In order for the Formula One industry to produce some of the fastest cars in the world, art, science, and engineering must find common ground. Fierce competition and numerous regulations necessitate new design approaches in order to gain the few milliseconds that can separate the winners from the losers. Designers, engineers and computer scientists utilize the latest computer aided design technology in an effort to create the perfect racing machine.
Introduction
Every other Sunday, from March to September, more than 40,000,000 people partake in the excitement of the Formula One Grand Prix. Attracting worldwide attention to its host country, the race has taken place throughout Europe, Australia, Japan, Brazil, and the United States. Since its beginning in the twentieth century, Formula One racing has grown in popularity commensurate with most other international sporting events today.
From the expensive sports cars on the streets to the futuristic machines in the movies, fast cars enliven the imagination. Earnest fans around the world watch the Grand Prix religiously, even if the difference in time zones requires live viewing at 2am. While many follow the races and relish the excitement it engenders, far fewer understand the engineering behind these mammoth works of art. They are some of only a few machines weighing as much as 600kg while able to reach velocities of more than 200 miles per hour. The production of a Formula One racing car is a fine example of the subtle combination of art and engineering.
The design and construction of a Formula One car requires the collaboration of a diverse design team. Aesthetic designers, computer scientists and engineers must settle on common ground to develop highly interrelated machinery in a coherent and coordinated manner. It is not uncommon for Formula One cars to have multi-million dollar budgets. With such resources, limited timeframes, and the knowledge that victory and failure rest a few milliseconds apart, these professionals work as a team to produce their finest work.
Beginnings
Each year the handful of teams that participate in the Formula One circuit design a car from scratch, able to perform in a continuously evolving and highly competitive environment. The manufacturers only receive three months of off-season time. Such time-limited operation requires excellent management and team work. Usually one manufacturer designs the car chassis while another is in charge of the engine. It may seem counterintuitive to design such critical components independently, but with proper coordination, models can fit perfectly the first time the car is assembled. It is crucial to "avoid any misunderstandings that often take place when experts of different domains...have to find a common language to transfer knowledge" (Susca 248). However, the development cycle is initiated long before manufacture begins.
The Drawing Board
Beginning with concept sketches, the team develops a small number of preliminary designs, only one of which is selected for the final car. The aesthetic designers "are responsible for, and control, the early stages of the process and then hand over the design to engineers for analysis, making it ready for production" (Tovey 570). In the early days of Formula One racing, designers would use pencil and paper to produce rough sketches of the car. Only by week three of the process would a three-dimensional representation of their design become available through a clay or foam model for further consideration (Tovey 573).
By the late 1980s, designers realized that a more efficient strategy was to use computer aided design (CAD) tools. CAD enabled the concept design process to speed up, leading to presentable ideas earlier in the development cycle. Today, a hybrid approach utilizing CAD models and hand drawings is used by most manufacturers.
In this manner, the aesthetic designers can work with the ease and flexibility of the traditional process while taking advantage of new technologies for "rapid production of solid models after the initial concept drawing phase" (Tovey 579). Using application-specific software, designers can digitize their drawings and "glue" them to a three dimensional model of the car to produce a visual representation that will help the team decide which design they will develop. To understand this approach, consider a plain, plastic doll house. If one creates the door, windows, and roof on regular paper, and glues them to the surface of the house, the model becomes more realistic. Designers sometimes use this same principle to generate three dimensional modes of the car they envision on their computers.
Technology has enabled designers to explore more concepts in less time and with reduced costs. Once a final selection is made, the design is given to the engineers, who must add to it functionality.
Each year the handful of teams that participate in the Formula One circuit design a car from scratch, able to perform in a continuously evolving and highly competitive environment. The manufacturers only receive three months of off-season time. Such time-limited operation requires excellent management and team work. Usually one manufacturer designs the car chassis while another is in charge of the engine. It may seem counterintuitive to design such critical components independently, but with proper coordination, models can fit perfectly the first time the car is assembled. It is crucial to "avoid any misunderstandings that often take place when experts of different domains...have to find a common language to transfer knowledge" (Susca 248). However, the development cycle is initiated long before manufacture begins.
