Archive for March, 2010
March 31st, 2010 at 02:04pm
Under Racing
Here are the details of the BBC’s live video coverage of the Malaysian Grand Prix and the F1 Fanatic live blogs which will take place during all five sessions this weekend.
Unusually, they are splitting the coverage of the race across BBC One and BBC Two, because of some Easter-related programming on BBC One. Why couldn’t they just show the whole thing on BBC Two?
Also please note the BBC list practice three as starting at 7am British time but I think they’re wrong and it actually starts at 6am (session starts at 1pm local time which converts to 6am GMT).
Friday 2nd April 2010
Malaysian Grand Prix Free practice 1 – 02:55 – 04:35 (BBC Red Button and online)
F1 Fanatic live blog will run throughout this session
Malaysian Grand Prix Free practice 2 – 06:55 – 08:35 (BBC Red Button and online)
F1 Fanatic live blog will run throughout this session
Saturday 3rd April 2010
Malaysian Grand Prix Free practice 3 – 05:55 – 07:05 (BBC Red Button and online)
F1 Fanatic live blog will run throughout this session
Malaysian Grand Prix Qualifying – 08:00 – 10:30 (BBC1, Red Button and online) (Qualifying starts at 09:00)
F1 Fanatic live blog will begin around 8am and end around half an hour after the chequered flag
Sunday 4th April 2010
Malaysian Grand Prix – 08:00 – 10:00 BBC1, then 10:00 – 11:00 BBC2. (Also Red Button and online) (Race starts at 09:00)
F1 Fanatic live blog will begin around 8am and end around half an hour after the chequered flag
Please share details of the F1 coverage in your area below.
Read more: 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix
By Mikel
March 31st, 2010 at 01:09pm
Under Racing
Sebastian Vettel has taken pole position for both races so far this year
Red Bull are the subject of much speculation over their suspension system, which rival teams believe get around the rules on ride height adjustment, allowing them to run different ride heights in qualifying and the race.
Sebastian Vettel was on pole position for the first two races of the year and the team achieved their first one-two in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.
The data below shows the RB6 is performing better in qualifying than in the race. If the FIA force Red Bull to make changes to the car, or the other teams can emulate their device, their advantage in qualifying could be wiped out.
Sebastian Vettel was on pole position for the first two races of the year and the team achieved their first one-two in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.
The interest in how teams are managing their ride heights will come as no surprise to F1 Fanatic readers as we discussed the problem before the season began:
Heavy fuel weights at the start of a race present another problem for designers. For optimum performance the cars need to run as low to the ground as possible. But as the fuel weight decreases the cars will ride higher because there will be less mass pushing down on their suspension springs.
In the last two seasons when refuelling was not allowed in F1 – 1992 and 1993 – many teams solved this problem using active suspension technology, which could be programmed to compensate for the ever-decreasingly fuel load by gradually reducing the ride height.
But two clauses in the 2010 rules prevent those kind of systems from being used:
10.2.2 Any powered device which is capable of altering the configuration or affecting the performance of any part of the suspension system is forbidden.
10.2.3 No adjustment may be made to the suspension system while the car is in motion.
FIA Formula 1 Technical Regulations 2010
The regulations appear not to rule out teams designing mechanical systems to adjust ride height during pit stops, but that may prove too complicated and time-consuming to achieve.
Five problems F1 designers face in 2010
Rumours claim Red Bull have a system which allows the car to run lower in qualifying than it does in the race, achieving a better lap time.
For proof of this we can look at the how the teams’ lap times in the race compare to their qualifying time.
If Red Bull are running a device that allows them to get a better qualifying lap out of their car then we would expect a greater difference between their qualifying and race times than their rival teams. Let’s crunch those numbers…
Red Bull’s qualifying advantage
Bahrain Grand Prix race lap time vs qualifying time (click to enlarge)
This graph shows much slower each driver’s lap time during the Bahrain Grand Prix was compared to his qualifying lap time. Only Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren drivers are included. Any slow laps or laps where a driver was stuck behind another car (within 1.5 seconds of a rival) are discounted.
As you’d expect, throughout the race the drivers got closer to their qualifying lap time as their fuel load reduced.
But right from the off the McLaren and Ferrari drivers were closer to their qualifying lap times than the Red Bull drivers were. It took until the end of the first stint (lap 16) for Vettel to get within 7.2% of his best qualifying time, while Jenson Button was within that margin from the beginning of the stint.
