how much downforce does an f1 car have
Formula One car Several teams started to experiment with the now familiar wings in the late 1960s. Race car wings operate on the same principle as aircraft wings, but are configured to cause a downward force rather than an upward one. A modern Formula One car is capable of developing 6 G's of lateral cornering force[15] (six times its own weight) thanks to aerodynamic downforce. The aerodynamic downforce allowing this, is typically greater than the weight of the car. That means that, theoretically, at high speeds they could drive on the upside down surface of a suitable structure; e.g. on the ceiling.
Formula One car A modern F1 clutch is a multi-plate carbon design with a diameter of less than 100 mm (3.9 in),[11] weighing less than 1 kg (2.2 lb) and handling around 720 hp (540 kW).[4] As of the 2009[update] race season, all teams are using seamless shift transmissions, which allow almost instantaneous changing of gears with minimum loss of drive. Shift times for Formula One cars are in the region of 0.05 seconds.[12] In order to keep costs low in Formula One, gearboxes must last five consecutive events and since 2015, gearbox ratios will be fixed for each season (for 2014 they could be changed only once). Changing a gearbox before the allowed time will cause a penalty of five places drop on the starting grid for the first event that the new gearbox is used.[13]
Formula One car For a decade, F1 cars had run with 3.0-litre naturally aspirated engines with all teams settling on a V10 layout by the end of the period; however, development had led to these engines producing between 980 and 1,000 hp (730 and 750 kW),[5] and the cars reaching top speeds of 375 km/h (233 mph) (Jacques Villeneuve with Sauber-Ferrari) on the Monza circuit.[citation needed] Teams started to use exotic alloys in the late 1990s, leading to the FIA banning the use of exotic materials in engine construction, with only aluminium, titanium and iron alloys being allowed for the pistons, cylinders, connecting rods and crankshafts.[4] The FIA has continually enforced material and design restrictions to limit power. Even with the restrictions, the V10s in the 2005 season were reputed to develop 980 hp (730 kW), power levels not seen since the ban on turbo-charged engines in 1989.[5]
Formula One racing Thirty minutes prior to race time, the cars take to the track for any number of warm-up laps (formally known as reconnaissance laps), provided they pass through the pit lane and not the grid, after which they assemble on the starting grid in the order they qualified.[18] At the hour of the race, a green light signifies the beginning of the relatively slow formation lap during which all cars parade around the course doing a final tire warmup and system checks.[18] The cars then return to their assigned grid spot for the standing race start. The starting light system, which consists of five pairs of lights mounted above the start/finish line, then lights up each pair at one-second intervals. Once all five pairs are illuminated, after a random length of time (one to nine seconds), the red lights are turned off by the race director, at which point the race starts.[19] The race length is defined as the smallest number of complete laps that exceeds 305 kilometers (the Monaco Grand Prix is the sole exception with a race length of 78 laps / 260.5Â km),[20] though occasionally some races are truncated due to special circumstances. The race can not exceed two hours in length; if this interval is reached the race will be ended at the end of the next full lap. The only exception is if the race is halted by a Red flag in which case the total time including the red flag stoppage must not exceed 4 hours (since 2012), and the total time excluding the red flag stoppage may not exceed 2 hours.[21]