Tech. regs. changes for 2008 (summary)

[modbaraban]

What are the most important points in the tech. regs. that changed for 2008 since 2007?

- standard ECUs with no TC
- engine freezzzzzz
- others

thanx in advance for your input.

[Ogami musashi]

engine freeze conditions are not yet known by teams. They don't know if the freeze is at the end of 2008 or now.

With the ECU comes the ban of TC but also Engine braking monitoring.

I also think tyre warmers are to be banned but not sure.

[mx_tifoso]

What purpose would banning tire-warmers serve? Cost Cutting?

Good topic to start Modbaraban, so that we can all get to know exactly what changes there will be for next season, besides the few obvious ones.

[modbaraban]

You see, I downloaded the PDF from FIA website and found tons of corrections (in pink) in it. Some of them were fairly linguistic, but some contained data as to hight above referance plane etc. I though there are ppl on the forum capable of extracting the most principal points out of that text.

[AeroGT3]

Banning tire warmers is stupid. Other than make the first few laps unsafe, it doesn't change the sport at all.

[fastback33]

Banning tire warmers is stupid. Other than make the first few laps unsafe, it doesn't change the sport at all.

It doesn't have anything to do with safety i can tell you that. More or less the tire warmers have much smaller effect then TC would on the first lap.

Ever watched a real kart race? tire warmers aren't aloud there and people still manage to get enough heat in the tires with the warm up lap, with out having a huge wreck.

[megz]

Kart tyres and F1 Potenza's are slight different IMHO

[okram]

Standard ECU
Gearbox must last at least four races
Tyre warmers are banned
Revised cockpit padding

I think that's four major changes for 2008. No major (if any) aero changes.

I also think that banning tyre warmers isn't stupid. (I think) It has little to do with safety because best drivers in the world know how to drive F1 car with cold tyres. Apart from that (in context of safety) crash structures are more and more rigid every year. On the other side, that means more exiciting racing at the beginning of the race because LC is past (i hope) and tyre temperature will be fully depended on driver job in a formation lap. That obviously increases importance of driver + TC is banned (which makes you lazy) and we have first part of The Plan accomplished. Second part is coming next year.

srry, my english isn't very good.

[Ogami musashi]

i'm not quite sure about banning tires warmers, i think i've read it but don't remember if it was a plan or else...


For the FIA pdf (still not updated with the recent measures taken at the WMSC!!) it simple:


originally it was written with the actual 2009 regs planned rules (with the infamous 12500N limitation on downforce, wider tires etc etc..) because simply those rules were meant for 2008, but finally as teams and FIA agreed to delay it till 2009 the 2008 document was simply revised to be just like the 2007 one.

So don't search for anything new (except the ECU and the revised cockpit)it is just the same in dimensions, weight and bodywork than this year.

[wxavier007]

Banning of tyre warmers? Doesn't sound good, unlike slick tyres, the grooved ones takes a longer time to get up to heat(w/o tyre warmers)than slicks because they have less contact area to the tarmac. On the other hand, banning of TC would be logic to provide more overtaking since w/o TC, cars are more prone to slide and offer more overtaking chances.

[joseff]

Banning tire warmers is stupid. Other than make the first few laps unsafe, it doesn't change the sport at all.

It'll be completely safe, as Ralf won't be in F1 next year.

[Chubbs]

Banning of tyre warmers? Doesn't sound good, unlike slick tyres, the grooved ones takes a longer time to get up to heat(w/o tyre warmers)than slicks because they have less contact area to the tarmac. On the other hand, banning of TC would be logic to provide more overtaking since w/o TC, cars are more prone to slide and offer more overtaking chances.

thats not particularly true... even though they have less contact area they also will have less tyre mass to warm up. Also, the fact that less tyre is touching the tarmac means that there is greater pressure on that specific contact patch increasing the rate of warm-up?? i think thats right...

[bizadfar]

Banning of tyre warmers? Doesn't sound good, unlike slick tyres, the grooved ones takes a longer time to get up to heat(w/o tyre warmers)than slicks because they have less contact area to the tarmac. On the other hand, banning of TC would be logic to provide more overtaking since w/o TC, cars are more prone to slide and offer more overtaking chances.

Tyres with grooves move around easily. A better(clearer) example are wets. The tread blocks move around generating heat and degrade faster than slicks.

[zac510]

Are they allowed to change the gear ratios?

[Belatti]

Are they allowed to change the gear ratios?

Second that, how to make a gearbox last 4 races if you have to change ratios sometimes from session to session.

Maybe gearbox structure is what has to last 4 races, not counting gears