Mercedes impressed by Lewis Hamilton driving

11 February 2013

Lewis Hamilton has already proven to Mercedes that he has the off-track skills and attitude to match his obvious speed, says team boss Ross Brawn.

At the end of his first week of track action with Mercedes during testing at Jerez in Spain, Brawn said that Hamilton had impressed not only with his performance in the car but in how he was approaching the task of moving Mercedes forward.

"He is clearly a very talented driver," said Brawn. "But F1 is about so much more. There are a lot of highly talented drivers who do not have the rest of it.

"I think he has the rest of it as well."
Brawn said that Hamilton's attitude to working with Mercedes had been a big help, especially the way he was dealing methodically with the situation, and leaving no stone unturned.

"He is very straightforward I have to say," explained Brawn. "In many ways he is very simple, very straightforward. He tells us what he thinks.

"He is never short of detail in telling you what he thinks and, of course, you learn at what level you need to go to. He is interested in everything about the car. He is interested in the fact that the stickers might not be put properly on the bodywork.

"He has a very good eye for detail, so I think he will be a very involved member of the team, which is what we wanted."

Brawn did think, however, that it would take some time for Hamilton and the engineering team to become as integrated as they will need to be to ensure car development is always in the right direction.

"I think it is still very early in terms of understanding what he wants from a car perspective. We need a greater spread before we get to understand that bit, but he is clearly a person who enjoys being involved at all levels.

"That is a great motivation for the team. He has been working hard with the engineers at this test. He has been here on the days that Nico [Rosberg] has been driving, listening on the headset to what has been going on. So, he is everything I hoped he would be."
Brawn also revealed that he had made it clear to Hamilton that it was vital the former world champion spoke his mind to ensure that he could help the team improve.

"We have made it very clear to Lewis that he is part of the solution," he said. "You have a choice in the team - you are either a problem or you are a solution.

"He is part of the solution to get us where we want to be.

"He knows that and he understands it and I think he is relishing it. It is correct that he gives us his reference points and helps us understand what he must focus on.

"Some of them we knew already and that is why we restructured the aero group, so I welcome that approach.

"It needs to be constructive and it needs to be positive, but criticism of the right sort is always helpful as it drives you forward."

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New-Gen High speed rail.

18 December 2012

A team of Japanese researchers from the Tohoku University, including Yusuke Sugahara, has developed this revolutionary public transport system prototype, which does the one thing that really speeds up travel – by not running on rails, the Aero Train avoids friction with the ground. This project has been developed under the leadership of Professor Yasuaki Kohama over the past 20 years.
While Maglev Trains, with their magnetic levitation system, are supposed to do exactly this, the typical wind drag created between the bottom of a maglev train and the rails make these inefficient and expensive. The Aero Train scores a big one-up here, by not using magnets to create the air cushion sandwich between the train and the rails; instead using stubby little wings and fast-moving air to fly just above the ground.
The Aero Train’s promised upto 200km/hr speed is much lesser than speeds that can be reached by other high-speed trains already in use, such as Shanghai’s Maglev train which is capable of achieving a top speed of about 430 km/hr or Japan’s “Hayabusa” bullet train  which can travel at upto 300km/hr.
However, the Aero Train does promise greater efficiency by avoiding the energy loss and consequent slowing down that takes place with the use of magnets in maglev trains.
While controlling the Aero Train could be a little bit tricky, with not just the throttle, but also the pitch, roll, and yaw needing to be controlled, the fact that this new-gen high speed rapid transit system has been designed to travel in a U-shaped channel, in addition to the further sophistication that the research team intend to incorporate into the unveiled prototype, should stop the Aero Train from staggering out of control.
Instead of going against the ground effect principle, the Aero Train maximizes it, by using the energy created due to the aerodynamic interaction between its wings and the surface of the ground for its propulsion, much like the famous Russian Ekranoplan developed decades ago did.
Robotics expert and Assistant Professor at the System Robotics Laboratory which is part of the Department of Bioengineering and Robotics, Tohoku University, Yusuke Sugahara led the team of Japanese scientists who have developed the Aero Train prototype.
Mr. Sugahara has become an internationally recognized expert on robotics, with his research on the bipedal humanoid robot “WABIAN”, the biped walking vehicle “WL” that he developed in 2001, to the latest Aro Train prototype developed by him and his team.
The Aero Train project was presented by Sugahara and his colleagues in their paper titled, “Levitation Control of Experimental Wing-in-Ground Effect Vehicle along Z Axis and about Roll and Pitch Axes,” at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), in Shanghai. Addressing the control system of the Aero Train prototype, this work by Sugahara has been developed under the guidance of Prof Kohama and Professor Kazuhiro Kosuge, professor in Tohoku University and president of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society

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F1's youngest triple Champion-Sebastian Vettel

26 November 2012

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel became Formula One's youngest triple world champion at the age of 25.

