May 2022
P. 14
SIDECAR RACING
P. 12
VEGAS PG PREVIEW P. 04
MATTIA’S FERRARI REDEMPTION
No. 7
P. 2
TEAM OVERVIEW
MILESTONE The IIT Bombay Racing Magazine
Editors-in-Chief
Content Creators & Editors
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Design Team
Contact us
Website: www.iitbracing.org Jagadish A - Editor-in-Chief +91 81043 06430 Email: marketing@iitbombayracing.org
Jagadish A Nikita Dipali Akshay Kumar Bhumika Mehta Mokshit Naidu Nikhil Challapalli Vikhyath Vagolu Ronak Matal Sanat Prasad Harshavardhan Patil Abhiram N S Anushka Kokate Diganta Biswas Rishi Kumar
Address
IIT Bombay Racing Department of Mechanical Engineering IIT Bombay Powai, Mumbai Maharashtra, India - 400076
CONTENTS ABOUT OUR TEAM
02
Team Overview
FROM THE PRESS ROOM
04
Mattia’s Ferrari Redemption
08
War and Prix
12
What Happens in Vegas, Only Hapens in Vegas
14
Sidecar Racing
20
Autonomous Racing Line
24
An Absolute Beginners Guide to Engines
PER LA TIFOSI
UNDER THE HOOD
Source: formula1.com
MILESTONE
Team Overview
W
e’re back! We’re back after two long years of facing one problem after another, relentlessly (and seemingly endlessly) produced by the pandemic and its aftermath. The last couple of years have been filled with unique challenges none of us foresaw, but all of us put in the effort to tackle. Functioning at sub-optimal capacities at our lab, abstinence from taking part in on-site events, and months of working around social distancing while trying to build India’s best electric racecar has finally ended. The team is now back on campus. We are stronger, more determined, and more prepared than before for whatever the new season has to throw at us. It’s no secret that the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay is the place to be for students looking to be a part of the country’s best tech teams and student clubs. The IIT Bombay Racing team is definitely a big shiny gem in the necklace of the institute’s technical council. Every year, we set the standard in the institute and the country for the kind of impact, attention, and achievements a tech team that dares call itself “top-notch” needs to garner. The position we’ve managed to reach today from humble beginnings in the lab of our mechanical engineering department is something we take a lot of pride in. Similarly, our journey from learning to
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-By Jagadish & Nikita build combustion racecars to leading the country in building electric racecars is all a part of the legacy everyone who has been a part of the team cherishes. Today we have over 80 students from more than ten engineering and design departments united by their passion and drive to achieve one goal: building India’s best electric racecar. We can’t single out any particular “hardest part” in the task of building a car while working in the online mode because every branching subtask is as challenging as the task before and the task after. Ideations run slower, morale depletes quicker, and eyes water up more often, no thanks to hours and hours of staring at our screens for classes, meetings,
‘..IIT Bombay Racing team is definitely a big shiny gem in the necklace of the institute’s technical council..’’
IIT BOMBAY RACING “..our biggest supporters, our faculty who inspire us to pursue what we do, or our benevolent sponsors, notably NRB Bearings, PCB Power Market, and Wipro 3D, that enable us to bring our dreams into reality. We thank you for everything, for encouraging us and helping us be the best we can aim to be..” work, and more. The team is incredibly proud of handling the pandemic and its trials, and we can’t wait to settle back into the “old normal.” We are excited for everything ahead of us, from weeks of car testing, late-night food runs, and working hands-on in our beloved lab to defending our title and putting up another spectacular performance in Formula Student UK 2022. It’s time to switch from Zoom meets and Teams calls to getting our car to zoom on the asphalt. In our last couple of appearances at FSUK, the team has managed to win the award for best Engineering Design presentation and defend it in 2021, where we also won 4th place at the Business Plan Presentation event: both heights never before reached by an Indian team. This year, COVID’s 3rd wave and all the precautionary restrictions got in the way of our participation in Formula Bharat 2021. Although we were looking forward to competing on-site in Coimbatore, we backed out because of the complications introduced by the omicron variant. However, we still participated in the static events and won 1st place in the Business Plan Presentation event. Speaking of good things, in early April, we launched our best car yet, Evolv. It was the first car launch
event the team had had in two years, and the event was received with worthy enthusiasm by the team, alums, students, professors, and our sponsors. After addresses by our team’s faculty advisor, the head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Ms.Mamta Changani on behalf of NRB Bearings, we finally had the car’s dramatic reveal. This was followed by a live demonstration of the car’s performance on college roads, showing off our incredible acceleration and tight turning radius. These are all good things that we’re looking to use to our advantage in the upcoming FSUK. While these wins may belong to the team and the passionate students who comprise it, the team itself is still dependent on the contributions of many of our supporters. Irrespective of whether they appear in the form of our institute, our biggest supporters, our faculty who inspire us to pursue what we do, or our benevolent sponsors, notably NRB Bearings, PCB Power Market, and Wipro 3D, that enable us to bring our dreams into reality. We thank you for everything, for encouraging us and helping us be the best we can aim to be. We are hopeful of a tomorrow that is as rife with opportunity as today. We are focused and confident. We are determined and driven. We will set goals, meet targets and keep growing as a team. We are IIT Bombay Racing, and we will keep reaching new frontiers.
