The Cellar » Formula 1 in Vegas

xoxoxoBruce · 11/17/2023 2:01 am

You're in Vegas, you jump into your race car and see this...

Not to worry the race isn't till Saturday so you can figure out how to push, pull, turn, roll everything right...
on this track at 200 miles per hour.

An outfit up in Denver paid near $5 Billion for the rights to this race.
I should say for the race but not necessarily here... for where ever it's held in the future... if at all.
Vegas says this weekend before Turkeyorgy® is traditionaly the second slowest of the year.
They expect a $1.5 Billion bump in revenue this weekend.

Preparing the roads for F1 racers;
~ Remove 5 to 10 inches of asphalt
~ Replace with 60,000 tons of base-layer pavement
~ Plus 43,000 tons of intermediate + race-layer surface.

The spectacle of Las Vegas;
~ Circuit length: 3.8 miles
~ Number of laps: 50
~ Expected top speed: 212 mph
~ Forecasted lap time: 1 minute 33 seconds
~ Estimated average speed: 147 mph
~ Grandstands: 18
~ Light units: 1,750
~ Temporary bridges: 7 (4 cars, 3 people)
~ Hospitality club structures: 10
~ Track barriers: 7.6 miles

Giant palm trees along the Bellagio fountains have been uprooted.
Gondola rides outside the Venetian shut down.
Grandstand seats range from $200 for pre-race activities to $?,000 for the race.

Las Vegas is different because new F1 tracks in Miami and Austin have opened as part of F-1’s U.S. expansion,
but are on the outskirts of town, with streets specifically built for F1 racing.
Monaco, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan race on city streets but there the government is part owner,
making it easier to close down streets and businesses in preparation for race day.

tw · 11/17/2023 8:41 am

Is this a first time F1 race in Vegas?

xoxoxoBruce · 11/17/2023 11:44 am

I believe so, they've had races but not formula one.

Flint · 11/17/2023 2:12 pm

and people think race car drivers just press the gas pedal and go fast in a circle

xoxoxoBruce · 11/17/2023 3:40 pm

I was wrong, they raced F-1 in '81 & '82 on a half-assed course in Caesars Parking lot.
I never followed F-1, just in my peripheral vision, and vaguely remember the brouhaha over the track..

Flint wrote:
and people think race car drivers just press the gas pedal and go fast in a circle

That GO knob in the middle came about when F-1 ruled they could have little or no radio contact between the car and pits. Up till then the driver was given a steady stream of tweaks to perform. It makes a big difference having everything set right as it not only controls engine power which equals speed but controlling traction, smooth braking, and the relationship in speed between the left and right rear tires.
In response to the radio ban they invented the GO knob to combine the most used combinations of setting making it easier to instruct the driver. When the radio band was rescinded with the provision the officials and press could listen in the teams decided to keep the GO because it's "idiot-proof"... er...um... in case the radio fails or something.
In response to the radio becoming public teams added a button that signals they understood and will comply with the instruction to pit.
You may wonder how I know all this crap if I don't follow F-1.
WaPo Had the picture of the wheel with 20 controls and an explanation of 8 of the buttons & knobs.
Rabbit hole... took me 3 hours to track down the other 12 on at least 5 other sites which is a long time chasing something without tits.
After expending that much effort I figured why suffer alone when I could dump it on you too.

tw · 11/17/2023 4:50 pm

Flint wrote:
and people think race car drivers just press the gas pedal and go fast in a circle

Some race tracks include hair pin turns. Where a race car must make an almost 180 degree turn at 60 MPH. Then get back up to 200. All while even the driver suffers stress. That is racing. Major purpose of racing is innovation. Making a 4 cylinder engine do things today that we will not see for maybe another 20 or 40 years. By getting drivers to do new things for various and different conditions. By pushing limits.

As opposed to NASCAR that is about maintaining obsolete technologies. While promoting cigarettes and liquor.

F1's competition is another circuit that also does innovation. Indy Series.

It took a tragic death of Dale Earnhardt to get NASCAR to finally implement a safety feature found standard, for quite a long time, in all other racing circuits.

tw · 11/17/2023 4:53 pm

xoxoxoBruce wrote:
Rabbit hole... took me 3 hours to track down the other 12 on at least 5 other sites which is a long time chasing something without tits.

Is this a standard layout for all F1 cars? Or only for one racing team?