Sebastian Vettel has overcome a first-lap crash to clinch his third straight Formula One title after a thrilling race in Brazil that saw Jenson Button win his third race of the season.

Finishing sixth in an incident-filled track in Sao Paolo was just enough for the German. He held off Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, the only other driver contending for the title.

Vettel ended the season with 281 points to 278 for Alonso. Kimi Raikkonen was third overall for Lotus on 207 in his comeback year.
Red Bull had already won the constructors' title for the third year in a row.

Brazilian GP Results

No		Driver	Team	Time	Fastest Laps	PITS
1	3	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:45:22.656	2	1
2	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+2.754	0	0
3	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+3.615	0	0
4	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull	+4.936	0	1
5	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	+5.708	1	1
6	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	+9.453	1	1
7	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes AMG	+11.907	0	3
8	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	+28.653	0	1
9	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	+31.250	1	0
10	9	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus F1	+1 LAP	0	1
11	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	+1 LAP	0	1
12	25	Charles Pic	Marussia	+1 LAP	0	1
13	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	+1 LAP	0	1
14	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	+1 LAP	0	3
15	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG	+1 LAP	0	1
16	24	Timo Glock	Marussia	+1 LAP	0	2
17	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	+2 LAPS	0	3
18	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	+2 LAPS	0	2
19	11	Paul di Resta	Force India	+3 LAPS	0	3
20	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	Collision	4	0
21	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1	Spun off	0	0
22	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	Spun off	0	0
23	19	Bruno Senna	Williams	Collision	0	0
24	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber	Collision	0	0

Overall Standings

Drivers' Championship
No.	Driver	Team	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel (GERMANY)	Red Bull	281
2	Fernando Alonso (SPAIN)	Ferrari	278
3	Kimi Raikkonen (FINLAND)	Lotus F1	207
4	Lewis Hamilton (GREAT BRITAIN)	McLaren	190
5	Jenson Button (GREAT BRITAIN)	McLaren	188
6	Mark Webber (AUSTRALIA)	Red Bull	179
7	Felipe Massa (BRAZIL)	Ferrari	122
8	Romain Grosjean (FRANCE)	Lotus F1	96
9	Nico Rosberg (GERMANY)	Mercedes AMG	93
10	Sergio Perez (MEXICO)	Sauber	66
11	Nico Hulkenberg (GERMANY)	Force India	63
12	Kamui Kobayashi (JAPAN)	Sauber	60
13	Michael Schumacher (GERMANY)	Mercedes AMG	49
14	Paul Di Resta (GREAT BRITAIN)	Force India	46
15	Pastor Maldonado (VENEZUELA)	Williams	45
16	Bruno Senna (BRAZIL)	Williams	31
17	Jean-Eric Vergne (FRANCE)	Toro Rosso	16
18	Daniel Ricciardo (AUSTRALIA)	Toro Rosso	10
19	Vitaly Petrov (RUSSIA)	Caterham	0
20	Timo Glock (GERMANY)	Marussia	0
21	Charles Pic (FRANCE)	Marussia	0
22	Heikki Kovalainen (FINLAND)	Caterham	0
23	Jerome D'Ambrosio (BELGIUM)	Lotus F1	0
24	Narain Karthikeyan (INDIA)	HRT	0
25	Pedro De La Rosa (SPAIN)	HRT	0

Constructors' Championship
No.	team	Points
1	Red Bull Racing (AUSTRIA)	460
2	Scuderia Ferrari (ITALY)	400
3	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes (GREAT BRITAIN)	378
4	Lotus F1 Team (GREAT BRITAIN)	303
5	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team (GERMANY)	142
6	Sauber F1 Team (SWITZERLAND)	126
7	Sahara Force India F1 Team (INDIA)	109
8	AT&T Williams (GREAT BRITAIN)	76
9	Scuderia Toro Rosso (ITALY)	26
10	Team Caterham (MALAYSIA)	0
11	Marussia F1 Team (RUSSIA)	0
12	HRT F1 Team (SPAIN)	0

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