[ALEXIS_DH]

Summary of the main changes proposed for 2008

ENGINES
- All components of the engine will be controlled by an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) which has been manufactured by an FIA designated supplier to an agreed specification
- The ECU may only be used with FIA approved software and may only be connected to the control system wiring loom, sensors and actuators as specified by the FIA
- All control sensors, actuators and FIA monitoring sensors will be specified and homologated by the FIA
- The control system wiring loom connectivity will be specified by the FIA
- A 3 litre V10 engine will remain an option for teams unable to obtain a 2.4 litre V8, but subject to similar strict performance limitations as in 2006 and 2007

Reasons
- to eliminate the use of driver aids such as traction control
- as teams will not be able to develop their own ECUs, expenditure on electronics will be considerably reduced
- to allow the FIA to check testing mileage and other elements
- to keep engine costs low for the smaller independent teams

GEARBOXES
- All cars will be fitted with gear ratios, final drive ratios and differentials which have been manufactured by an FIA designated supplier to an agreed specification
- Gear changing will only be permitted by the use of a manually operated mechanical linkage to the gearbox
- Clutches will only be operated via a foot pedal connected mechanically to a release mechanism

Reasons
- to restore control over the clutch and gear changing to the driver
- the use of standard gearbox internals will result in a very significant reduction in expenditure

BODYWORK
- Downforce will be reduced to approximately 10% of current levels
- Drag will be maintained at current levels
- Overall car width will be increased
- By stipulating maximum and minimum dimensions cars will be “cleaned up” with devices such as barge boards, flip ups, winglets and other small add on parts removed
- Total advertising area on the car to remain unchanged

Reasons
- to reduce the reliance upon downforce as a means of improving performance
- by increasing mechanical grip the likelihood of one car being able to follow another closely in corners, and hence be in an attacking position at the end of the following straight, will be increased
- eliminating winglets, bargeboards, etc, will reduce costs as well as the danger of debris on the circuits
- drag should remain unchanged in order to ensure straight line speeds do not increase significantly

WHEELS AND TYRES
- Tyres will be supplied by one manufacturer appointed by the FIA after an invitation to tender. Such an appointment will be conditional upon :
- a suitable supplier being available ;
- a suitable system to ensure tyre testing is carried out in an equitable manner ;
- no team being disadvantaged by the appointment of a single supplier (detailed regulations will be written to ensure this would not be the case) ;
- there being no legal impediments during the process of appointing a supplier
- Slick tyres will be introduced for use in dry weather
- Lower profile tyres will be introduced
- Significantly larger wheels with minimum and maximum sizes stipulated for front and rear will be permitted
- Tyre blankets and other heating devices will be prohibited
- All tyre regulations will reside in the Technical Regulations

Reasons
- a single supplier would allow a bigger safety margin
- the absence of competitive tyre testing would reduce costs
- as relatively small differences in tyre compound and construction can have a significant effect on lap times, a single tyre supplier would simply ensure that no team would be adversely affected by being contracted to the “wrong” supplier
- slick tyres would be re-introduced as a part of the low-downforce and high-mechanical-grip package
- lower profile tyres would be introduced in order to give the wheels and tyres a more modern look and also permit more freedom on brakes and suspension
- a ban on tyre heating devices would eliminate this significant but unnecessary expenditure

CHASSIS
- The minimum height of the centre of gravity of the chassis will be specified
- The minimum weight for a chassis will be specified
- Energy of all impact tests will be increased
- Loads for all static tests will be increased
- Side intrusion test requirements will be increased
- Ballast will be reduced to minimal levels

Reasons
- to ensure that weight is distributed throughout the chassis
- the centre of gravity requirement should result in less pure ballast being used, the minimum weight will have to be achieved by the construction of a stronger chassis
- by raising the impact test speeds, the static load criteria on structures such as roll hoops and increasing the penetration resistance, drivers will be even better protected than they are at present

