What makes a championship winning car

[williamssam]

What 10 things, in order of priority, do u think affect a championship winning car? This is one of the questions ive been given from a potental industrial placement employer and I cant decide on which is more important between each aspect of the car itself and the team and driver. What do you guys think?

[waynes]

carbon fibre is a good start



PS: stamford is a lovely town, i used to live there

[Sawtooth-spike]

Money and Luck!

[williamssam]

All good points, but im not sure thats what they're looking for! I was more thinking along the lines of whether the car is more important than the driver, and what aspects of the car. The way I see it everything's of equal importance because, for example, you can have the best car and the best team, but if the driver's rubbish it all accounts for nothing, at least as far as winning a championship is concerned.

[Tom]

The car is more important than the driver, go with tyres, reliability, aerodynamics, power, weight, suspension, driver. along those lines I would say.

[vyselegend]

Q-What makes a championship winning car?
A- It wins championships.

(Now please laugh)

Erm...
Sorry I'm just killing time, you'll have to wait for the experts answears.

Anyway I think you should focus on the importance of coherence, I mean the fact that a whole car has to be thought as one and unique thing.(ie: what is called "car philosophy").

The best aero won't help winning if chassis isn't set up accordingly, or doesn't provide enough cooling for engine etc...The philosophy of the car should be focused on improving mutual integration of its elements. Behavior of every component has to be thought with the whole car in mind. I don't know if it is what makes a championnship winning car, but championnship winning cars are made like this for sure!

I know it is obvious and I don't want to insult your intelligence, sorry if I made you lose your time.

[zac510]

I think this is a pretty interesting question but I hate the idea that we're helping you in a job interview.

If you are going to suggest that the tyre is more important than the driver then you should note which aspects of the tyre are crucial, for example low wear rate, rapid rise to operating temperature, high coeff grip. It sounds like an essay - you have to prove that you actually have this knowledge and didn't just read it on the internet.

[BreezyRacer]

1. power ro weight
2. aero, depending on velocity range
3. vehicle balance across the speed range
4. low cg and center of mass
5. chassis stiffness relative to loads
6. braking capabilities
7. consistant performance over the race duration
8. driver comfort
9. ease of enhancements
10. ease of maintentence and repair

That's my list

[williamssam]

Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:20 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think this is a pretty interesting question but I hate the idea that we're helping you in a job interview.

If you are going to suggest that the tyre is more important than the driver then you should note which aspects of the tyre are crucial, for example low wear rate, rapid rise to operating temperature, high coeff grip. It sounds like an essay - you have to prove that you actually have this knowledge and didn't just read it on the internet

Its not for an interview as such, ive just been asked to answer 15 questions and send it back to them for further shortlisting. Ive got a pretty good idea of the factors that contribute towards making a championship winning car, and am currently studying a degree in automotive engineering so im fairly sure I can back most of it up with knowledge, i was just interested to see how you'd rank them in order of priority as I believe a lot of them are of equal importance.

[Rob W]

Could squeeze another one in there somwhere:

- Efficient use of tires (relative to competitiors)

1. power ro weight
2. aero, depending on velocity range
3. vehicle balance across the speed range
4. low cg and center of mass
5. chassis stiffness relative to loads
6. braking capabilities
7. consistant performance over the race duration
8. driver comfort
9. ease of enhancements
10. ease of maintentence and repair

That's my list

[BreezyRacer]

Could squeeze another one in there somwhere:

- Efficient use of tires (relative to competitiors)

1. power ro weight
2. aero, depending on velocity range
3. vehicle balance across the speed range
4. low cg and center of mass
5. chassis stiffness relative to loads
6. braking capabilities
7. consistant performance over the race duration
8. driver comfort
9. ease of enhancements
10. ease of maintentence and repair

That's my list

I quite agree, however points 2 and 3 pretty much cover that, IMO. Where's everyone else's list?

[Jersey Tom]

1 - 110% dedicated, driven team
2 - Experience / wit
3 - Consistency
4 - Tuning to the last .01% of performance
5 - Effective use of tires
6 - Low weight
7 - Ease of driving (ergo, visability, controls, TCS etc)
8 - Biggest, highest-revving engine allowable
9 - Low CG
10 - Funding

[ketanpaul]

I dont know why everybody is underestimating a driver's importance. The Driver makes one helluva difference, if Alonso had been in Renault this season, we would be expecting him on the podium, and with Fisico and Heikki, everybody just expects a top 5 finish. Had Kimi not been in McLaren in 2005, do you think they would have been able to challenge for the constructor's title?

[Ciro Pabón]

All right, all right, ketanpaul. So:

....
11. Driver

[Steven]

1 - 110% dedicated, driven team
2 - Experience / wit
3 - Consistency
4 - Tuning to the last .01% of performance
5 - Effective use of tires
6 - Low weight
7 - Ease of driving (ergo, visability, controls, TCS etc)
8 - Biggest, highest-revving engine allowable
9 - Low CG
10 - Funding

Isn't funding on 10. a slight bit underrated? I mean, without funding, there is hardly a dedicated team so not even a good basic car, development and such.

Let's also generalise engine performance as revs are not all that counts. Renault have been known to not have the highest revs but instead master engine tuning for impressive torque.