Transmission

Transmission is another very important aspect of a Formula 1 car. You would have noticed shifting gears to achieve various speed. But the actual purpose of gear box is to make vehicle quicker. To know better about this , we need to know a little about how IC engine produce power.








IC engines, produce power by burning fuel , which kicks the piston that reciprocate and rotate a crank. Which convert this linear motion in to rotating motion. The force produced on the piston by combustion is applied on the crank of some radius, which causes torque in the body that rotates the shaft connected to it through which rotation is produced. When Ic engine is working at lower rpm, it ultimately means the air-fuel mixture supplied to engine is low so less power is generated. So force on piston will be less. Ultimately torque will be less.


















Okay, if you ask me what torque is, For every object to move we need force Likewise for every object to rotate, we need torque which is again a component of force times ⊥distance.

Let’s say torque is directly sent to engine to wheel. Since we know the force generated in engine at lower speeds is less that means the torque is also less.

So it is evident , Torque ∝ Force .

Which Is same for car perspective, when this torque is transferred to wheels , the wheels that are in contact with ground produce force. That moves car forward.

For clear understanding ,check the image down.






So more the torque on wheels ,more the force.

But when the vehicle is at rest (and lower speeds), The vehicle has to overcome lots of forces like inertia, static friction. To overcome these forces, we need more force on ground that means more torque is required on wheels. But at lower speeds, the IC engines produce less torque which might not be enough to produce smooth motion of the car. What if we can increase or multiply this torque? Sounds cool right?. Thanks to the gear box. This is the exact reason why we use gear box in our cars and bikes. What a gear does is, multiply the torque under the compensation of speed. Let’s see how.






Let’s say gear A rotates gear B.

Gear a has some torque Ta , and it is converted into force at edge of teeth.

Fa= Ta/Ra -1

Similarly force on gear B is

Fb= Tb/Rb -2

Since the force Fa is applied at the teeth of gear B.

Force on gear B is Fa

So Fa = Fb

From 1 and 2

Ta/Ra= Tb/Rb

Since Rb > Ra

Tb> Ta.

Torque is multiplied.

Also that

N x2𝜋Ra = 2 𝜋Rb

Where N is number of rotation.

So it is clear that gear A has to rotate N times to make 1 rotation in gear B. So in a gear speed and torque is inversely proportional








So this way of multiplying gear enables the smooth start of vehicle, and as speed gains , the negative forces on vehicle decreases . So we don’t need high torque . So we can shift to higher gears, so that vehicle can move at further speed.

Also this torque plays a huge role in acceleration of vehicle. More torque means more force is produced by wheels, which means more acceleration ( F= Ma). So at lower gears we can achieve more acceleration.

A transmission of a formula 1 car has 8 gears. The gear shifting is done through paddle shifters, where gear is shifted by pneumatic shifters and computers.

In Next post we will look into other thinks related to drive train.