMP!
I had(/was requested) to do a presentation, 3-5 minutes for any topic I was passionate about, I decided to do it on F1. I have evidence it was well received, and I thought I would post the text on here, the presentation was just a slide show of F1 images.
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Formula 1.
The name sets the tone, formula suggesting complex mathematical and scientific based reasoning, yet the 1 isn't there for mathematical notation, it's about elitism, being the best, passion, it's purpose is to represent the fundamentally emotional; human traits that intersperse the Sport.
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Originating from European motor racing culture, the first formula one world championship race was held in 1950, and the sports reputation began to grow, with even the earliest days featuring glamorous names such as Ferrari, Mercedes-Benze, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati alongside privateer drivers who simply brought a car and took it racing.
Since those not so humble beginnings, F1 has grown and developed:
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• Commercially through the management of Bernie Ecclestone , former owner of the commercial rights, current chief executive and a major shareholder of "The Formula One Group ;
• As a competition through teams technologically advancing, ruthlessly seeking to gain an advantage, to exploit weakness in their rivals.
• Lastly the third spoke of the wheel, though some may call them a third wheel: the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, generally known as the "FIA", the sport's independent governing body, most notable for the advances in safety responding to f1's tragic history, through strict car regulations, stringent race circuit standards, mandatory crash tests and numerable other procedures, more generally the FIA are charged with arbitrating and deciding on the suitability of all aspects of F1 racing, or more simply put, trying to hold it all together.
Those three components have all, through careful dealing's and compromises with each other, shaped F1 right through to it's modern environment, continuing to form the core.
That's what F1 is, but what is F1 really?
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Simplistically, it is the same of what it always has been, always claimed to be. That is: raising the highest amount of funds possible. To go racing. Having the fastest, most reliable combination of car and driver. Of course, the application is so much more. To explain it all, the intricate interlocking details requires far more time, and a far higher level of expertise then I have available here, but let me give you a flavour.
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F1 is high value and high expense global brand, valued at $9.1bn on the 22nd May 2012. Seen as the pinnacle of motorsport with the fastest cars and the world's finest drivers. 12 teams and 24 drivers, competing across the globe in 20 races competing for the World Drivers championship and the World Constructors Championship.
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The cars themselves are multi-million pounds designs, powered by 2.4 litre V8 engines limited to
18,000 RPM that produced an excess of 750 brake horsepower with relatively small input from an electrical motor that recharges by harvesting the braking energy. Constructed to be as light as possible; the cars are in limited by the FIA to a minimum weight of 650Kg including the driver with teams often using ballast to make the weight up. Yet this is combined with physical strength: take the cockpit walls which must be able to withstand
impacts equivalent to 250 tonnes .
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But performance gains, in modern F1, are rooted in aerodynamics, giving the cars their distinctive shape, the principle is simple, manipulate the air flow around the car to generate the maximum amount of pressure forcing the car to keep on the road for fast cornering speeds and generally maximising grip, known as down force, whilst reducing drag caused by turbulent air which slows the car down in a straight line. 10s of millions of dollars are spent each year and even the tiniest sections of the cars are closely antagonised over by the designers and engineers. Parts are constructed to incredibly detailed standards and due to restrictions on testing wind tunnels, for the major teams are constantly in use, alongside computer simulations. Although arguably F1's highest rated car designer Adrian Newey, is reputed to simply use pen and paper to draw out his designs.
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The drivers aren't simply superfluous puppets to operate the machinery, they're athletes, on strict nutritional diets who undergo forces up to around 3.5Kg, who must cope with the extreme heat generated in the car where they lose 3kg in weight due to sweat after a full race distance. Whilst electronic aids such as semi-automatic gearboxes do exist, the skill levels are still immense, requiring quick reactions, finally attuned coordination, mechanical understanding, a clear head even under pressure. . Most drivers have started karting at a young age, and have a host of titles in junior competitions to their respective names and are capable of commending fees in 10s of millions of pounds, in a sport where there is so much else for teams to spend money on.
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That's impressive enough in itself, but personally, I think F1 really distinguishes itself through the tactical interplay. The aim is to finish first, but there are a myriad of variables, on top of variables that come into play at all stages. Often just a few tenths of a second, a few inches on the track can be the difference between triumph and disaster. The cars are continually being reshaped and improved as the engineers collect more aerodynamic and other data (sometimes from viewing rival cars). The circuits are vastly different, requiring vastly different car designs, this costs money, man-hours and time, it's virtually impossible to produce a car that will beat it's rivals in all circumstances, so it comes down to strategic choices, sacrificing performance in one area but prioritising another, in the hope the long game will eventually pay off. Sometimes only one updated component is available, which driver to give it to? Such dilemmas occur in real time, during races as well, working out the optimum time to pit-in, receiving a fresh set of tyres which provide much greater grip, pit too soon and the tyres may run out of workable grip during the race, forcing a costly second stop, but sometimes the extra grip from a second stop enables the driver to catch up and overtake drivers who didn’t make an extra stop, and are on far older, slower tyres.
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These are just a few examples, F1 might be described as "playing chess at 100 miles per hour; with millions of pounds worth of pieces with the world as your stage", but I disagree, in chess, computers are superior to humans, at working out the permutations and possible manoeuvres, F1 can't be pinned down so rigidly, it takes courage, experience, flair and human intuition to put together and operate a championship winning team.
Thank you for listening.
Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point. 
Missed that part, I think I meant 3.5G (3.5 times the force of gravity on earth). I know Kilograms is a measurement of mass. Force being the rate of change of momentum (mass times velocity). Sorry DD. . . did you like the rest? At least you read it carefully. 