The effect was even more pronounced in the middle part of the race (laps 13-32). While Vettel was typically 5.3-6.6% slower than his qualifying lap time, the McLarens were in the 4-5.5% range and the Ferraris off by 5.1-6.1%.
On the face of it you might conclude that Red Bull’s race pace isn’t very good. But we know there’s nothing wrong with their race speed – they’ve led more laps than anyone else.
The reason for the greater difference between their race and qualifying lap times is their superior qualifying performance.
How big is their qualifying advantage?
It’s hard to say with any certainty how much time per lap this is worth. A lower ride height could be more beneficial at some circuits than others depending on how bumpy they are and what kind of downforce levels the cars are running.
Plus, we only have useful data from one race. The lap times from Australia are much less useful because of the disruption caused by the rain, the safety cars and traffic.
With those caveats, the Bahrain data points to Red Bull having a performance advantage in qualifying of around 0.5% per lap. That would be around half a second on Vettel’s pole lap of 1′54.101. Even if we conservatively assume their advantage at Sakhir was only half that, it would still be the difference between Vettel qualifying on pole position instead of Felipe Massa.
Based on the data, it’s easy to understand why Red Bull’s rivals are trying to clip their wings. Whether the FIA should ban Red Bull’s device, or whether the other teams should imitate it, is a different debate. I’ll let you thrash that one out in the comments.
Image (C) Red Bull/Getty images
By Mikel
March 31st, 2010 at 01:00pm
Under Motorbikes
The king is dead. Long live the king. MCN’s world first comparison test of the new Ducati Multistrada 1200 proves it is a better all-rounder than BMW’s brilliant R1200GS. More on the Multistrada 1200 Read Multistrada 1200 and BMW GS…
By admin
March 31st, 2010 at 01:00pm
Under Motorbikes
MCN rides an astonishing TL1000-powered streetfighter special that stands out as one of the best built and nicest to ride we’ve seen. Video: Bakker Grizzly Allround Video: Bakker 250cc Moto3 prototype Read the full story in this week’s issue…
By admin
March 31st, 2010 at 04:56am
Under Computers
Our fellow site TCMagazine has just learn that Thermalright is preparing new mounting brackets for its VGA coolers to make them work with the GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470 graphics cards.
The involved products include Spitfire, HR-03 GTX and HR-03 GT. There’s no much aftermarket cooling solution available now to support the upcoming GeForce GTX480/470, [...]
By Mikel
March 31st, 2010 at 04:56am
Under Computers
XFX was said to be working on a 4GB Radeon HD 5970 Black Edition graphics card, and the design has now been leaked online.
The card features 1600*2 stream processors, core/memory clock of 850/1200MHz (4800MHz), 4GB of memory, and six mini-DisplayPort connectors for six displays. The card employs dual 8-pin power design, with the turbo fan [...]
By Mikel
March 31st, 2010 at 04:56am
Under Computers
We’ve just learned that EVGA is working on the Precision 1.9.2 Beta, and according to the interface shown above, the utility was compiled on March 6th. EVGA hasn’t officially provided the download yet, but we can see the software is optimized for GeForce GTX480/470, and there’re two different skins.
By Mikel
March 31st, 2010 at 04:55am
Under Computers
The Fraps software has recently been updated to version 3.2.0 and the version 3.2.1 is also available now. The new updates can be download via here.
Changelog
3.2.0 – 26th Mar 2010
- Added loop recording for registered users. Press and hold video capture hotkey to start 30 second buffer
- Added option to disable stereoscopic capture when [...]
By Mikel
March 30th, 2010 at 11:55pm
Under Computers
Keeping the applications on your Mac up-to-date is important, on the one hand because only by doing so can you be sure that they work properly and interact correctly with each other, and, on the other hand, because, with every update, the developers offer you additional features or improve bugs, which can tremendously simplify your work.
But your Mac OS X has alread… (read more)
Read Full Article
By Moris
March 30th, 2010 at 11:55pm
Under Motorbikes
In this week’s issue of MCN, on sale March 31, we bring you the world’s first head-to-head test between the new Ducati Multistrada and BMW R1200GS. Why Leon Haslam is the new WSB standard. We reveal some of the worst potholes…
By admin
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