Someone i spoke to said they are using a 'rally' gearbox, and are the only ones who gearbox is mounted the other way round

What, a transverse gearbox?

We haven't seen one of those in F1 since the early 90s have we?

hei.. they promised to be innovative!

good for them.. this is F1

I'm not sure I see the point of that. Can someone more "techy" enlighten me?

I think that a transverse gearbox helps keep the weight more central doens't it?

That's the extent of my knowledge.

I do know that in 1988 Ligier had a transverse gearbox which they managed to install back to front in no less than three race meetings!

Well if it worked in a no-refuelling period before, I can't see why it wouldn't work again.

+1

What's a transverse gearbox?

Same as a transverse engine.

It is fitted side to side rather than long ways.

That quote reminds me of the Michael McIntyre gag "Argos said, we think shops should be like this... and all the other shops said "Nope""!

thx, already found a thread in the tech forum explaining a bit more...

So US1 to have no DDD?

Not worried here, it will be interesting to watch this young team regardless. I do already like that there website has more info than I have seen in the past from other teams. Some of the current teams still have 2009 (as in race season) news up, with nothing about 2010 stated other than when the first race is. With USGPE we have seen some interesting videos of the autoclave process, milling, chassis molds being made, etc.

They are allowing visitors into the factory to walk around as well.

We shall see, they plan to test in Alabama so I am sure we will see plenty of news from that - could be USF1 fails to figure out how to start an F1 car, to USF1 shakes down first car.

All the new teams will be interesting to watch, I do not expect much performance from any of them. So many unknowns for them and us, how will the Cosworth engine work, did they get the fuel cell size right, transmissions, etc. I wish them all well. I look forward to also seeing what the current teams are doing, next week at least we will start to see car launches.

If indeed they do have the most technically unorthodox/innovative car this year, then it will be a shame that it's looking like they're going to have the least competitive driver lineup. I really like the engineering side of things and would prefer to be able to see how good their car is by having it driven by drivers who are as good as the drivers in other cars. Anyone want to draft a petition to get Heidfeld over there? I'll sign first...

How did you come to that conclusion????

Just what I was thinking. It's all well and good being innovative but you have to answer the question why the experienced teams aren't doing it. They're all trying to make their gearboxes narrower...

Are we basing this transverse story on anything more substantial than Hackerlf's friend's testimony at the top of this page?

Im not technical on gearboxes or engines, all i know about it is its supposed to be 'round the other way' we will see tho, the rear end is supposed to be pretty big so, if it is, is i guess they do have the transverse

Because thats the ideal solution for the design they've come up with....?

Why didn't any other teams go with a pull-rod suspension other than Red Bull(who before 2009, were midpack at best)?

Mmm, Jason Anderson = Adrian Newey?

'Not impossible' I suppose...

Good point, it remains to be seen what USF1 have chosen to do. But if the team dares to explore new ground in the design and concept of the car, kudos to them for that. As the team said themselves today, if it's a good or bad choice we will know quite soon...

I was looking at the Racecar Engineerin article once more and in light of the transmission discussion found this picture and subtitle interesting:


Cosworth CA2010 engine heads up very compact rear end - note how the exhaust exits are much further forward than in 2009 designs

Compare the gearbox with this transverse from Xtrac and the longitudinal further up on the page.


Maybe we should not read to much into this. I'm not even sure what we CAN read into it... Any thoughts?

There's no credible source for the transverse gearbox story is there?

What's DDD? cupsize?

I don't think Jason Anderson holds Adrian Neweys role at USF1. Ken would be closer to that role I would say.

Anyway it's Scott Bennett who is responsible for suspension and packaging.

Not that I know of. In light of the rumour it's kinda easy to maybe read to much into the comment by Racecar Engineering on the compact rear end of the USF1 car.

Yeah you're spot on, no transverse gearbox there. Well it would have been a bit odd. Very odd, even.

Double Deck Diffuser

Almost, it's the underpants..

double-deck diffuser

Perhaps it's a three-speed column shift.

Email the team, they seem to be always keen to engage with the fans, they might even comment on it

I'm actually open on this subject. It's kinda hard to say anything sure from that picture. It could be that there is a short transverse gearbox there or it could be a longitudinal gearbox...

And it would probably not be more odd than this Xtrac box for sports cars:

So no "four on the floor"

Well you probably know more than me about it, I was just going on the length of the driveshafts and how narrow the transmission is there, in the car drawing.

Somebody help me?


- Rear upper arm rear mount point is behind the rear wing mount posts.
- the rear suspension has push rod (orange) reaching above the gearbox housing.
- The rear upright has one more rod, dumper push-pull-torsion member (mid gray) mounting point on its top side and this rod reached the UPPER side of the driveshaft housing. what is this?
- It seems there is almost 'NOTHING' behind the drive shaft (in gray).

- it has got DDD


sorry, non professional commenting on things..