“..In our last couple of appearances at FSUK, the team has managed to win the award for best Engineering Design presentation and defend it in 2021, where we also won 4th place at the Business Plan Presentation event: both heights never before reached by an Indian team..” 3
MILESTONE
Mattia’s Ferrari Redemption -By Mokshit Naidu
www.wikipedia.com The SF1000 ~ 2020 Season
A
s F1 fans, we have all tried to imagine a day in Hamilton’s life or maybe pondered how the car’s manufacturing is done, and the amount of work put in. If not that, you must have at least thought about what it would feel like to drive on a circuit in a Red Bull; after all, the most exciting part is racing...or is it? As Formula One embarks on a new journey for this season with its latest regulations, let us look into the management of an F1 team from the Team Principal’s perspective. And which better team to examine than Ferrari, rising from its ashes, storming to take 2 of the first 3 races of this year, already extending their lead in the Constructor’s Title to 39 points. In simple terms, the Team Principal is the person who owns and is in charge of the particular constructor during each race weekend. A Team
“Think of a team principal as a jack of all trades, a master of none.” 4
“Mattia Binotto was born to Italian parents in the city of Lausanne in Switzerland.” Principal has various kinds of duties. Ultimately, they are the ones answerable to the sponsors and media regarding the car. Usually found with unproportionate headphones on their heads on a Grand Prix weekend, they are the voice of their team. More often than not, the team orders come from Team Principals themselves. The Team Principal also has an influential say while recruiting drivers and hiring/firing major team officials. With Netflix’s latest tv show covering behind the scenes of F1, ‘Drive to Survive’ has made household names out of some of them and introduced others to new masses of fans. Obligations for certain areas of an F1 team are delegated, such as chief mechanic, head of strategy, and technical director, but the team principal must be across all aspects of the team to make them deliver.
IIT BOMBAY RACING Think of a team principal as a jack of all trades, a master of none. They might not know the details of race strategy in-depth, but they know how to get the people who do to work well together. They are sort of like a Chief Marketing Officer, making shrewd decisions and infamous for playing their deceptive mind games, trying to get their team up and get one over the other team principals. Handling the demanding schedule expected of a team principal is not as easy as it may seem. Team principals are judged solely on their ability to make the team win races, score points and podiums, and
finish as high in the constructors’ championship as possible, irrespective of the multiple sacrifices they make and the effort they have put in. And apart from all the pressure, performance is a must in this line of work as it is do-or-die with numerous suitable replacements. Mattia Binotto was born to Italian parents in the city of Lausanne in Switzerland. By the age of 25, he had completed his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and his master’s in motor vehicle engineering. At 26, he joined Scuderia Ferrari in the engine department. Since then, his rise has been www.twimg.com
Sainz and Leclerc ~ An artist’s impression
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www.meredithcorp.com
Mattia Binotto ~ Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal exemplary, being an integral part of the team during Ferrari’s booming early 2000s to head of the engine department in 2013. Chief Technical Officer in 2016 and a couple of years later, Team Principal in 2019. Mattia was part of Ferrari’s triumphs and struggles through the last decade before he was handed the reins and the responsibility to bring back Ferrari to the top.
“The SF1000 used by the team in 2020 was awful and incomparable to the Racing Points, Renaults and Mclarens on the grid.” 6
“Ask a child to draw a car, and certainly they will draw it red.” Mattia didn’t get a flying start to his tenure as Ferrari struggled through its worst F1 season in 40 years. Ferrari could not produce a competitive vehicle despite the added time each team received due to the delayed start to the season because of the coronavirus spread. The SF1000 used by the team in 2020 was awful and incomparable to the Racing Points, Renaults and Mclarens on the grid; forget the Red Bulls or the Mercedes’. Mattia had then brought significant upgrades mid-season to the disappointing SF1000, although unfortunately, the underperforming car could not stop Ferrari from slumping to sixth place in the constructors’ championship, scoring just three podium finishes in 2020. Considering everything, it was a season to
IIT BOMBAY RACING forget for Ferrari as they never made it to the front row of the grid throughout the year. With Vettel, a 4-time World Champion, leaving the team, the situation looked grim. But that didn’t mean Mattia gave up hope; in 2021, Ferrari finished third, with their current driver pairing of Leclerc and Sainz. Mattia took enormous risks throughout, the most prominent being the rushing and introducing of the hybrid system for the frozen power unit (meant for 2022 rules) with the primary objective of increasing their experience for 2022. With a lot of talk surrounding Mattia in 2020 to take the sack, 2022 seems to be lining up as the season of redemption for him and Ferrari. At the end of the day, Mattia has proved himself repeatedly and showed that he is passionate, focused and has Ferrari’s best interests at heart. As someone who has faced the best and worst from within the team, he has a good idea about the team’s functioning and appears to have a holistic approach to his job, which is beneficial for all aspects of the team. Consistency will be key to this year’s title, just like every other, but it feels different with Mattia changing up things from the traditional Italian way Ferrari operates, and change isn’t always a bad thing.
