[ds968]

Watching the brief segment ( during today's Monaco Grand Prix ) on the F1 cars' gearbox I could not help but stare in amazement at the beauty of this mechanical marvel as I would at a work of art , a tourbillon movement in a handcrafted swiss watch perhaps.. It was also remarkable to see
that the reverse gear had the middle of each tooth "drilled out " in order to make it as lightweight as possible. Since reverse requires the least amount of torque, the "drilled " teeth do not pose an issue. I'm thinking this saves a few ounces, a pound maybe in total [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh.gif[/img] , yet weight is apparently so critical for these cars that even those few ounces can make a difference.

Shhh, no one tell Flash about this, because I can predict what he'll be spending Memorial Day doing.... " What's this? A 4 oz weight reduction potential ? Hand me my Black & Decker power drill ! " [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img]

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[tom968]

I saw it as well, pretty amazing. It's remarkable
how reliable these tranny's are. Gearbox problems,
and blown engines due to over revving seem to
be a thing of the past.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[cosimo]

I also saw this segment with Matich. There does seem to be less failures of the tramsmission and engines this year but didn't Hamilton have to change his transmission. Monaco is a great place to race for its scenery but the narrow race path seems to be on the dangerous side. Now can Brawn/Mercedes be beat? They are building such a lead that anyone else would have to win a majority of the races. I'm afraid to say boring.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Chris Vais]

I saw the same segment as well. I was surprised at how small the transmission core actually was. The design and the machining are a work of art. As to the series itself. The one thing that I have noticed from the cockpit shots is that the Braun/Mercedes seems to handle very well and they are able to get a greater amount of the engines power down on the track. Everyone else out there seems to be fighting their car around the track and struggling to get the power down on the track without loosing the car. Interesting to say the least. Ferrari did better this week so maybe the racing will get interesting.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.