This weekend marks the start of the 2010 Formula 1 season with the Bahrain Grand Prix. It is 60 years since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship; the first ever WDC race was held at Silverstone in 1950.
So let's for a minute or two, forget the multi-billion-dollar, over-regulated circus that prevails today (and which I still find fascinating despite its shortcomings) and turn back the clock sixty years and absorb a little of the atmosphere of Grand Prix racing as it was.
And a Tipo 159 Alfa-Romeo is my idea of what a real racing-car should look like - especially with Dr Farina at the wheel:
Many times working on Fulvias, I have found problems with the bolts that secure the camshaft bearing caps/rocker shaft supports. Often this is because stupid individuals have mixed up the bolts and not noticed that one of the longer bolts is slightly shorter... Also I suspect that the very hard aluminium alloy used by Lancia for the Fulvia engine might be prone to crystallisation/ cracking after years of cyclical stress. either way the nasty Helicoils® tend to give way. They should be replaced with Timeserts®
Edit: After re-reading this, I should add that another cause of Helicoil(r) problems is over-tightening of the bolts. Every overhead-camshaft engine that I have worked on has not required extreme tightening torque on these bolts and of course the Fulvia is no exception. the correct figure is 15.9ft/lbf, or 2.2Mkgf, or for the younger ones, 21.6NM
Anyway the following can happen (though I've not heard of it happening in a Fulvia) My first Fulvia that I bought in 1982 had a persistent tappet noise that no amount of adjustment would cure. It was due to a Helicoil that had let go...
I cannot recall ever having written about the F&M Specials here; I was prompted by accidentally finding a link to a video featuring one of them which you will see at the end of this post.
It is years since I read about the origins of these interesting cars. As far as I know they evolved from a car that was prepared for Pat Moss (late sister of Sir Stirling Moss) to drive in the Targa Florio. This I think was a 1300 and she finished a very creditable 9th - she was after all an excellent pilote. In fact her brother is a Fulvia enthusiast. A few years ago he was guest of honour at the Lancia meeting in England and a friend of mine asked him what he thought of the Fulvia. "Great little car!" he replied "You could point it at anything." This really sums up the Fulvia doesn't it? OK well I think so.
The Squadra Corse tried very hard to get more power from the Fulvia's engine and having only managed around a claimed (but challenged) 100BHP/litre the only other option was to get the weight down. It is recorded that one 1600 rally car weighed 780kg. How this was acheived bearing in mind homologation restrictions and the requirement for a roll cage, I cannot imagine.
Cesare Fiorio was the rally boss at the time at Lancia, and he and co-conspirator Claudio Maglioli, rally driver, engine tuner and brother of racing-driver Umberto Maglioli. Apparently Fiorio allotted a budget of one million lire (about £500 at the time) which doesn't sound very much to me. But then creative accounting is not new is it?
A short side step: In 1999 I made a trip, in my Fulvia Iniezione to Turin. Naturally I had to photograph the famous Lancia building, but at the time its appearance was rather spoiled by the fact that there had obviously been a fire on one of the floors (the fifth or sixth I think). On returning to England I showed the photographs to various Lancisti there, one of whom observed "I suppose that that was the Accounts Department!"
So for the F&Ms (there were three genuine ones) much hacking was done: the roof of course went and the tail of the car was shortened right back to to rear spring hangers.
The striking appearance that resulted from these modifications and of course the romance of competition history, has prompted the construction of a number of replicas. Here's one I was offered at Fulvia 40 in Turin in 2003 (€35000):
It was supposed to have all the "right bits"... I could well imagine myself blasting down to the "Abinger Hatch" for the Surrey Fulvia Meeting in this car and perhaps doing the Goodwood Track day too. Sadly sums of money in the order of €35000 have eluded me for my entire life.
Fiorio and Maglioli finished up with the F&M2, which was really rather ugly. It weighed 650kg and was supposed to have 160HP.
Finally, here is the promised video. It is an in-car effort with Claudio Maglioli himself, driving one of the F&Ms. The noise is amazing and reminds me of when I heard Munari's No 14 running at FIAT's test track in 2003.
I’m thinking you might be like me, an enthusiast of "R & D" (research and development) —on that assumption, the recent introduction of SuperSkin Lazer helmet will probably interest you. These new “helmets with skin” offer something that its inventors claim reduces risk of injury by nearly 70%!
Various studies on helmet safety have shown, that there’s one potentially lethal injury, rotational injury-also known as intracerebral shearing that we're still very challenged with. Now what’s that all mean? Well, during a mishap, our helmet makes contact with the road; its rigid shell grabs against the pavement causing the helmet to rapidly twist around. Our head twists with the helmet but this occurs so quickly that the brain doesn’t keep up-in fact the brain moves a few milliseconds after the skull it’s contained in! I never knew this either. This results in the shearing of blood vessels and nerves with the consequence of disabilities or in some cases death. SuperSkin it’s called is an elastic membrane that covers the outside of the helmet. It has a gel lubricant underneath, to help it slide against the helmet’s hard shell. The way it works is when a SuperSkin helmet hits the road, its membrane is what will catch the pavement, twist around, and tear away. The helmet will obviously still move, but only once those initial milliseconds of energy have been absorbed by the membrane. It’s modelled after the way the scalp slides against the skull.
The British company Philips Helmets Limited spent 15 years developing the technology. Independent testing was done through the helmets they sent to the Louis Pasteur University of Strasbourg who determined that they did reduce the risk of intracerebral shearing by 67.5%! Belgium’s Lazer Helmets licensed the technology, in fact won an award in 2009 for best innovative patent.
SuperSkin is offered on three of Lazer's standard models-- the Rider, the Solano and the SMX.
We know the importance of wearing a helmet for safety and for just plain old comfort against velocity and the elements. Even, I too have enjoyed destroying numerous helmets from over done corners, loss of grip, at speed while racing. Thanks to my helmet and gear I’m happily here sharing the next wave of technology with you!
Visit their website to view videos and read more testing stats! *sourced Lazer Helmets
So, although I expected another victory, Sebastian Vettel finished second for Red Bull at Bahrain; unlike Button, he was unable to pass Hamilton's slower McLaren. He finished seven seconds behind the winner - whilst Trulli with the soft tyres on his Toyota was pushing him hard in the last stages of the race.
Ross Brawn says that his cars have had no updates since the start of the season, and Jenson Button says that the Red Bulls are already faster.
Adrian Newey at Red Bull will not have been idle since his absence from the trackside was ordered a couple of weeks ago.
I am still not inclined to bet against Red Bull this year, despite McLaren's improving form and the presence of Luca di Montezemolo at Bahrain which may well have stimulated the Ferrari team somewhat. It must be acknowledged that Kimi Raikkonen had a good race, whilst his teammate was, like Red Bull's Mark Webber, rather unlucky.
