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Saturday, 31 May 2014
Thursday, 29 May 2014
Cape Speed set their sights on the 2014 Formula Student UK competition.
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The Cape Speed team with CPUT Vice-Chancellor, Dr Prins Nevhutalu who attended the unveiling of their Formula Student racing car.
Image by: Candes Keating
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A group of Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) engineering students named Cape Speed, will compete in the International Formula Student event at Silverstone, UK in July. CPUT’s Formula Student programme brings together students from different disciplines with a goal of building a single seat race car for participation in the prestigious Formula Student UK competition.
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| Cape Speed's 2014 Formula Student car. Image by: Enver Van Boom |
Formula Student is run by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers at the Silverstone circuit and backed by industry and high-profile engineers such as Ross Brawn. The competition challenges universities across the world to design and build a single-seater racing car and compete in a variety of static and dynamic events, which would demonstrate their understanding and test the performance of the vehicle. The aim of the competition is to equip Mechanical Engineering students with the skills to become Formula One race engineers.
Cape Speed made their debut at the 2012 Formula Student competition when they made history by becoming the first team from Africa to complete the 4-day event which included scrutineering and an endurance event. The team was ranked 65th out of 132 overall and came 27th out of 132 for the endurance stage of the event.
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| The car has been named Prins, after CPUT Vice-Chancellor, Dr Prins Nevhutalu. Image by: Enver Van Boom |
On the 27th of May, Cape Speed launched their 2014 Formula Student racing car which features a carbon fibre chassis and a fuel efficient engine. The car was designed and manufactured by students based at CPUT’s TIA Adaptronics AMTL research unit and the car was named Prins, after CPUT’s Vice-Chancellor, Dr Prins Nevhutalu.
The Formula Student UK 2014 competition will take place from the 9 - 13 July 2014 at Silverstone Circuit.
Monday, 19 May 2014
Saturday, 17 May 2014
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
Monday, 5 May 2014
2014 Spanish Grand Prix - QUIZ
Do you love Formula One as much as I do? Well if your answer is "YES" give this Quiz a try! Feel free to tweet the answers to @JunaidSamodien_ or leave your answers in the comment section below. #F1Magic #SpanishGPMagic
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
Do you know where your car was made?
South Africans really love their cars – it is plain to see in everyday life here, but if you require further evidence you can look to the steady increase in the number of people with car insurance, this despite the costs of our cover being among the world’s most expensive. The global automotive industry has come a long way since the humble horse and carriage in the 1800s, and globalisation has played a huge role in the success and competitiveness of car manufacturers around the world.
Cars
have become a part of what we do every day. They are intricately entrenched in
our lifestyles and we often take them for granted, but how often do we don’t
stop to think where they actually come from?
One
of the most popular car brands among South Africans is the Toyota Hilux, with 2
739 sold here in the month of September 2013. Toyota originates in Japan and
has its headquarters in Tokyo. In South Africa, all Toyotas are made at Toyota’s
headquarters in the Kwazulu-Natal – these are then transported to Toyota
dealerships across the country. Another popular vehicle is the VW Polo, selling
2 634 models (September 2013) and the Polo Vivo (2435 sales). VW comes from
Germany and is still currently made in Wolfsburg, Germany. Locally, the VW
factory is situated in Uitenhage, an industrial town 35 km outside Port
Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. VW is then also transported to VW dealerships
all over the country.
This means that because Asia currently has the best industrial mix of low-cost technology and affordable labour, it is a firm favourite when it comes to the manufacture of motor vehicles. This is why most brands of vehicles have factory plants there.
Other
hugely popular vehicle brands in South Africa are Ford, BMW and Mercedes. While
the Ford it is a product of General motors, an American firm, it was likely
assembled in Asia. Silverton, Pretoria is the manufacturing home of all Ford
vehicles in South Africa. BMW and Mercedes Benz are German products. BMW is
headquartered in Munich, Germany and is locally based in Rosslyn, near
Pretoria. Mercedes Benz has its headquarters in the German city of Stuttgart,
while its local plant is in East London, Eastern Cape.
Peugeot
and Renault are French vehicles and if you’re lucky enough to drive a Ferrari,
your car was most likely hand crafted in Italy. Hyundai, Kia and Daewoo come
from Korea, while Honda and Mitsubishi have their origins in Japan.
Cars
and vehicles have evolved so much in the last century; we have gone from the
horse and carriage to multi-million rand luxury vehicles. People have also
changed their preference in automotive transport, and instead of expensive
super cars, which only the extremely wealthy can afford, they are moving toward
more practical vehicles. For example, the newest innovations in car
manufacturing are cars that can park themselves – Ford and Honda are among the
first to do this. It cuts parking time and is especially popular among women
and new drivers who haven’t yet mastered parallel parking.
