Formula 1 Technology
By Peter Wright

437 pages

This informative and well-illustrated book on the modern day F1 car gives a first hand account of the issues facing modern Formula 1 teams as they strive to harmoniously overcome the technical and practical issues competitors face today.

Wright’s experience as a mechanical engineer with the Lotus team under Colin Chapman gives an authoritative look inside the F1 team as a whole. The reader learns not only from his hands on experience constructing, testing and racing F1 cars, but also from his time spent working on some milestone examples of these machines. From the first ground effect car, the Lotus T78, to the beginning of the active suspension era with a modified Lotus Esprit, Wright’s book highlights some of the more serendipitous moments in F1 with technical ease and dry humor.

The book does a great service to the notion that spectacular successes come along with some spectacular failures, all in the name of progress and innovation. Some of these highlights are mentioned in a section on banned technologies, which include the Pratt and Whitney Turbine engine used in the Lotus T56B, the Tyrrell 6-wheeler, the Brabham fan car and the Lotus fan car it inspired, and the four-wheel drive Lotus T63. Reading about each of these cars really gives the reader a sense of just how hard teams pushed in radically different directions in search of an edge over competitors.

Wright also gives some insight as to how performance advantages are measured, braking down metrics in terms of power, weight, tire grip, drag and lift. The book highlights these with several illustrations, comparing the cornering limits of pre-and post-aerodynamically tuned cars as well as highlighting the reduction in modern day F1 engine sizes, weight and configuration.

From the author’s point of view, the reader gains an appreciation for each incremental improvement we now see on modern day F1 cars. While technical in nature, the book gives a great firsthand account of what goes into conceiving, developing, testing, and finally racing these innovative machines. Formula 1 Technology illustrates some of the history of modern day F1 cars and rules, and highlights how paths toward progress in the sport end with innovative and sometimes amusing results.