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Modern Formula One cars are single-seat, open cockpit, open wheel, race cars that have substantial wings at front and rear, and position the engine behind the driver. The regulations governing the cars are unique to the championship. The current Formula One regulations specify that cars must be constructed by the racing teams themselves.

See Formula One regulations for a summary of the current technical and sporting regulations.

Engines

The regulations specify that the cars must be powered by 3.0 litre ten cylinder naturally-aspirated engines that have no more than five valves per cylinder. All current cars use a V10 engine, located between the driver and the rear wheels. The very best engines, widely regarded to be those of the BMW Williams team are believed to be developing around 900 horsepower (670 kW) at 19,000 rpm.

The engines produce over 100,000 BTU per minute (1,758 kW) of heat that must be dumped, usually to the atmosphere via radiators. They consume around 650 litres of air per second. Race fuel consumption rate is normally around 75 litres per 100 kilometers travelled.

The engines are a stressed member in most cars. This means that engine is part of the structural support framework, being bolted to the cockpit at the front end, and transmission and rear suspension at the back end.

Engines are required to last one full race weekend and if a team changes an engine, they incur a penalty in grid positions.

Transmission

Formula One cars use semi-automatic sequential gearboxes with six or seven foward gears and one reverse gear. The driver signals gear changes using paddles mounted on the back of the steering wheel and electro-hydraulics perform the actual change as well as throttle control. Clutch control is also performed electro-hydraulically except from and to a standstill when the driver must operate the clutch using a lever mounted on the back of the steering wheel. By regulation the cars use rear wheel drive.

Aerodynamics

The cars' aerodynamics are designed to provide maximum downforce with a minimum of drag; every part of the bodywork is designed with this aim in mind. Like most open wheeler cars they feature large front and rear aerofoils. They also feature aerodynamic appendages that direct the airflow. To minimise the downforce provided by ground effects the undertray is flat between the axles and a wooden 'plank' runs down the middle of it to force the cars to run higher from the ground than they would otherwise have to. However, a substantial amount of ground effect downforce is provided by using a rear diffuser and a raised nose.

Construction

The cars are constructed from composites of carbon fibre and similar ultra-lightweight (and incredibly expensive to manufacture) materials. The minimum weight permissible is 600kg including the driver, fluids and on-board cameras. However, all F1 cars weigh significantly less than this (some as little as 440kg) so teams add ballast to the cars to bring them upto the minimum legal weight. The advantage of using ballast is that it can be placed anywhere in the car to provide ideal weight distribution.

Fuel

The fuel used in F1 cars is fairly similar to ordinary petrol, albeit with a far more tightly controlled mix. Blends are be tuned for maximum performance in given weather conditions or different circuits.

Tyres and brakes

By regulation, the tyres feature a minimum of four grooves in them, with the intention of slowing the cars down (a slick tyre, with no indentations, is best in dry conditions). They must be no wider than 355 mm and 380 mm at the front and rear respectively. Unlike the fuel, the tyres bear only a superficial resemblance to a normal road tyre. Whereas a normal car tyre has a useful life of up to 80,000 km, and even motorcycle tires are normally good for 15,000 km, an F1 tyre is built to last just 200 km. This is result of a drive to maximise the road holding ability, leading to the use of very soft compounds (to ensure that the tire surface conforms to the road surface as closely as possible).

The brakes incorporate carbon-fibre discs.

Performance

F1 cars and the cutting edge technology that constitute them produce an unprecedented combination of outright speed and quickness for the drivers, or pilots. Nearly every F1 car on the grid is capable of going from 0 to 160 km/h (100 MPH) and back to 0 km/h in less than 5 seconds. During a at the Silverstone circuit in Britain, a McLaren F1 car driven by David Coulthard gave a pair of Mercedes-Benz street cars a head start of approximately one minute (70 seconds), and was able to beat the car to the finish line from a standing start.

In an effort to reduce speeds and increase driver safety, the FIA has introduced new rules for F1 constructors. These rules included restrictions on engine computer technology, as well as the introduction of grooved tyres. Yet despite these changes, constructors continue to extract performance gains by increasing horsepower and aerodynamic efficiency. As a result, the pole position speed at many circuits in like weather conditions has dropped between 1.5 and 3 seconds in 2004 over the prior year's times.