"RacecaR" (RacecaR)
03/10/2014 at 14:56 • Filed to: None
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"RacecaR" (RacecaR)
03/10/2014 at 14:56 • Filed to: None | 2
| 8 |
Okay, so the automotive industry (commercial and motorsports) is constantly evolving. More efficient ways of running a car. More aerodynamic bodies. Better safety features. These may start in racing, and spill over into commercially manufactured cars. But if the racing world is engineering "answers" of questions like "how can we run this race with less gas stops?" or "how do we get the resistance through the air to be less?" or best yet "how do we help the driver of this steerable rocket with wheels survive if they are in a crash?", will they ever stop? Will they reach an end point where there are no more questions to answer?
It hit me this morning, as the road was a little slick and my tires a little bald, will there ever be an super efficient, tread staying tire available. Then my mind ran away with that thought.
Since physics is finite (to a degree, I know there are many variables), will there ever be a place where engineers get to in automotive research where they hit the zenith of that area? Will there ever be a perfect race car shape that cuts through the air with such ease, changing it just the slightest bit will start to move it back into the negative results column. Will there ever be an engine so efficient, it will produce peak (competitive) power with ease and run indefinitely with minor maintenance?
I know once you hit a certain point, you open up more areas of concern (more variables). Oh you built an engine that produces more power? Well great, now we need a body that can hold and control that power through the space in which it exists. Or better safety needs to be found since you will be hurling towards that wall at a greater speed. But will they only be able to go so far?
But compare race cars from just 20 years ago, or even just 15 years ago. Look how they stack up to the cars of today.
I know technology has grown a lot since then as well. So as long as engineering technology evolves, will automotive engineering?
What do you think? Am I complete idiot and somehow seemed to form semi-cohesive sentences by just pounding on my keyboard for a bit? Or do you agree (even if somewhat) with what I am saying? Is there a top point, a pinnacle, a zenith of engineering that will be reached sooner or later?
*This all came to me this morning while coming into work. That was nearly 5.5 hours ago. I was still groggy from not being well rested. Also, I know very little about engineering, or physics for that matter. This is more a free-thinking idea.
hollanddjw 1
> RacecaR
03/10/2014 at 15:11 |
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No. Competition will always drive teams and their engineers to reach for faster lap times.
mr. idk
> RacecaR
03/10/2014 at 15:17 |
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I think that technically speaking, there will ALWAYS be a way to make a vehicle more faster in one way or another.
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RacecaR
> hollanddjw 1
03/10/2014 at 15:23 |
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But my point is that engineers are basically fighting against physics. Will there ever be a point where they "beat" physics and nothing left to fight against?
Inflame333
> RacecaR
03/10/2014 at 15:41 |
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We are 0.0000000000000000000000000000001% of the way there... Think about it.
You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much
> RacecaR
03/10/2014 at 15:51 |
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No, engineering will never get to the point where we have mechanical devices capable of 100% of what physics says their potential is.
Take a gasoline IC engine. Physics says we can convert something like 30% of the energy in gasoline into forward motion with an IC engine. In reality we can't even convert that 30%. So more than 70% of the energy in gasoline gets wasted. Maybe someday engineers will come up with a method that would convert 50% of gasoline's energy into motion. That would be about a 67% increase in efficiency while right now manufacturers will spend millions of dollars for a fraction of a percent increase in efficiency. That would be a quantum leap in performance and we would still be leaving literally half of the potential on the table.
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hollanddjw 1
> RacecaR
03/10/2014 at 15:51 |
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They don't fight physics- they apply its principles to racing. As long as our scientific knowledge increases and we don't lose our competitive drive, improvements can always be made.
D
> RacecaR
03/10/2014 at 16:09 |
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Another related topic is: when will race cars get fast enough that humans can no longer operate them?
McLarry
> RacecaR
03/10/2014 at 17:02 |
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Nah.... Law of diminishing returns. Say they make a system that's 50% efficient. You might expect that if you expend twice the effort you could make a system with 100% efficiency, but in actuality you'll end up somewhere around 60%. 2x the effort for 10%...Double up again and your improvement will be even less. You'll never reach 100% because the time required to do so increases exponentially and trends to infinity.