Ferrari 1-2 Finish in Bahrain 2022
“With Vettel, a 4-time World Champion, leaving the team, the situation looked grim.” “Ask a child to draw a car, and certainly they will draw it red”, this quote by Enzo Ferrari aptly describes what Ferrari means. As a big fan of Ferrari and the lows it has been through, it is finally satisfying to see them dominating the Grands Prix this year. Binotto’s comments, “It is certainly a relief, but more than that, I think it is happiness because, in the end, it is great to be back, it is great to fight for the best,” after the unexpected and magical Ferrari 1-2 in Bahrain this year sums up how Ferrari has truly transformed. Hopefully, what we are witnessing under Mattia is just a sign of more extraordinary things to come as Ferrari advances.
www.foxsports.com
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WAR AND PRIX By Akshay
Source: formula1.com
A
s Russia commenced their invasion of Ukraine in late February, the whole world was shocked. War, unfortunately, is quite common even during the pandemic the brief war between Azerbaijan and Armenia broke out. But the country with most nuclear warheads invading its neighbour and bringing war back to the European continent after a relatively long period of peace is a matter of great concern to the western hemisphere. Russia now stands as a pariah in the global order. The west as a collective has “cancelled” Russia, in the opinion of Vladimir Putin. He went as far as saying that Russia has been cancelled much like J.K Rowling. Clearly, the Russian leader has a very different standard of crisis, while Rowling must be wondering how a YA author got dragged into a geopolitical chess game.
Source:8caspiannews.com
“War, unfortunately, is quite common; Russia invading Ukraine, war between Azerbaijan and Armenia...” The fallout of the war has had an immense effect on sports and F1 is no exception. The Russian Grand Prix has been scrapped from the calendar and Russian drivers cannot race under their national flag. Russia is no stranger to sports bans, the Olympics( both winter and summer) saw their athletes compete under the banner of ROC( Russian Olympics Committee) due to widespread doping. The Russians being the eternal anti-heroes embraced this odd renaming, even conjuring a song “we will ROC you” making sure everyone knows you can take the Russian flag out of sports but certainly not the Russians.
IIT BOMBAY RACING
“...Fangio even asked his kidnappers to spare Moss, claiming he is on his honeymoon (a lie)...” Source: i2prodmirrior.uk F1 though has always been able to walk the tightrope of geopolitics quite admirably and has always claimed that sports are a force of good and inclusion. This war though has been different, the actions by FIA have been swift and Nikita Mazepin the only Russian driver on the circuit has been shunted out by his team. Haas is based in the USA and was a major factor in all this. Mazepin has been annoyed by this treatment and has demanded answers as the FIA has allowed Russian drivers to compete but his team have taken a moral stance and shunted him out. There is also a small matter of Mazepin’s father being an oligarch businessman who has been sanctioned by the west. A sport run by the uberrich and having races across many democratic and authoritarian countries taking a high moral ground is debatable and many point to western hypocrisy all too apparent in the whole new cold war world order.