BRAKES
- All cars will be fitted with brake discs, pads and callipers which have been manufactured by an FIA designated supplier to an agreed specification

Reason
- to reduce the cost of continual development of new materials and designs, the FIA specified products will be designed to work on all types of track and last an entire Grand Prix weekend

DATA ACQUISITION AND TELEMETRY
- With specific exceptions, any data acquisition system, telemetry system or associated sensors additional to those associated with the ECU will be physically separate and completely isolated from the control electronics
- Pit to car telemetry will be prohibited

Reasons
- to ensure that any data acquisition system used by a team cannot interfere with the FIA specified ECU and sensors
- to ensure teams are unable to send messages to a car and potentially affect its performance

MATERIALS
- Limitations, similar to those within the 2006 engine regulations, will be imposed on all parts of the car

Reason
- costs will be reduced as research into exotic materials will be unnecessary

STARTER
- All cars will be equipped with a driver operated starter which is capable of starting the car without outside assistance a minimum number of times

Reasons
- to simplify the operation of starting a car, at present it is massively complex
- to give the driver a chance of starting a car unaided in the event of it stopping on the track
- to reduce the number of personnel needed at an Event and hence reduce costs

NOTICE OF CHANGE
- Notice periods for changing the rules will be related to the effect (if any) of a change on the design of a car rather than an artificial distinction between “sporting” and “technical” regulations. There will no longer be a distinction between changes to the engine, transmission or chassis.

Reason
- to ensure that changes may be made to the regulations in a timely and more realistic way

SPARE CARS **
- Spare cars will be prohibited, i.e. no team may have more than two built-up cars available at an Event at any one time. Spare chassis will be permitted but precisely what constitutes a car in this context will be clearly defined

Reason
- by taking one car less to races teams will be able to save considerable sums of money as, apart from the cost of the car itself, fewer personnel will be needed

TESTING **
- Testing will be limited to 30000km per team between 1st January and 31st December, subject to a single tyre supplier being appointed

Reason
- To reduce the enormous amounts of money currently being spent on testing

CAR ACQUISITION **
- Teams will be free to buy a complete car or any part of a car from another constructor
- How constructor’s points are to be allocated will be clearly defined after further discussion

Reason
- to enable a team to buy a complete car, or any part of a car, from another constructor. As a result teams will be able to save considerable sums of money on the design and development of their cars


** For the purposes of the submission to the World Council these Sporting Regulations will be included as an addendum to the draft Technical Regulations

from itv-f1.com

 

[shocktower]

Sounds just like the stupid boring IRL ,and tomorrow will be really interesting if all of the guy`s will finish with one set of tyres ,please some body shoot Max and Ernie and get things back to the good Old days

 

[Curb Hucker]

 

[Ciaran]

Sounds likle they are going to be driving older CART cars. IMO part of what makes F1 is the technology. No tire warmers? WTF is that?!

Thought it does look like they are getting rid of the grooved tires.

I agree....

 

[Westy]

I don't know enough about F1 to know if the rules will result in more passing but if it does kudos to them. Right now the races seem boring, most passing taking place during pit strategy. For me the biggest attraction to F1 is the technology but that isn't much fun. Either way I doubt F1 will ever get "the holy crap lean in towards the TV butt clenching exitment" of the final few laps of a Moto GP race.

 

[dhtahoe]

Since when is racing about not pushing what is possible. Isn't that what F1 has always been about.

 

[RaID]

well theyre some good points on there in the way of decreasing aerodynamic grip and increasing mechanical grip which in theory sould lead to much closer racing

however they are pretty much removing most of the areas you can improve the car by R&D, like why shouldnt they be able to use launch control, button shifting etc
what they should do is put like a sallary cap on expenditure so then teams can choose what area of the car they want to spend money on to improve its performance

you never know though if the teams dont agree with these rules they'll start their own racing series after the Concorde Agreement expires in 2007 i think it is

basically these rules remove a lot of the engineering aspect of the racing

 

[Silver]

F1 has been anything but boring this year.