It's halarious. Someone (anyone for that matter) can come on here and say "I heard they're going to use paper mashe rather than carbo fiber to save money" and all of the sudden it's a fact.

Let them debut their car and THEN critique their ideas. It's a thought anyways - back to making crap up.

I don't understand the constant complaints about USF1 talking themselves up. Is this "talk" about the team's MO or is it claims they make about the future performance? Everything I've seen with them talking about performance has been very humble. Statements about the way they will operate seem like normal PR speak - e.g. "we think we're doing things in a new innovative way". Other "claims" about cameras or access do not seem like the kind of statements that, unfulfilled, tarnish the legitimacy of a team. I can see how it might damage the credibility to those who are skeptical, in the sense that, were Brawn to promise an interview or factory visit to someone, and not follow through, the next time he promised something similar it might be taken with a grain of salt. However, i doubt the legitimacy of the team would be called in to question.

As regards the logic of being based in Charlotte, my rebuttal stands. I do not question one being skeptical about the team, only the logic used. There are more than a few people in the discussion who are somewhat to very skeptical about the team's "staying power" and have been able to quite logically defend their positions. That is constructive in a forum like this. Others have no arguments, just opinions. And still others have opinions with arguments lacking logic or factual basis.

I'm skeptical about the team's ability to remain in F1 for a long period of time and be competitive. I am not skeptical about their intentions or motives. I would say that I am still a little worried about their image this year, though I believe that they most likely have a budget covering the year. This i believe because they have a man with money behind them, and over a year of planning at the least. Which to me indicates that it was a seriously planned effort, not an overnight one.

To me, that is a "credible" team.

EDIT: I'll also add that the lack of driver announcements gives me some serious concern. I don't understand why they haven't moved on that front, and there are too many possibilities in my mind to really be able to figure it out to any degree of certainty.

members got excited a bit, with in this page of the thread.

I'm a bit surprised about EMCO only being able to test with up to 400 hp and 15k rpm.
Which ain't quite where F1 gearboxes have to operate these days.



I note that Campos/Dallara have announced that (despite their admitted financial concerns) they have now passed ALL the required crash tests. (And I don't recall them blaming Cosworth for any delay.)
AFAIK, USf1 haven't yet claimed any passes, or even any official testing yet.
I hope they aren't leaving things too late. But I still think they are way behind where they need to be.
I can't believe that they have any time for redesigning and building new fundamental parts should any fail testing.
Still, they don't need to pass crash tests to go out testing in February ...

Upper and lower wishbones - black, pushrod - orange, axle - white.

Perhaps a longer and more narrow but lower transaxle design help the suspension angles; longer arms.

My friend says EMCO makes the Audi R14, R12 what ever step they are on race boxes. They also build a lot of NASCAR boxes. I know these aren't F1 boxes but show credibility to the company being able to design and build a transmission for racing

There is one more, a pair of rods in between the upper arms. that has a neutral gray. What are those?

I heard that.

Apparently they're only using seven layers of old newspaper.

Any idiot will tell you that you need at least 12-ply paper mache to have the structural rigidity needed for a modern F1 car.

With good quality paper, like a fresh Financial Times. Not just any old crap.

Don't these guys know anything?

That looks like a track rod. It controls and adjusts the "toe" of the wheels.

Front nose has passed the crash test as far as I remember, something about gearbox assembly was next and then the full thing?

The USF1 website is coming along nicely now, and it is easily among the top 5 of the current teams. They have interesting videos up on the site, some are really interesting to watch. I would still love to see webcams up in the car assembly area, but maybe that is for when the season starts. No team at this point wants anyone seeing shots of the cars, wait as late as you can in hope that if you have the trick part for the year you give nobody time to copy it.

The Campos website is horrible for example (sorry IMO), and Lotus is nice but really reveals nothing. With USF1 we get to see lots of parts being made, interviews with various engineers and team members, steering wheels, etc. While watching those videos you get to catch glimpses of images of the car, even though when you pause on them they always seem to be fuzzy even though it is an HD feed of sorts. Oddly pausing on other things seems to present a clear picture (but the camera is usually panning when it catches something interesting).

I think the car will be done at ready for testing and the first race, but who is going to driving? Is it too late for me to grab my old kart suit and head down the factory with a will work for drive sign?

That's not absurd... you can have your garage homemade realsize racing car.

http://www.epson.jp/nakajima/special/realsize_nsx/index.htm

Wow, that's really cool.

Probably not that strong in the wet though!

This is a pretty cool story from the owner of Hargett Precision, a small company, about how they have become a supplier for USF1.



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911...nsors-usf1.html

How will it handle the vibrations of an F1 engine?

"He loved the new series of JBV's, gave me his card, and that was that. He has since contacted me to inform me they plan on incorporating my JBV's into the design of the new Formula1 car! Seeing the new USF1 website, I guess its official!"

Laugh all you want, but for a small company like Hargett that has to be huge. Great for them. All about being at the right place at the right time.