In 1958, Cuba was to host their second Grand Prix with a stellar cast of drivers including Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss. It was also one year prior to the revolution led by Fidel Castro to overthrow the Batista regime and subsequently become a major chess piece in the oncoming cold war. What happened in the 1958 Cuban Grand Prix was absurd and quite unprecedented. Fangio was kidnapped by one of Castro’s men with the aim to sabotage the event and make Batista’s regime lose face on a global stage. What sounds like the most epic Drive to Survive episode never made played out in a surprisingly stoic fashion. Fangio took the kidnapping like a champ, no pun intended. He even asked his kidnappers to spare Moss, claiming he is on his honeymoon( a lie). Batista meanwhile ordered
Source: reddit.com
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“The F1’s ability to overcome major geopolitical challenges and make their events foolproof still endures.” the race to go on. Moss was provided extra security and went on to win the bizarre race. The race was also marred by an accident with the Ferrari which killed around thirty spectators. The F1’s ability to overcome major geopolitical challenges and make their events foolproof still endures. The 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in the coastal city of Jeddah went ahead despite facing quite similar circumstances of war. Saudi Arabia is embroiled in a brutal war with its neighbour Yemen, which according to the Saudis is plagued
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by Iranian backed militias. The kingdom has tried very hard to bomb this problem away. The UN has continuously emphasised the Yemen war as a modern humanitarian crisis of biblical proportions. The Kingdom is everything the liberal world powers claim will destroy democracy with a small difference of being a time tested ally of the USA. India accused of being soft on its old friend Russia watches in disbelief. But politics aside, sports is a key avenue for the Saudis in the coming decades as they wish to diversify their economy. The purchase of Newcastle United by their sovereign fund is also a part of their master plan to dominate the sports landscape. A purchase that made many in the Premier League uncomfortable and a purchase highlighted even more with the recent confiscation of Chelsea FC from Roman Abramovich, another Russian oligarch. With this backdrop what followed was a disastrous rocket attack by Houthi rebels on an oil installation near the Grand Prix venue. Concerns about safety were raised and many feared the race would be postponed or rescheduled. But the Kingdom was adamant that the race continue and it did. F1 is a logistical nightmare but when given the green light by politicians they somehow always find a way. It was reported that many drivers had apprehensions about
Source: cdn.motorsportmagazine.com
IIT BOMBAY RACING
Source: scroll.in
“...followed was a disastrous rocket attack near the Grand Prix venue. But the race continued...” the race going ahead and some were unconvinced till the end. But the race did go ahead and thankfully did not face any snags. One wonders if similarly, the Russian Grand Prix could have gone through and the Mazepin fiasco avoided. Politics is never simple and somehow always hypocritical. The country which hosted the 2018 football world cup, a massive sporting spectacle, can now only imagine when the next big sporting event will grace her lands. Hope for normalisation of world geopolitics is not naive as the USSR and USA had their own boycotts of the Olympics with their own agendas. But sports eventually overcame all these historical boycotts when the cold war ended. Putin’s war with Ukraine will play out now,
probably, in a long-drawn-out conflict with the world waiting for a diplomatic solution to ease the suffering of the Ukrainian people. Jean Todt, former president of FIA, in December 2021 argued that it was not the sport’s duty to get involved in politics. These comments came in response to allegations that Saudi Arabia is using the sport as a “sports washing” tool. What is clear now is that it is not within the sport’s power to ignore politics but rather like the rest of us, F1 is also just another pawn on the complex chessboard of geopolitics.
Source: cnbc.com
FIA President Jean Todt during the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain on March 28, 2021 in Bahrain
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What happens in Vegas, Only happens in Vegas By Nikhil
Source: Formula1.com
F
1 has always been primarily a European sport. There have been times when races were held in the United States, but the sport never gained enough popularity. In recent years, we’ve seen a gradual increase in the influence of the middle-east on F1. This influence is more to do with the money, and less with the fan following over there. With the enormous rise in popularity of the Netflix series, Drive to Survive, F1 has brought in a whole new breed of fans, especially from India and the USA. The inclusion of the Miami Grand Prix in this year’s calendar signals the start of a new phase of F1’s global recognition. Drive to Survive was perhaps the single most influential decision that changed the whole trajectory of F1 fandom.
“That’s 3 races in the US Miami and Austin being the other two. This is a great time for the sport, with the announcement reflecting the growth of the sport in the US. Incidentally, this would be the first time since 1982 that Formula 1 has 3 races in the US....” 12
Source: Pixabay.
Las Vegas strip With the announcement of the Las Vegas GP being added to the calendar in 2023, that’s 3 races in the US - Miami and Austin being the other two. This is a great time for the sport, with the announcement reflecting the growth of the sport in the US. Incidentally, this would be the first time since 1982 that Formula 1 has 3 races in the US. Unsurprisingly, the drivers had a `pretty positive reaction to the announcement. With the everincreasing paychecks, there’s no wonder they are excited to test out their luck at the infamous Vegas tables. Surprisingly, the race is being held on a Saturday, giving everyone the Sunday to do what you do in Vegas. Lewis Hamilton, the 7-time World
IIT BOMBAY RACING Champion even suggested that some drivers might not even wake up for the race! But given that it will be a night race, that shouldn’t be much of an issue. The reigning World Champion, Max Verstappen was cautious in welcoming the new race and pointed out the need to find a balance between the street tracks and the other traditional racetracks.
as they blast past the iconic Las Vegas Strip. The last time F1 raced in Vegas was in 1982, in the car park of the famous Caesar’s Palace casino. The new track has a 2 km straight blasting through the Vegas Strip. Supposedly, the designers produced 31 different layouts for the track before finally agreeing on the 14-turn high-speed Monza/Spa-esque track.
The announcement of the Las Vegas GP has also brought attention to certain tracks like Monaco, Spa-Francorchamps, and Paul Ricard. Both Max Verstappen and Lando Norris pointed out the need to ensure that the historical tracks are maintained in the calendar. They also revealed that they quite enjoy racing on the old school tracks and so do I! This brings up the question of whether we are straying away from the ethos of Formula 1. The rise in the influence of the Middle East has already seen the loss of a few historical tracks like Istanbul Park, Hockenheimring, and Imola from the F1 calendar. With the drivers demanding a reduction in the number of races in a calendar year and rightly so, it is only inevitable that many classic circuits won’t stand the test of time.
The lap starts with a sharp hairpin at turn 1 followed by sweeping turns 2 through 4. A short straight is followed by a right-angled turn 5 and high-speed corners 6 through 8 which will surely help the drivers build up quite some speed. Then comes a sharp turn 9 which marks the start of the piece de resistance of the circuit: the 2 km long straight through the strip. The circuit overall feels pretty simple and bland. There are no crazy turns like turn 9 at Istanbul Park or the high-speed banked corners of Zandvoort. The only selling point of this track is straight. The drivers are going to have the time of their lives whizzing past the bright casinos and the iconic fountain in the middle. The straight ends with a sharp breaking point with 3 sharp left-rightleft turns. Then it’s relatively straightforward with a minor bend at turn 14. The race will consist of 50 laps for a total distance of 306km. The drivers surely won’t have any dehydration issues this time around! There isn’t much else known about the circuit as of now and it’s too early to comment on how the track would perform with the current generation cars. Only time will tell.
Source: Formula1.com Track layout for the Las Vegas grand prix 2023 Let’s have a look at the circuit now. It is a 6.12 km, 14-turn street circuit in the heart of downtown Las Vegas. The circuit winds its way past iconic Vegas locations like Caesars Palace, the Bellagio, and the Venetian. With the cars expected to hit top speeds of around 342 km/hr and the average speeds comparable to that at the Temple of Speed - Italy’s Autodromo Nazionale Monza, the teams will have to set up their cars to maximize their performance
The announcement has already attracted its fair share of controversy. The owners of F1, Liberty Media, are in litigation with a Businessman who claims to have the jurisdiction over event promotion for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. They claim to have agreed to the contract details with F1’s former owner, Bernie Ecclestone. On the other hand, Liberty Media claims that they never legally obtained the rights. Let’s hope this is resolved in time for the race. VEGAS 2023, LET’S GO!!!!
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Sideca
14Micramoto.com Source:
IIT BOMBAY RACING
ar Racing By Vikyath
“Imagine a vehicle with three wheels, a top speed of 260 kilometers per hour, and have the driver and passenger steer the car. Sounds pretty ridiculous, right? But there is such a vehicle, and it’s called an F1 sidecar...”
I
magine a vehicle with three wheels, a top speed of 260 kilometers per hour, and have the driver and passenger steer the car. Sounds pretty ridiculous, right? But there is such a vehicle, and it’s called an F1 sidecar. Now racing these beasts on the treacherous Isle of Man TT Mountain course makes it one of the most insane motorsports. But first, what is a sidecar, and how has sidecar racing come to be?
Source: pinimg.com
Origin of the sidecar Sidecars began as motorcycle adaptations that added the convenience of a third seat or storage space. They were made to be driven on the street, but their erratic handling made them a fascinating race vehicle. Over time, sidecars have evolved into specialized racing machines with superior aerodynamics and muchimproved performance. They are powered by 600cc four-stroke motorcycle engines providing roughly 130 horsepower at the rear wheel. These bikes have racing slicks that help in maximizing grip. These machines can out brake superbikes due to their massive carbon-ceramic brakes. They have two wheels in a line and one on the side, making them asymmetrical. The sidecar itself is called an outfit. The driver is the person handling the throttle, brakes, and steering input. The person riding on the platform, hanging off the side, is called the passenger. What makes driving sidecars so cool? The most astonishing aspect about these vehicles is that two people are involved in taking them around a track. The driver controls the vehicle’s throttle, brakes, and raw steering input. The passenger, informally referred to as a monkey manipulates the car’s weight distribution and balance, helping it navigate way faster through corners, reducing the lap times by minutes.
Source: Motorsport.com
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Source: pinimg.com Sidecar catching air on the isle of man TT course
“Sidecar racing has many different classes and events, from circuits like Brands Hatch to the scariest, The Isle of Man Snaefell mountain course. This 61 kilometers long street and public rural road circuit is statistically the most dangerous course in the world...”
Source: wikimedia.org
Isle of man TT mountain course map
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Source: dailymail.co.uk Sidecar crash Racing the sidecar Now to control these machines at high speed, with walls, curbs, and blind crests is nothing short of terrifying. Sidecar racing has many different classes and events, from circuits like Brands Hatch and Autumn Park to the scariest, The Isle of Man Snaefell mountain course. This 61 kilometers long street and public rural road circuit is statistically the most dangerous course in the world. There were many horrific crashes in all these years of racing done there. This is because of how risky the track is to navigate. One slight misjudgment can cause the vehicle to be sent off a hill or smashed into a wall. The course goes through tight island roads with
Source: wikimedia.org
both tight and open, weaving sections where drivers are flat out for minutes at a time. All this, combined with the unpredictability of the sidecar, makes it a true spectacle. Unpredictability of sidecars In a car with four wheels, the driver has a similar intuition for the car’s cornering ability for both left and right-hand corners. However, sidecars can take right-hand corners far quicker than left-hand ones. In right-hand corners, the outfit leans on the sidecar wheel, providing more stability. In the case of lefthand corners, the car can tip over as there is no supporting wheel, and hence they have to be taken much slower.
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MILESTONE “This is the most sketchy part about handling these things. They very often skid their backs on the track surface and can get knocked off by the curb walls if the driver gets it wrong...”
Source: bike-urious.com Passenger steering the sidecar The passenger The riders on the back are called passengers. These people must be incredibly fit to hold on at high speeds and g-forces. Their role is to maintain the balance of the outfit. A sidecar would be minutes a lap slower around the course without them. They cling on and stay out of the airflow on the straights to reduce drag. In the braking zones, they pop up to increase drag as much as possible. Around corners, they hang off of either side essentially to make up for the uneven handling. For right-hand corners, they climb over the top of the driver to keep the weight on the inside tires. Around left-hand corners, they hang precariously on the left side of the bike. This is the most sketchy part about handling these things. They very often skid their backs on the track surface and can get knocked off by the curb walls if the driver gets it wrong. Some passengers are so skilled that they can count and feel the bumps, and they don’t have to pop their heads up to see when the next corner is coming. The passengers hold onto the main handle in the vehicle’s center during high G sections like the braking zones. There are several smaller handles on the car’s sides for the cornering sections. There is a specially shaped platform with space for the passenger to jam their feet for grip.
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“Driving one of these vehicles is not like a car, if the passenger is not at the right place at precisely the right time in sidecars, the vehicle will not have the expected grip...”
IIT BOMBAY RACING
Source: Motorsport.com
The driver The driver requires enormous amounts of skill as well. Driving one of these vehicles is not like a car with a predictable grip and steady balance. If the passenger is not at the right place at precisely the right time in sidecars, the vehicle will not have the expected grip. For driving regular cars, one must do trail braking, where the brake pressure is gently released as they enter the corner. The driver is still doing this on a sidecar but with an added component of another person moving their weight around. It must be a challenging task to coordinate
this perfectly and race. Conclusion It takes enormous trust from both the driver and the passenger to navigate these vehicles down the track. The driver has to trust that the passenger will be in place to give him enough grip when he needs it, and the passenger has to trust the driver that he has got his estimations right. Around this track especially, the drivers take a considerable risk. So one can only imagine the nerves when they sit at the start line.
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Autonomous Racing Line -By Ronak Matai
www.pinimg.com
N
ow common pedestrian drivers like most of us might have a sense of false bravado about our driving skills. Most non-motorsport enthusiasts might think that racing is all about cars going around in circles, with no purpose or point. They cannot fathom the fact that a slower car can overtake a faster car. But to the more seasoned motorsport enthusiast, the racing line and the skill
“While overtaking, or simply while dealing with a combination of corners, taking the apex at every turn is not the most optimum strategy.” 20
of racecraft are common knowledge. Let’s just do a quick recap. Every track has a maximum frictional force it can apply to the wheels of the car. This frictional force provides the centripetal force needed for a car while turning. Since the maximum centripetal force is constant, the fastest speed through a corner can be achieved when the radius of the turn is as small as possible. Thus, we end up taking the racing line ‘a www.lifeatlean.com
IIT BOMBAY RACING an autonomous car has no clue as to what is the fastest racing line. If there was a way to predict this racing line, we could not only find the most optimum path for driverless cars to drive over, but this could also help in getting a simulation of real cars and could help racing teams in Lap Time Simulation, to predict how different setups and tires could change the optimum lap time around a given track.
www.wikipedia.com path’ that looks somewhat like this. However, for a race driver simply following the racing line is not using this geometric path. At times they might need to do something completely different. Let’s take an example of a car that has quite a bit of straight-line speed advantage over its competitors. To drive such a car in the fastest possible way, one would rather take a slower turn(i.e. A later apex), because this gives more distance for the car to accelerate over, thereby achieving faster times.