Diaphone Jim · 11/18/2023 11:53 am

I followed F1 for years until I realized it has nothing to do with me.
Las Vegas will put up with a complete, weeks long disruption with affordable grandstands only available for pre-race practices.
I think it will be run at night.

Last edited by Diaphone Jim (11/18/2023 12:10 pm)

xoxoxoBruce · 11/19/2023 2:18 am

tw wrote:
xoxoxoBruce wrote:
Rabbit hole... took me 3 hours to track down the other 12 on at least 5 other sites which is a long time chasing something without tits.
Is this a standard layout for all F1 cars? Or only for one racing team?

No, each team has there own layout but they are all similar because the driver has to do the same things for the most part. Mercedes and Red Bull teams have more money so they are always a step ahead, sometimes a baby step sometimes a giant step but usually for not more that one season.
That electric power unit to give the car short bursts of power all the teams buy from Mercedes, along with the controllers(computers) and harnesses. Each team must figure out where to located the control buttons/wheels.

xoxoxoBruce · 11/19/2023 2:35 am

Diaphone Jim wrote:
I followed F1 for years until I realized it has nothing to do with me.
Las Vegas will put up with a complete, weeks long disruption with affordable grandstands only available for pre-race practices.
I think it will be run at night.

Yeah, the disruption has been going on all summer. Yes, it's a night, well evening race, and the practice sessions are at night to. They have to be off the streets by 4 AM so not to interfere with commuter traffic.
After the practice was delayed thursday night they cleared the stands at 1;30AM and offered a $200 vocher to spend at the race merchandise shops. But some big shot law firm is suing on behalf of "35,000" fans to the tune of $30,000 EACH. Hmm $1,050,000,000. Kill all the lawyers.

tw · 11/19/2023 8:41 am

xoxoxoBruce wrote:
That electric power unit to give the car short bursts of power all the teams buy from Mercedes, along with the controllers(computers) and harnesses.

Electric boost was in some GM trucks in the 2000s. When GM did not even have a working hybrid. So they hyped this truck as "electric assist". Hoping consumers would assume it was a hybrid.

Truck had an electric motor atop its transmission. When one wanted to burn rubber, a lead acid battery would power that 3 or 10 horsepower motor. So that it would accelerate slightly faster. So that they could hype an EV - when GM had none some 15 years after Clinton provided $100 million to develop hybrids.

monster · 11/19/2023 11:20 pm

I like F1 but I don't watch the races any more because I shun tv these days. I do like the street races

xoxoxoBruce · 11/20/2023 8:24 am

If you're interested this video explains the 1,000 hp, 15,000 rpm, on 10% ethanol gas engine and the electric power unit interface. It also shows how the F-1 organization spys on the teams to make sure they follow the complicated rules for everything from fuel use to number of exhaust systems per season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I522EMW89sE

tw · 11/20/2023 9:41 am

monster wrote:
... I shun tv these days.

Why would anyone watch golf on TV. And yet it is one of the most popular TV sports.

The best part of a race is always in innovations.

NASCAR races are often won and lost in pre-race meetings. Where things such as size of the downdraft wings get determined. But then NASCAR is known for politics (ie in those meetings) and emotions. Where drivers have been known to have physical confrontations after a race. Where the sport is more like WWE wrestling.

So many (if not most) innovations in cars come from racing. Front wheel drive and 70 Hp per liter engines were racing in the late 1940s. Then became road standard in the 1980s and 1990s. It takes that long to bring innovations to market. Only one in ten innovations are that successful.

Real race cars are 1.7 liters - because those race circuits innovate . NASCAR still uses a pathetic 5.7 liter engine to do less. NASCAR was so anti-innovation as once need 7.0 liter engines. What do so many watch on TV? NASCAR. They would be better informed watching golf.

monster · 11/20/2023 9:47 pm

or paint dry?

Funny that we had already moved here and stopped watching F1 much by the time our kids were growing up and yet one of the boys got into car racing. Baja -lower level but same concept -new guidelines each year -new cars -more innovation

now I just watch the Netflix F1 behind-the-scenes thing. occasionally.

Last edited by monster (11/20/2023 9:47 pm)

xoxoxoBruce · 12/04/2023 10:00 pm

I'm fascinated by the logistics and technology but not the races. I guess somebody watches because the driver that won Vegas for Red Bull is paid $50 million a year. Ay Caramba !