Formula 1 is a world that serves as a testing ground for technologies that may end up reaching the car park and yes, here is a list of functions and features that your car will surely have that come directly from F1.
Formula 1 is not only one of the best motor sports of the world. It’s also a test laboratory where many brands innovate with technologies that years later end up in street cars. Greater power, efficiency, safety…
You may or may not be familiar with some of these mechanical milestones, but it’s certainly not just sports cars that benefit from them. ¡These are the technologies that F1 has exported to road cars!
1. Turbo
One of the most important components is the Turbowhich as its name suggests, is a turbine that compresses air and sends it to the engine through the admission considerably increasing the power of a block.
In the 1970s, Renault began to turn the tables on the competition by unseating the atmospheric V8 from Cosworthand from then on teams with turbocharged power units proved to be much better (especially on high-altitude tracks, like Kyalamiin South Africa).
2. Electronic injection
Contrary to conventional mechanical systems, the electronic injection is controlled by the ECU and allows dosing the amount of fuel that enters the cylinders depending on the driver’s power requirement.
In addition, emissions of polluting agents are also reduced. In general, it greatly increases the efficiency of current engines. As a curiosity, the electronic injection was already briefly seen in classic cars, such as the Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing thanks to Bosch.
3. Electronic suspension
The electronic suspension It is a regulation system independent of shock absorbers or suspension systems.
A switchboard controls a series of solenoid valves either engines that allow you to modify the profile of hardness, rigidity either height of the suspensions depending on the driving mode Hello car position in curves.
The 3 best engines that Renault has manufactured
Lotus and Williams They were the first to investigate this adaptive suspension technology in the late 1980s, with the Williams team being the biggest beneficiary. The FW14B was the car that dominated the 1992 season for a long time, with Nigel Mansell Y Ayrton senna at the wheel.
For 1993, all the teams developed their versions, but increasing cornering speeds and some worrying issues forced the FIA to ban this type of suspension in Formula 1 from 1994.
4. Carbon-ceramic brake discs
Few cars carry them, and generally only sports cars. This type of carbon-ceramic discs they are made up of a combination of metals, carbon Y ceramic components that allow them to endure very high temperatures without losing performance.
In the late 1970s, the team Brabham was the one who introduced these very expensive but safe systems in his brakes, and since then they have become a standard in competition and in certain high end cars.
5. Gear change with paddles on the steering wheel
Until practically the 1990s, Formula 1 cars had conventional gearboxes by lever. However, Ferrari decided to turn things around in 1989 by opting for a manual system within the automatic gearbox.
Thus were born the cams on the steering wheelsa component that can currently be seen in the vast majority of automatic cars and that allows you to have a sportier driving and precisely control gear shifting.
This news was originally published on TopGear ES.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism