This article intrigued me:-

https://www.autosport.com/engineeri...eaches-supermarkets-soldiers-and-saves-babies

Many people see the money, the glitz and the glamour of F1 and think there is nothing more to it. Well it has delivered a lot of engineering based solutions to everyday problems. One example, the concept behind the front fins on older F1 cars were developed and incoporated into the large freezers in supermarkets. Due to the aerodynamics they funnel huge volumes of cold air across the freezers

 

Intriguing, never thought F1 would have so many technological developments linked to it. Humans are amazing, they take something and use it for a completely different purpose.

A child incubator from the carbon fiber, lightweight but strong enough to withstand an F1 crash. The airfoil from the front wing of F1 being used in supermarket fridge shelves to reduce heat loss. How did they even think about heat loss from an airfoil. And now they are even making satellites with airbus.

Its like once you have innovation you can use it pretty much anywhere to better the world. This article is worth the read.

 

This article is just as intriguing!

It lists the F1 technologies used which have now been banned. Engineers really are an innovative crowd

https://jalopnik.com/the-ten-most-ingenious-f1-cheats-ever-1465111260

Check out the car which used a water cooled braking system to make the car heavier at the start but lighter throughout the race. Fascinating!

 

The Renaults mass damper. If it was banned as a movable aerodynamic piece why didn’t they just put the mass and damper inside the cowl, the mass didn’t need to be out right? Also they used a mass damper to stop vertical vibrations, if I am not wrong this is also the technology they use on a backpack that holds its position as the person jumps up and down.

I wonder how heavy the BMW engines were to be able to change the engine every 4 laps. Does the very fast 4 laps save the time it takes to change the car? But it of course sounds like a lot of money went in to racing this F1 :3

I also don’t get how Tyrrell did the 2 gallons of water and 140 pound of lead shot. What do they mean by the lead was shot at the end?

I like the fan car a lot, he could have found a lot of ways to change the direction of the exhaust, he didn’t have to give up the idea If it wasn’t banned. But I guess its never too late to bring back old worn out technology and make them much better. That’s what engineers do and do best.

 

I like these ideas. It's always nice to see practical benefits when people criticise science and engineering (also in things like NASA probes and the Thrust/Bloodhound landspeed records)

 

Mercedes introduced a new wheel design to keep their tyres cool and then straight away Ferrari were jumping up and down, suggesting it was illegal. This stuff fascinates me, the fact that tiny improvements in design and times can be the difference between success and failure.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/139627/why-wheel-rims-are-f1-latest-controversy

 

I liked the thing where one of the teams built extra sensors into their main race car to allow them to get more data on the test days (that don't allow extra car modifications - but these were on the race car all season)

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mercedes-sensors-abu-dhabi-test/4304296/

 

I think these kinds of things are neat and awesome, but find it kind of backwards when people use these to justify expensive projects such as NASAs. I have to assume it would be way cheaper to develop these technologies in a more traditional way than piggy back off super expensive projects.

If you think F1 or NASA projects stand on their own merits then these ancillary benefits are awesome icing on the cake. But if you don't, spinoff tech, imo, isn't going to suddenly make them justifiable.

 

I totally agree with this.

 

That's a good point, I never thought of it like that.