I was wondering about the diffs in the F1 cars. does anyone have any info on this?
Secondly I would like to know how that compares to the commercial vehicles of today.
Thanks
Gear
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
And all things that were created were created through Him, and anything that was not created, has not been created. John 1:1-3
Like everything else on a modern F1 car, the rear diff is electronically controlled. In the good 'ol days, the rear diff slip characteristics were set up by changing the ramp profile and springs in the diff mechanism. Later, the cam and springs were replaced by a hydraulic pump gizmo with mechanical control. Finally, the mechanical controls in the hydraulic diff have now been replaced by electronic controls. This allows diff characteristics to be mapped.
Diff control is very critical, because getting both rear tires to maintain maximum traction at all times is very important to turning fast laps. If my memory serves me correctly, there was a car a couple of years ago (Benetton?) that also used an axel and differential on the front wheels to improve braking performance, side to side.
As for production cars, there are all-wheel drive systems from Porsche, Audi, Subaru etc. that use up to three separate differentials to split power front-to-rear and side-to-side.
one big difference between f1 and conventional differencial is that in F1 cars the gearbox and Diff are one Box. On street cars they are almost ALWAYS two differnt pieces with a driveshaft connecting them.