Most
of the world’s cars come from China, with 14 485 326 produced in 2011 alone
(worldmeters.info). This can be attributed to the fact that the average car has
over 30 000 unique parts. Most of the additional pieces, such as seat covers,
music systems, lights, mirrors and new electronics such as hands-free kits are
made and installed in China. It’s cheaper and faster for the industry to
perform operations in this way, and the quality remains fairly good.
South
Africans spend a lot of time in their cars and are willing to spend a lot of
money on them. It is wise to get your car covered by
a decent insurance policy so that if something happens to it you’ll be safe in
the knowledge that you can restore it to its former glory.
Ayrton Senna: The man behind the legend
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| The young Ayrton Senna in his Karting days. Source: FormulaOneStuff.com |
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| The winner of the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix Ayrton Senna. Source: Formula1.com |
Senna made his Formula One
debut with Toleman in 1984 before moving
to Lotus the following year and winning six Grand Prix’s
over the next three seasons. In 1988, he joined Alain
Prost at McLaren. Among them, they won all but one of the 16 Grand
Prix’s that season and Senna claimed his first World Championship. Prost
claimed the championship in 1989, and Senna his second and third championships
in 1990 and 1991. In 1992, Senna managed to finish
the 1993 season as
runner-up, winning five races and negotiating a move to Williams for the 1994
season.
Former F1 driver John Watson said "He
did things with the car that I hadn’t even thought about, let alone put in to
practice. After witnessing this, I knew that my time as racecar driver was
effectively over.”
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| Ayrton Senna the Rain-master piloting his McLaren. Source: McLarenF1 |
Ayrton
Senna is and will also be well known for his exceptional driving during
wet conditions, winning almost every Grand Prix in those conditions. But he
wasn't always a rain-master. He would win every race in the dry, but when it
rained, he wasn’t any good. Completely unhappy with his results in the rain,
Ayrton would sit at his local karting circuit, just waiting for it to rain. He
would spend hours in the wet, often coming home soaking wet. While every other
driver wanted shelter in the wet conditions, Ayrton was the first to get out
there and drive.
Ayrton Senna - "Being
a racing driver means you are racing with other people. And if you no longer go
for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver because we are
competing, competing to win. And the main motivation is to compete for victory;
it's not to come 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th. I race to win as long as I feel it's
possible. Sometimes you get it wrong? Sure, it's impossible to get it right all
the time. But I race designed to win, as long as I feel I'm doing it
right."
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| A famous photograph of Senna getting a lift from Mansell. Source: formulaonestuff.com |
Ayrton Senna has been
voted the best driver of all time in various motorsport polls. He was recognized
for his qualifying speed over one lap and
from 1989 until 2006 held the record for most pole
positions. He was also much-admired for his wet weather performances, such as
the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, and
the 1993 European Grand Prix. He holds a record six victories at the prestigious Monaco
Grand Prix, and is the third most successful driver of all time in terms
of race wins. Senna courted controversy throughout his career,
particularly during his rivalry with Alain Prost. Both the 1989 Championship
won by Prost and the 1990 Championship won by Senna were decided by collisions
between the pair at those years' Japanese Grands Prix.
Ayrton
Senna F1 Statistics:
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| Ayrton Senna focussed on the job at hand. Source: RoadandTrack.com |
Races Attended
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162
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Races Won
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41
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Pole Positions
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65
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Fastest Laps
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19
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Points
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610
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Championships
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3 (1988 1990 1991)
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| The children who attend the Instituto Ayrton Senna. Source: Michele Zollini |
Ayrton
Senna’s greatest accomplishments may have come off the track. It only became
clear after his unfortunate death that Senna had been donating millions of his
own money to charities for children in his home country. Senna recognized the
hardships that many of his countrymen faced and was most concerned about kids
and their future.
The
legacy of Senna's death is that safety standards in F1 and across numerous
other formulas have improved significantly. No driver has lost their life in F1
since Senna's death. Ayrton Senna da Silva exuded something that we have never
seen before, and likely never will again. Ayrton Senna da Silva gone to soon!
Special THANKS to Riaz
Aziz and Rahiema Hoosain.
