You're walking along the street, thinking
sweet thoughts when you hear - bang! A car
crash! Oh no! Luckily, both drivers are unharmed
thanks to the airbags, which activated just
in time! But come to think of it, can airbags
even save the lives of Formula 1 drivers who
accelerate their cars to mind-bending speeds?
They probably could... IF there were airbags
in F1 race cars!
Well, I admit, it WAS pretty shocking to find
out that F1 drivers don't have any need for
airbags. Let me go into detail: high speeds,
mind-blowing circuit turns, huge chances of
a crash, and no airbags needed. Right.
So if you could, where would you fit an airbag
in an F1 car? Steering wheel, you say? Ah,
that's where the problem starts! Formula 1
drivers are very meticulous people, and they
won't settle for less than a steering wheel
with more than a dozen doo-dads, switches,
and controls. These wheels alone costs a whopping
$60 grand! Whoa! I could buy several cars
for that much money! But returning to F1 steering
wheels, there's simply no way an airbag could
fit in. And even if it did, the cockpit of
the vehicle is so tiny that an activated airbag
would probably smother the driver to death!
Actually, no matter how it may seem, safety
is paramount in Formula One. See for yourself:
F1 drivers have not one seat belt, but five
or six of them: two shoulder straps, one or
two leg straps, and two pelvic straps. In
fact, the drivers are so bundled up that they
have just enough freedom to steer and reach
for different mysterious buttons and switches.
In fact, drivers are positioned in their seats
so tightly that they can't even fasten all
these seat belts on their own; a mechanic
must do it for them. On the other hand, if
there’s an emergency, an F1 driver can leave
the car within 5 seconds! The trick is that
they can release all the straps with the single
twist of one hand. Magic!
And since the primary purpose of the airbag
is to not let the driver's head hit the front
of the car, you can see why an F1 car wouldn’t
need one. There’s no chance for its driver
to get flung forward or out of the vehicle
unless the car disintegrates. But even then,
the driver would stay in a rigid survival
cell designed specifically to protect a person
in case of a bad crash.
And we mustn't forget about F1 drivers' sensational
helmets! These helmets must go through serious
trials. For example, a helmet has to withstand
a penetration test, when a 6.5 pound (3 kg)
pointed metal object gets dropped onto the
helmet from the height of 10 ft (3 m). Also,
designers test the helmet's chin strap which
shouldn't stretch by more than 1 inch (25
mm). Then they bombard the visor with projectiles
that travel at the speed of about 300 mph
(483 kph). Well, why not? And after that,
they hit the helmet with an almost 1,500-degree-F
(815 °C) flame for 45 seconds. The temperature
inside the helmet at this time mustn't be
higher than 158 °F (70 °C)!
These superhero helmets sound exciting! But
there are even more amazing F1 facts!
- The tires of a Formula One car rotate so
fast that they get blazing-hot during racing.
If you manage to get close to an F1 car after
the race is over, don’t touch its tire:
the temperature will be about 248 °F (120
°C), which is enough to boil water or fry
an egg! Hey let’s try it!
- Also, during the average race, the tires
lose about 1 pound (0.5 kg) of their weight
because of the wear! And while the lifespan
of an average tire reaches 13,000 to 35,000
miles (21,000 to 56,000 km), an F1 tire only
serves for a maximum 62 miles (100 km).
- To make a Formula One racing car, you need
to put together more than 80,000 components!
(And in the right order at that!) It's crucial
that the makers assemble the car 100% correctly.
It may seem like 99.9% is pretty good, but
in this case, it would mean 80 details are
incorrectly placed, which would cause grave
danger for both the driver and the other participants
of the race.
- Oh, and if you're a driver yourself, you
might get a tad envious of the Formula One
car's brake system. Made from an indestructible
kind of carbon fiber, the F1 disc brakes allow
the vehicle to come from full speed to a complete
halt in a mere 4 seconds! By the way, in this
case, the discs heat up to 2,000 °F (1,100
°C), and that's the temperature of molten
lava!
- If a race takes place on the streets of
a city like Singapore or Monaco, workers must
weld down the man-hole covers before the race.
The problem is that the suction a Formula
One car produces is great enough to rip these
huge metal discs right out of the street and
shoot them into the sky!
- Did you know you could drive an F1 car on
the ceiling? No, seriously, these vehicles
have wings that create a powerful down force
pushing them onto the track, and that's what
allows the cars to take corners so fast. In
fact, the downward force is so strong that
at a speed of 150 mph (240 kph), the vehicle
could drive upside down on the ceiling of
a tunnel! I wish I could be present when they
checked this F1 car's superpower!
- It takes just 3 seconds for the pit crew
to change the tires and refuel a Formula One
car. Could it be the same at all gas stations,
please?
- The average basic cost of a Formula One
car is about $10 million! The car's engine
alone can cost from $7 to $10 million; a fuel
tank's price tag varies from $100,000 to $140,000,
and you'll pay $220,000 for the cooling system
and $250,000 for the transmission.
- Formula One racing cars can reach a whopping
speed of 234 mph (376 kph)! For comparison,
some small planes take off more slowly than
an F1 car moves along the track!
- And finally -- Have you been thinking of
slimming down recently? Well, I know a great
way to lose some (a lot!) of weight: you should
become an F1 driver. This person loses up
to 9 pounds (4 kg) after just two hours of
racing. It’s mostly due to the scorching
temperatures in the cockpit: during the race,
it may get as hot as 122 °F (50 °C) inside.
Would you like to drive an F1 car? Let me
know down in the comments! If you learned
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Stay on the Bright Side of life!
