As a young man (many years ago), although my spelling was never entirely satisfactory, the subject of mathematics never daunted me. Matrix manipulations, Laplace transforms and complex differential equations were as meat and drink to me as I endeavoured to find order in this apparently disordered world. It was only later, as I discovered karting, that this world was slightly shaken, when I lost my ability to count. Read more…

Pollution would seem to be an inevitable result of 21st-century life. Sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxides and PM10s are destroying the quality of our air; industrial and farm effluent together with excessive use of fertilisers are contaminating our rivers; and general domestic waste, used for landfill, are all visible sources of our times. However, one source of pollution - not quite so readily observed and not generally recognised as such, but increasing daily - is that of electromagnetic radiation. Read more…

Life is full of decisions, such as shall I wear the yellow or white shirt today, never thinking, of course, I have only one tie - pink! Or the classic one of betting all your money on red in a game of roulette, and the little ball ends up on the black. Sometimes, however, these decisions are taken away and life can be so much simpler. But deprived of choice, as an engineer I begin to wonder if there is a better way or if the accepted practice was just a convenience brought on by expediency with some other object or motive in mind? Read more…

According to some people a data acquisition system is the least expensive performance enhancement you can make. Often a fraction of the cost of other purchases, in supplying both vehicle and driver information - lap after lap, session after session - the data provided is totally objective and, used intelligently, can only improve overall performance. Read more…

I have to admit that despite my fascination with modern technologies, the art of being a racing driver was always encompassed in the skill of changing gear - the crispness of the up change and the shear poetry of it while simultaneously braking and changing down. Judging it to perfection was satisfaction indeed, and many more hours were spent practising either on the road to and from my place of work or in the ‘cockpit’ of an armchair at home. Read more…

With a number of new race formulae moving over to pressure-charged engines, the second decade of the 21st century looks set to become the Second Coming of the turbocharger. The First Coming, of course - if my memory serves me correctly, back in the late 1970s/early ’80s - was all about boost levels and ultimate power. This time around, with virtually all vehicle OEMs looking at downsizing and turbocharging their street offerings, it’s about efficiency. And, as such it, will be more important than ever to get the engine Read more…

If the ECU can somehow be considered as the brain of the engine then I guess the wiring harness is roughly equivalent to the rest of the nervous system. In humans and other animals, receptors in the skin send impulses to the brain via dendrites and the nerves. These impulses are then reconfigured and sent back to the muscles to produce some form of movement. And while great care is taken to ensure that the body’s nervous system is not overstressed or abused, likewise shouldn’t we look after our wiring harness in the same cosseting manner? And yet how often do we see the wiring harness in some Read more…

I don’t know about you but I am continually amazed at the power of modern electronic components. Invariably integrated with some form of digital microprocessor, the speeds and in many cases capacity to store information is something truly to marvel.

Moore’s Law, formulated nearly 50 years ago by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, said at the time that the number of transistors that could be replaced by an integrated circuit would double every two years. Later, stating that Read more…

Like millions of other followers of Formula One, I look forward each year to sitting in front of the TV and watching both practice and race of every single Grand Prix throughout the season. Also like many others, I have done this for probably the best part of 30 years, for as long as the sport has been covered by prime-time TV.

I always enjoy some of the on-board coverage looking over the driver’s shoulder. In particular, I marvel at the way that 750-plus bhp can be tamed by our heroes with Read more…

If snippets of information that filter down to me turn out to be true, the average motorsport engine ECU of the future will have to work a lot harder. It’s all to do with economy - both in the size of the fuel pump and the amount of power it consumes. While the systems that give these benefits have been fitted on some road vehicles for many years it seems that motorsports, with the emphasis now more on fuel saving than absolute power, is beginning to take notice as well.

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