Wednesday, 16 April 2014
Tuesday, 15 April 2014
Thursday, 3 April 2014
Safety in Formula 1: The Safety Car (Part Six)
By: Junaid Samodien
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| The Mercedes AMG Safety car out on track in Korea. Source: F1.com |
After a lengthy pause in the
Safety in Formula 1 series, I have decided to bring it back! This new article will
focus on the “safety car”. What is
a safety car? A Safety Car is a
car which limits the speed of the racing cars on a racetrack in the case of an
accident, obstruction or because the track is waterlogged after heavy rain.
When the safety car is sent out the immediate job is to pick up the leader.
Drivers are then not allowed to pass the safety car or one another, and the safety
car usually leads the field at a safe stipulated speed until the safety conditions
have improved and the safety car would then be brought in and racing will then
resume.
According to Formula 1
regulations, the safety car enters the circuit “whenever there is an immediate
hazard but the conditions do not require the race to be interrupted”. The use
of a safety car can make racing more competitive when team strategists
incorporate a “safety car windows”
into their initial strategies (if a driver requires a pitstop during the Grand
Prix). Drivers and cars use less fuel while running under the safety car, which
would prove to be an advantage with these new 2014 Formula 1 Sporting Regulations
where cars are required to start a Grand Prix with a maximum fuel limit of 100
kg’s.
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| The first ever Safety car leading the field at the 1973 Canadian F1 Grand Prix. Source: F1 History. |
Where was the First Safety car
used? The first use of
the safety car in Formula 1 was at the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix, but took its
place ahead of the wrong driver, which then placed the field (drivers) on a lap
down. It took approximately several hours after the Grand Prix to determine the
actual winner of the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix. The Safety Car was officially
introduced at the start of the 1993 season and the first car to be used was a Fiat Tempra at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
What were the procedures that
need to be followed by teams? Two new
procedures were instituted in the 2007 season, which were applied to the
Bahrain Grand Prix. According Formula1.com, “The
pit lane was closed immediately upon the deployment of the safety car. No car
could enter the pits for the purpose of refuelling until all cars on the track
had formed up in a line behind the safety car, they passed the pit entrance,
and the message "pit lane open"
was given. A ten second stop/go penalty (which must be taken when the race is
green again) was imposed on any driver who entered the pit lane and whose car
was refuelled before the pitlane open message is given; effectively these
drivers were penalised for choosing to remain in the race, rather than running
out of fuel. However, any car which was in the pit entry or pit lane when the
safety car was deployed would not incur a penalty.”
The procedure was replaced in the 2009 season
by software that calculates where a car is on the track and a minimum laptime
it should take the car to get to the pits. Any cars/drivers that enter the pits
before this period would be penalised. At the start of the 2010 season, once
cars were lined up behind the safety car, lapped cars were then no longer
allowed to unlap themselves before the race was restarted. This rule was
discarded in the 2012 season, with cars now allowed to unlap themselves before
the race resumes.
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| The Safety Car board held out by a Marshall at a Grand Prix. Source: F1.com |
What is the Procedure of sending out a Safety car? The safety car is on standby throughout a Grand Prix, ready to be dispatched by Race Control at a moment's notice. When the Race Director (Charlie Whiting) decides to deploy the safety car it will join the track immediately and from that point no overtaking is allowed. The safety car will then allow cars to pass it until the race leader is immediately behind it. Throughout the process, a 'Safety Car' board is also displayed to drivers as they cross the start-finish line, and the information will also be relayed over radios from the pit lane and an onboard lighting system would display a safety car warning to the driver/s .
When the Race Director orders the safety car to leave the track again, a similarly exact procedure is followed. At the start of its final lap the safety car will turn off its orange flashing lights. Competitors must still remain behind in formation, but they know that at the beginning of the next lap they will be given the go ahead to resume racing. The safety car will pull off into the pits at the end of the lap and the leading driver will then become the “safety car” as he would then control the pace until he decides to bolt off and resume racing.
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| The current Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG with driver Bernd Maylander. Source: F1.com |
Who drove the Safety Car?
·
The first safety
car driver in Formula 1 was Eppie Wietzes in 1973.
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Max Angelelli
drove the safety car at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
·
Jean Ragnotti
drove the safety car at the 1995 Monaco Grand Prix.
·
Oliver Gavin drove
the safety car during the 1997-1999 seasons.
·
Bernd Maylander is the current safety car
driver from 2000-present.
·
Marcel Fassler
briefly replaced an injured Maylander for one Grand Prix in 2001.
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| Bernd Maylander and Co-driver Peter Tibbets in the Formula 1 Safety Car. Source: Googleimages. |
Sources: Formula1.com
Formula One: History.
The
2014 FIA Sporting Regulations.
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
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