The last couple years have been, but this year has been great so far.

 

[mack]

Screw those rules, if we want more passing we need better tracks.

 

[Sandwich]

i'd love to see a formula unlimited or something...screw spending caps, let's see 300mph and ~9 g's. Why not? it's not like anybody's going to DIE or anything....sheesh


bring back group b. end of story.

 

[RaID]

Screw those rules, if we want more passing we need better tracks.

very good point
considering all the new tracks like Malaysia and Shanghai
are basically big Airports bloody wide and the spectators are like a mile away from the action

they need to bring F1 back to the PPL, some high speed street circuits need to
reintroduced like Adelaide, thats a great street circuit
im sure other cities around the world could setup fast flowing street setups
thats what need to happen

 

[math2014]

Bring back the 80s! Turbo engines 1500bhp yadda yadda.... no caps no nothing... make it dangerous AGAIN. These people are getting paid 5-20 million $ per year... so let them risk a bit more.

Having said that... the above rule changes are SUPER interesting to see... they are in accordance to making the sport more competitive.

F1 as it stands today is indeed miles ahead in comparison to any other motorsport, wrt to glamour skill and technology... however it is also miles behind with respect to suspence and action, with some brilliant exceptions this year. Monaco, Imola, Montreal, ...

 

[BillT]

Street circuits suck. They are usually the worst races as they are narrow so there are even fewer places to put on a pass. The newer courses, while being further away from the live audience, produce better races because they are so wide that multiple lines are possible instead of the typical single-file marching you see in a street course.

Other than the manually operated clutch (current F1 cars only use their clutches on the start - gear changes are done sans clutch with the computer precisely matching revs), I like all the rules as they should produce some better racing and maybe they will reduce costs and make it more attractive for some more manufacturers like Audi or maybe Porsche to enter the fray.

 

[thaflyinfatman]

Bring back the REAL nurburgring, the one that was like 15km long.

Actually, you know what would be cool.... F1 cars at the Isle of Man. If you've ever seen the bikes there, you will appreciate just how insanely fast that circuit is - there is no comparison whatsoever. Slow corners can go to hell, those guys hold it wide open for miles on end, backing off all the way down to 280km/h for corners etc...

 

[steve45]

fully manual gearbox and clutch.

full slick dry weather tires

NO driver aids


i've been wanting these for years, sooner the better.
but things like brakes, gearbox's, ECU's etc being the same in every car, i hate that idea.
10% of current downforce, sounds a bit exteme.
the majority of the rest of the proposed rules just seem like a bad idea. but hey if thing go the way they are going its not going to matter, I await the rule proposals from the GPWC

 

[spookydave]

nice F1 show today

 

[Ciaran]

nice F1 show today

That's the FIA for you. Now you know who USA Cycling took lessons from.

Shame on Michelin for not having good tires. They have been to Indy before. There is NO REASON to not have proper tires. And if the tire manufacturer says that they cannot guarantee the safety of the tires the teams have no choice but to not race. The FIA, IMO, should have done something to save the race from being what it was today. At the least they should have postponed it till tomorrow and either givin rain checks or refunds and allowed Michilin to bring in new tires or allowed everyone to race on Bridgestones. It may not be easy to do, but in my opinion they should have done whatever it took to deliver a race to the fans. "Drive slower" is not an answer. Screw you, Bernie!

Shame on the FIA. And shame on the spectators who threw things on the track. That is lower than low. That puts the remaining 6 drivers in danger.

Well, maybe now they will have a USGP at a REAL road course. Road America or Laguna Seca are my two choices. Unless they bring em back to Long Beach. That would be awsome! But knowing the FIA and the fickle Americal public this will probably be the last USGP for a while.

 

[scurban]

FIA is blowing it! F-1's should be the most advanced cars in the world. Why put down so many restrictions that hold this back?

It just doesn't make sense.

they should learn something from the guys at Stump503 "traditon is the enamy of progression" keep advancing, and never hold back