The first step in figuring out the racing line, as done in many research papers is finding the minimum curvature path (MCP) on a 2D projection of the track, for various reasons above this is not an optimum method. This is usually done by approximating with help of a Euler Spiral i.e. a
While overtaking, or simply while dealing with a combination of corners, taking the apex at every turn is not the most optimum strategy. The racing line is very varied for a different combination of corners. Apart from all of this, weather and track conditions affect the friction that the track can provide changing the racing line. We take a wider racing line in wet conditions. Now although racing drivers are seasoned to react and change the racing line under these conditions,
“A jagged racing line with multiple abrupt turns would only slow down the car.”
www.quoracdn.net
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MILESTONE
“To mimic human vision, in a single step we use foresight i.e. multiple normals and their features are taken as input.” curve whose curvature changes linearly with its curve length (the curvature of a circular curve is equal to the reciprocal of the radius). However, the MCP is not sufficient and we then turn to force balancing approaches to account for different traction around the track. This would also help us to account for different cars, and how their varied specifications (like max acceleration) could lead to different racing lines. One more important feature that we forget is that racing tracks are essentially 3D, which means banking and gravitational force have an impact on force balancing approaches. What better than a
NASCAR track to check out a 3D racing line. Another thing to be taken into consideration is that the racing line must be ‘smooth’. A jagged racing line with multiple abrupt turns would only slow down the car. Thus, this force balancing approach is essentially very time-consuming, as we need to take various small elements of the track and calculate the movement of the car to that element for various entry positions of the car to that element. Moreover, this needs to be done over multiple loops of the racing track to find the optimum racing line. Thus, force balancing is essentially a very slow approach and cannot be used on the line, either for autonomous racing or for Lap Time simulations.
“Maybe we could have combined motorsport events in the upcoming years and a few man vs machine battles.” www.carthrottle.com
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IIT BOMBAY RACING Thus, we finally come to neural networks and this to be fair is the most elegant solution. Feature extraction from the track is shown in the picture below. www.tandfonline.com
“The racing line is described by identifying the location of the waypoint along each Normal – denoted using the feature w.” The machine learning model takes the length of the normal l, angular change between Normals α, and the angle θ between the Normal and the true normal to the track centreline as inputs. The racing line is described by identifying the location of the waypoint along each Normal – denoted using the feature w, (ranging between zero and one).
www.wikipedia.com To mimic human vision, in a single step we use foresight i.e. multiple normals and their features are taken as input. More number of normals in a single step, better the vision of the algorithm. The best part of this algorithm is the fact that it gives faster results and could also potentially account for the driving style of each driver. Maybe, it could have mapped Lewis Hamilton’s pace in the new 2022 Mercedes. It might have been able to map the fact that Daniel Riccardio would have a hard time in Mclaren. All this could have been done simply, by taking training data for various drivers or driver-car pairs. The autonomous racing line definitely gives us an insight into how driverless cars may drive and the places where they could be weaker or stronger than their human counterparts. Maybe we could have combined motorsport events in the upcoming years and a few man vs machine battles. One can only wonder, how good can these models get?
www.tandfonline.com
www.dspace.mit.edu
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MILESTONE
Internal combustion in IC means that the fuel is combusted inside the engine to provide energy
https://www.theguardian.com/
source: blog.amsoil.com
An absolute beginners guide to engines: If you are involved in the world of motorsports to any minute capacity, you would not have been able to escape the word ‘engines.’ There is something fundamentally beautiful about converting a source of energy into physical work. Perhaps one can observe it as a symbol of how far we have come as a species and can manipulate the forces of nature. Or that we can manufacture our own thunder through our V8s. Putting the romanticization aside, understanding the basics of an engine opens doors to understanding the world of turbo and superchargers, exhaust emissions, alternate fuels, compression ratios, and more. You will be one step closer to making effortless dinner conversations and impressing your veteran car enthusiast guests when they inevitably speak ‘car.’
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~Nikita
One can look at ‘work’ or ‘power’ as the ability of a device to generate a particular motion. The chemical energy of the fuel can be unlocked by combustion and used to power the vehicle. For vehicular engines, this motion translates to driving the car’s wheels. There are various types of engines, and in this article, we will be focusing on the type most commonly found in our cars, internal combustion, i.e., the IC engine. Internal combustion in IC means that the fuel is combusted inside the engine to provide energy. When fuel is burnt inside our engine, it releases its stored energy as heat and kinetic energy imparted to resulting gases of combustion. Thus, our controlling parameters become how we burn our fuel when we burn it and for how long.
IIT BOMBAY RACING We want to burn small amounts of fuel in a specific compartment built to handle its heat to control our combustion. To do this, we need to figure out its three basic steps: 1) How to introduce fuel and air into the engine 2) How to derive work from the energy of the combustion 3) How to eject the leftover mixture to the surroundings.
So to summarize quickly, Petrol is mixed with air and introduced to the compression chamber. For Diesel, the fuel is injected into the air of the compression chamber directly, where it evaporates.
