Is weight still a factor in chassis engineering?

[captainmorgan]

Are F1 chassis' still engineered to minimize pre-ballast weight? I guess to rephrase this question, are there some teams that are able to run more ballast than others?

[RH1300S]

Yes and yes

It's vital to engineer the tub (and anything else) to be as light as possible to do the job required. Ballast can then be placed very low down (helps CofG height) and adjusted along the car's length. Also, ballast is quite centralised, so reduces the MOI (compared to, say, having a heavy gearbox).

[captainmorgan]

which teams have more ballast?

[zenvision]

the million-dollar question

[pyry]

the teams with the biggest budget generally. i dont think mclaren ferrari and renault have that different balast loads, the only big variation here was the difference in kimis and juan pablos car, kimi had about 20kg more balast

[Steven]

which teams have more ballast?

That obviously is one of the items which teams will not make public. It is the aim of any team to make everything in the car as leight as possible so they can improve the behaviour of the car by placing ballast in the right spots.

Generally speaking that is most importantly done in the splitter under the driver's upper legs.

I remember when Williams had their Walrus nose they got Frank Derney back to the team, and after JP Montoya won the final GP, the team declared they had made most of their improvements that's to Derney's input to adjust the ballast positioning of the car.

More recently, the most important change on the SA06 is the lower weight of the monococque. It might not be that obvious, but the team have benefited from it with a decent improvement in performance.

[mini696]

All I can suggest is what has been said above. The teams with more money can spend more on expensive (light) composites. They can also spend more on trying different 'layups' of the cloth used in the fibres.

It also depends on specific layouts. For example McLaren with their 'no-keel' setup claim it is heavier than the other keel layouts.

Teams with more winglets and flipups would also have less ballest (although it would be very little difference).

Teams using carbon gearboxes have more ballast compared to a "steel" gearboxed team.

All engines are now at a preset weight, so there is no difference there.

The size of the driver would make a difference too.

The SA06 aparently had no ballast and was even heavier than the minimum (rumour).

[Carlos]

Interestingly---concerning composite fabric layout regarding weaves and patern layout, and lowering costs of composit construction, and achieving lighter monocoques--an Australian firm has developed a machine to simplify the entire process--an autoclave is not even needed, not even vacuum apparatus-- it was developed in conjunction with an Australian University-its a totally automated process--the equivalent of a stampimg machine for metal panels--composite fabric "plugs" are put in--as a sheet of metal is put into a stampng machine--the die-mould closes--2 epoxy resins are injected already heated---under presure--ultra sonic vibration is applied to distribute the resins and to assure resin penetration-- the finished monocoque top or bottom is popped out---the process takes about 15minutes-- machine goes though a solvent cleaning rinse cycle--only 2 machines have been built--1 at the University and Toyota has the other--it should revolutionize composite construction--I saved the company name to my files somewhere--I'll look for it next week if there is interest--I am going to Ohio to pick up a 1974 MG Midget that has been in a barn for 17 years-- so won't be able to search for it till next week--leaving in about 5 hours at 3am

Excuse me if I have strayed from the threads direction---this seemed compatable with the above posts and general conversation--

Regards Carlos

[SoftBatch]

Please let us know Carlos.