Location: Covilhã, Portugal (and sometimes in Évora)
Post
a Formula 1 engine is externally started.
There is a starter that is connceted to the gearbox (which will be connected to the engine through the clutch, which will be engaged), through a little hole in the diffuser and rotates the bottom shaft of the gearbox...which is conected to the engine. Af few years ago the starter would rotate using compressed air....nowadays it's electric. Before connecting the starter a computer usually is connected to the engine to insert the engines password....some teams use this system...I've read that Renault has this system.
A few years back the driver would press the ignition switch while the starter was rotating the engine....but I don't think it's necessary nowadays.
Uff.. it's not that easy!!
I've heard you must connect several laptop's to the car and than start it
with some --- that you stick it in the back of the car!!
Location: Covilhã, Portugal (and sometimes in Évora)
Post
The several lap-tops...is basicly one....for the password....the thing you stick in the back...is the starter....all is mentioned in my first post.
The only time it is necessary to use 2 laptop's (but usually teams only use one) is when there is no one in the cockpit...one laptop is used to control the throtle and the other is used to insert the password and do changes to the engine mapping and engine management unit. But usually you can do all this with a single laptop...usually you'll see 2 laptops connected to the car one is for the general electronics of the car the other is for the engine.
Pay attention to when a driver stalls in the pits....usually they only connect 1 laptop...for the password and put the starter in the back. sometimes they don't even have to connect the laptop...pribably they'll disable the password for the race in order to be faster to turn on the engine in case of a stall.
On the topic of starting the engine, I have always been under the impression that the engine must be pre-heated in order to allow tolerances and parts fit to become appropriate. However, in the US grand prix when Juan Pablo jumped out and ran to his T - car, he got right in and the car went out in about 30 seconds!! And i know that the pre-heaters i've used before take possibly an hour for the whole engine and gearbox to heat up.
I guess that the T - car engine could have been pre-heated 'just in case' Montoya needed it, but i wasnt sure so thought i'd ask!
Also, dry sump engines i have worked on such as BTCC engines and a few DTM tourers must be held at high-RPM for a few seconds so that the oil sits in the top of the engine and can coat the system as it returns downward. I have noticed that F1 drivers don't do this so am i wrong that they are dry sumps? Or are the engines designed so that they can just be turned off at idle?
Location: Covilhã, Portugal (and sometimes in Évora)
Post
Yup F1 engines are pre-heated to around 50º-60ºC in order to reduce the oil and "water" viscocity....and so that there is not a big heat "shock" due to the diference between the oil temp and the ignition temp....it's like putting a very hot liquid in a cold glass.....sometimes the glass cracks or breaks....the idea in pre heating the engine is to reduce the viscocity of the fluids inside the engine and to reduce the temp diference so that parts don't tend to crack.
I remember in 1997 Stewart had to pre-heat there engine at the first utting of the car for around 45 min because the air temp was close to 5ºC.
F1 engines usually are started at low rpms because of the oil placement....since the oil tends to acumulate at the sump the first minute or 2 the engine rotates at low (3000 - 5500rpm) in order to start the lubrication process after that you'll hear teams reving the engine for a few seconds.
you want the engine at it´s operating temp or near it before starting ,just to avoid a cold start wich reduces engine life considerably.All tolerances are held to a optimum at roperating temp.The engine does not like idling..especially the cams.So having the engine temp up you instantly can raise the revs up to a save running speed for the camshafts without fear of scuffing bearings or the liners/pistoins.Pistons would also rock too much at low revs causing considerably to wear even before you made it out of the pits.DLC and ceramics help to avoid wear when running the engine at higher speeds when starting up.
Of course water and oil is heated.Interestingly enough transmission needs preheating also as the pinion is very much stressed when oil is cooland not able to lubricate the teeth under hard accelaeration...do they preheat the trans oil also?(maybe thru heatexchangers tothe engine water/Oil)
marcush.
There are many different types of materials inside the drivetrain. Different materials posess different expansion characteristics. A good example is the rear transmission, where the load bearing shafts and gears are (sort of) steel, and the transmission housing could possibly be constructed of carbon fiber, or titanium, or magnesium, etc. Only when all the parts are at the running temperature are the tolerances within the design parameters.
Additionally, in many racing scenarios, before the engine is turned over, oil will be circulated. Because many important bearings are plain, lubrication is very necessary. So I would assume all F1 teams pre-warm, pre-lubricate and pressurise the oil before startup.
In NASCAR, it is common to just place the entire car on jackstands, start the engine, engage gear, and run it to warm up all fluids and drivetrain components. Extremely low tech, but it works.
Obviously they don't follow this path in F1. I would assume that either some form of electical heater(s) is used, or a second option is to drain all fluids, heat them up in dedicated vessels, then transfer the hot fluids back into the car before startup. Personally, I would not use a built in heater, it would add mass to the car. But the other option may expose components to thermal shock.
If anyone has ever observed how the fluids are pre-heated, I would like to know, so my assumptions aren't.
pompelmo wrote:Uff.. it's not that easy!!
I've heard you must connect several laptop's to the car and than start it
with some --- that you stick it in the back of the car!!
Ha, ha. This cracked me up reading it straight after Monstro's post! Very good.
"Whether you think you can or can't, either way you are right."
-Henry Ford-
The teams use electric preheaters, which are plumbed inline with the water\oil lines, Then an external box is plugged into the heater and the fluids pumped around the engine, I have seen this done in only ten or so minutes. I would guess the race start procedure also involves preparing the T-Car.
Then the car is plugged into the pit garage LAN (network) via a socket in he cockpit, all of the computers on the LAN can connect to the car. The engineers laptop is usually used to start the car, no one is needed in the cockpit, only the mechanic with the electric starter. The car can then be fired up after a few turns with out ignition to raise oil pressure. Then the engineer blips the throttle with a hand held trigger (or it can be automated). pretty much as soon as the car is running it can the leave the pits.
On return to the pits different teams use different procedures, some simply cut the engine, while most run the revs up for a few seconds and kill the ignition.
it's not that easy!!