Internal combustion in IC means that the fuel is combusted inside the engine to provide energy. How to introduce fuel and air into the engine The two most common fuels in commercial vehicles are petrol/gasoline and Diesel. Both hydrocarbons have different chemical and physical properties. One needs to know two critical properties of these fuels: volatility and ignition temperature without a spark. Volatility is the ability of a substance to evaporate at average temperatures. You would have noticed that, unlike water, your anti-covid friend, sanitizer, disappears from your palms rather quickly. This is because it can easily use your body heat to vaporize. Similarly, Petrol has high volatility. It vapourises when exposed to air and mixes with it quickly. Thus, a mixture of Petrol and air is introduced to the engine with relative ease. Diesel, on the other hand, isn’t as volatile as Petrol. It won’t readily mix with air to give you a mixture that would combust well, and you need to put in the effort to make it evaporate. Diesel is often introduced into engines through fuel injection directly into the combustion chamber. The liquid fuel is converted into ultra-fine droplets on passing through the atomizer. These droplets have a large surface area to volume ratio and can vapourize much faster owing to higher exposure.
source: onlineinterviewquestions.com
How to derive work from the energy of the combustion Let’s see how we can generate energy from the fuel. This is where a physical property called ignition temperature comes into play. For Diesel, the ignition temperature without a spark is much lower than Petrol’s. In fact, under suitable compression, diesel air mixture can auto-ignite. For Petrol, autoignition is challenging to achieve, and we need to introduce a spark to initiate the combustion. This is done via a ‘spark plug.’
source: ngkntk.in
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MILESTONE
We now need to create a mechanism that can utilize the energy generated. The easiest way to derive work from a force is to have that force push the object. So, if this mixture were to combust in a chamber, we could ensure that one wall isn’t rigidly connected to the rest and is free to move. This is precisely what a piston inside a cylinder can achieve. When these gases inside a cylinder go kaboom, they expand and push the piston away. Now, if we connect these pistons via connecting rods to a shaft that rotates, we can make that shaft rotate our wheels. That bit is called the transmission, where the ‘crankshaft’s motion is taken to the wheels.
Crankshaft
source: perkins.com
To make this process cyclic, let’s give the piston the ability to move back and forth into the cylinder. When it has moved its farthest in, the volume inside the cylinder is minimum, and when it has moved the farthest out, the volume inside the cylinder is maximum. As no air or gases escape in this process, the mixture in the cylinder can thus be compressed or expanded based on the piston movement. This corresponds to the ‘top dead centre’ and the ‘bottom dead centre’ that you hear during engine talk where the piston is at the topmost and bottom-most position, respectively.
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When these gases inside a cylinder go kaboom, they expand and push the piston away. From what we know until now, Diesel vapors in air need compression to auto-ignite. We start injecting fuel as the piston begins compressing the mixture. The fuel starts vaporizing. When the piston reaches the top dead centre, it has compressed the mixture raising its temperature. The ratio of the uncompressed cylinder volume to compressed cylinder volume is called the compression ratio, and in diesel engines, it ranges from 14 to 22. That means that the piston compresses the gases to more than 14 to 22 times its initial volume. The temperature of the gases is raised significantly, enough to initiate autoignition. The burning gases then force the cylinder volume to increase by pushing the piston and thus generating work. For Petrol, the spark plug is used, which ignites the mixture at the top dead centre, and the same principles of expansion are observed. Cogently put by multiple engine enthusiasts, the engine performs ‘Suck Squeeze Bang Blow,’ and the above operations are repeated in the 4-stroke cycle. It sucks the air, squeezes the mixture, and causes it to ignite, forcing piston movement by ‘blowing’ it away. Congratulations, ladies and gentlemen, we now have power.
Congratulations, ladies and gentlemen, we now have power.
IIT BOMBAY RACING
source: alamy.com How to eject the leftover mixture to the surroundings: Similar to the process of intake, the burnt gas mixture is exhausted from the combustion chamber via the means of outtake valves which periodically open to let the gases out. To make the process simpler, the gases are ejected when the piston is compressing the burnt mix, which locally increases its pressure, forcing it to flow outwards. And that completes the entire combustion cycle.
All other technology that you hear of is to simplify and increase the efficiency of the above processes. For example, we can play with the sizes and configurations of these cylinders. Instead of placing them vertically next to each other, we get a V-shaped engine if we align them alternatively at an angle from the vertical. Such a design is more efficient as it allows the engines to sit lower and have an improved center of gravity in the car. With eight such cylinders, four on each side of the V, we get the configuration of the famous V8 - traditionally a mighty engine whose sounds car enthusiasts can’t get enough of. And now that you know how an engine works, you are one step closer to speaking ‘car.’
And now that you know how an engine works, you are one step closer to speaking ‘car.’ 27
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