These are the years of the cars that were unloaded today and are now safely inside the building… two of my favourites included:
The 2006 McLaren MP4-21. Copyright Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
They’ve been travelling by sea for weeks all alone in their containers… waiting for you to come and see them 
The 1992 Williams FW14B. Copyright Museumof New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
… especially for Sam
On display in the Design Museum, London. Image reproduced courtesy of the Design Museum, London.
Formula One™ – The Great Design Race will have 9 cars on display – so I thought I’d give you a taster of what you’ll see when you come. Of course an image on a blog doesn’t come close to seeing the real thing!
This car seriously rocks – it dominated the 1988 season, and of course owes some of its success to its driver, the legendary Ayrton Senna. Together they won the Drivers’ Championship for that year.
Alain Prost drove the other MP4-4 that year. The team racked up 15 out of 16 Grand Prix wins, 10 second places, 15 pole positions, 10 fastest laps, and the Constructors’ Championship…phew!
So what was its advantage? Well, Senna and Prost were mighty fine drivers but it was also partially due to the car’s turbocharged Honda RA168E V6 engine which deliver up to 900 bhp. 1988 was the final year that turbocharged engines were permitted in Formula One.
You can come and see this beastie here at Te Papa from July 15.
Visa Platinum Gallery, empty and waiting…
We’ve carefully deinstalled the precious Monets and others – they’re already back in Boston…
Nearly all the walls have been taken down…
The Visa Platinum Gallery on Level 4 here at Te Papa is pretty much empty – in fact I think the last time I saw it so empty was for Henry Moore in 2002…ish. Have to confess – it’s an excellent space to sing very loudly in
So this little chair waits… what’s going in there?
Nine
beautiful,
sexy Formula One cars
- along with a whole lot of other amazing objects and stories.
Formula One™ – The Great Design Race will be opening 15 July 2009.
I can’t wait!
Psst – don’t worry, we’ll sweep the floor.
Manfeild track has some great straights to get your speed up – and some tricky corners. My favourite (because I’m a ghoul) is the first corner at the end of the straight where the cars start off from. Lots of cars spun out on that corner over the weekend – no driver was hurt, most being able to point their cars back into the correct direction and carry on. Made things nice and spicy for us spectators though!
Another furry corner was helpfully right in front of the stands – good views! The ‘off road entertainment’ I saw was the first race out on Sunday morning from the Suzuki Production Racing – and it was damp.
Recovering the Suzuki out of the gravel pit
In the photo, the rescue truck with its lights on is facing the right direction. The little Suzuki (William Bamber was driving – Earl’s wee brother) got caught on the edge of the track and spun, sliding parallel to the gravel pit (you see it as the grey area directly above the fence of ads). The gravel is quite deep, catching the wheels which stopped the car sliding. But the momentum of the car encouraged the body of it to keep going and so it rolled, quite sedately I thought.
William was fine – although if I was his mum I’m not sure I could watch. My fingernails would definately be bitten to the quick.
What these gravel pits are called?
Kitty litter
Tyres – very important things! This weekend’s racing meet has been interesting in that we’ve had a variety of weather conditions – very wet on Saturday, slightly damp Sunday morning and dry in the afternoon, with the rain turning up YET AGAIN for a bit of fun.
Hmmm - what do you think, treads or slicks?
I was talking with one of the Porsche team mechanics about who dictates what tyres get used – slicks or the treaded ones. Under wet conditions track officials tell teams that treaded tyres must be used, dry – you can use the slicks. But under damp conditions it’s down to each individual team – so pressure is on to make the correct call, it can make or break a race.
Porsche tyres - slicks above, treaded below
Why are racing tyres for dry conditions smooth? I’ve been told basically there’s more ground contact (those wee grooves in the treaded tyres are essentially negative space), so more control. The drivers do a hotlap first, the rubber heats up and gets sticky – better traction.
For the wet, water needs to be taken away from the contact area in an organised fashion – by way of the tread grooves.
However – I was also told that treaded tyres are softer than slicks, and as you go around a damp track it will dry out where most of the cars are driving. The drying will cause the treaded tyres to heat up and get softer – not good for speed.
That’s my very basic take on it – if you can add to that (or correct it!) please feel free to comment.
The shape of all these cars is incredibly important – they’re designed to move as smoothly as possible through the air. Sticky out bits causes friction and can slow you down.
But if you are too aerodynamic and travelling at very high speeds this can get furry when you talk about handling and control – this lessens.
Adjusting the wings on a Toyota Racing Series car
The Toyota Racing Series have back wings (and sometimes wings off the nose cone) that can be adjusted. They help with the down force applied to the car. But its a very fine line to get it just right. Wings flat, mean you go very fast on the straights but not good for cornering, wings tilted create the opposite effect.
The aerodynamic control have to be tempered with the mechanical controls as well – steering, shocks amongst a miriad of other things.
I’m finding that its not just about pure mechanics – there’s the chemistry of the fuel mixes, the chemistry behind what some of these cars are partially made of (like carbon fibre).
But physics really sneaks in too. The Toyota Racing Series with their wings create havoc with the fluid air so if you follow too close behind one you loose some of your down force and therefore control. I was told it’s kind of like a plane hitting an airpocket.
Look mum - no wings! Formula Ford on the starter grid
But in the Formula Fords where the cars have no wings, there is benefit in following close because of slipstreams.
Sneaky science!
This area is where cars are randomly pulled in and checked out incredibly thoroughly. The rules and regulations are very strict so this is one way to make sure they’re adhered to.
No Police Officers to ask for your Drivers Licence though – some of the guys here wouldn’t have one anyway – the youngest driver I’ve heard of so far at this race meeting is 13…
Each of the car series have their own areas, so as you’re walking through it becomes Mini city or Suzukiville.
I checked out V8 alley mostly because I know that my bro would expect me to. So this blog is for you Patrick
V8 alley
There are 23 cars racing in this series, with two races today. In each of the tents a whole lot of mechanical work is constantly going on – I was enjoying body-under-car moments:
Body under car shot 1
Sorry Pat - they’re Fords
Legs under car
The dummy grid is where the cars get organised by the grid marshalls before going out onto the starter grid for the race.
Dummy grid complete with the Grid Marshalls
It reminds me of when you take your car onto the Cook Strait ferry. You have to turn up at least an hour earlier so they can organise the cars in a grid formation at the wharf so they can confirm that they can fit you all on board the ship.
Dummy grid for the Porsche GT3 Cup
… but they make you bring your luggage on separately… like all your tyres:
All the tyres you might ever need
It’s when fans who are allowed in the area can get a closer (within reason) look at the cars, and the photographers can take some good pre-raceshots. The V8s were popular - TVNZ filmed the cars coming from the dummy grid.
The Marshalls organising the V8s
I’ve been very lucky and been given a media pass (thank you Graham ) which allows me to get out into the pits and up very close by the track – very cool!
The pits seen from media room balcony
The pits are used by the Toyota Racing Series cars. All the other races (V8s, Porsches, Minis etc) come from their various areas, are sorted on the dummy grid before going out on the starter grid.
The pits seen from beside the track
I expected eveything to be very well organised – but I think I expected to see, well, dirty stuff like oil, grease and black smelly stuff like that. All beautifully neat and tidy!
