F1 Race on the Moon

[flynfrog]

Bernie would be glad : another GP venue with no atmosphere...

I nominate this post for post of the year

[Jersey Tom]

Clip a kerb in a low speed corner and... away you go.

[n smikle]

Performance would be slower. Less gravity but the same mass to take around the corners. Fuel slosh would be different too.

[throwaway1]

If for some magical reason, this race were to happen right now, when we are still using piston engines, I am guessing the engine balance would be a bit off as well.

Also, the track could probably easily incorporate a loop the loop, which would be pretty cool.

[angusf1t]

I considered this a few years ago myself, and the answer is that it would be impossible for a number of reasons, all to do with the lack of air.

Without air, the engine would not be able to cool itself, and would overheat.

Also, from my memory of thermodynamics, heat engines require a temperature difference between two substances in order to work. I can't see what the lower temperature substance would be on the moon.

Thirdly, F1 engines need a source oxygen, which again is absent.

To make it work you'd need to either use battery-powered cars cooled by radiation only, or run the event in an artificial atmosphere.

If that happened, everything would be the same except the cars would have much less grip, and lower rolling resistance for any given tyre.

[throwaway1]

^No offense, but did almost no one read the original post in its entirety?

I specifically said, sealed off environment, with air(oxygen+ nitrogen + all the rest) pressurized at 1 atm.

[richard_leeds]

Gravity on the moon is 16% of earth, so cars would have total downforce of aero + 0.16 gravity.

What's the current ratio of aero downforce to gravity downforce? 4:1 perhaps at top speed? Say 1:1 on a slow corner?

So the total moon downforce = 4.16/5 = 83% of current downforce at top speed, and 1.16/2 = 58% on a slow corner.

The result would be increased wing AoA to provide grip on slow corners, hence slower top speed.

[angusf1t]

Whoops, missed that bit. Basically as above then. ^

At very low speed (or in the absence of downforce for whatever reason), bumps would pose problems, as would crests. If a car flipped (eg Webber 2010) it would stay airborne much longer and further, too.

[raymondu999]

If I were Bernie I'd incorporate a gap-jump in the lap then

[Lancelot28]

The moon people are notorious tightwads. They'd never pay Bernie's fee.

[richard_leeds]

If a car flipped (eg Webber 2010) it would stay airborne much longer and further, too.

Good point. That would actually be safer for the driver. The aero drag would be the same so the car would slow down more before impact on the ground. It could be a problem for spectators though.

Not sure gravel traps would work, the cars would skim over the top.

[riff_raff]

Since there are at least two different wheeled vehicles still on the surface of the moon, a lunar GP race might be possible. There is the Apollo Lunar Rover which needs a driver, and the Soviet Lunokhod which is unmanned. Both have electric AWD drivetrains.





Getting new cars to the lunar surface for a race would be quite expensive. A moon shot currently would cost about $200,000 per pound of payload, or more than $300 million for an F1 car.

[ParanoiD]

I think I saw it on the advertisement of Total company during a GrandPrix at Star Sports.