Originally Posted by Shaun
Yes, the expertise I mentioned includes management, strategy, etc. I may talk like a tech-head but it is far from all I focus on. I see successes and failures in management and strategy every week, across large and highly competitive fields, where no team competes without multi-millions spent per car per year - many in the 8 digit per car per year range..which makes that about halfway to 9 digits for a 4 car 4 driver team.
The biggest difference between the first and the last place finishers is not tech, but structure, standards, management and money that it takes to have these three things really strong. The money spent on these three things eclipses what is spent on base tech. Base tech in my definition is tech not available to those with anything less than a couple hundred million dollars a year to burn... and that is all of motorsport except F1. So it's never just about the car or the setup, but more about what supports that tip of the spear.
Racing, beyong the base tech level which any engineer and many non-engineers possess, is truly 90% structure, management, money. The last 10% is advanced tech and there only 2 other professional auto racing arenas worldwide that has some teams running budgets large enough to support R&D at that level. And those you can count with your fingers. It is useless to have any advanced tech if the base tech and structure/management is not present. Latter being the much more challenging area to develop.
In road racing, the winners are those who have..
- The best engineers and mechanics to come up with and apply the best chassis and suspension setup for the course in those conditions
- The best driver
- Made use of all available test and practice time
- Found ways to even test illegally (if sanctioning body limited, which is almost always the case)
- Made the most efficient use of all test time
- The money to buy all the right people and equipment
- The vision and focus to create and manage the most efficient structure that fully utilizes and integrates all the people and technology that the money is spent on.
Last two are critical since everything before them follows as a result.
Doing it all right keeps confidence between owners, managers, mechanics, drivers, engineers, high, and this synergy is the other major factor in the car being consistently quick round the track. The confidence that goes both ways between each group listed here is so easy to lose, and difficult to build which makes the structure and standards even more critical.
If you like that noise you should go to the 24 hours of Le Mans sometime in your life, or at least stop by an ALMS race in the US if convenient. The range of engine configurations and engine speeds, ignition control strategies for shift cuts, soft/hard rev limiters, pit lane cruise (and how hard some of them come off it) as well as body shapes and how and how much they displace the air just creates an indescribable symphony. I have some videos I should upload. The visual is pretty good but audio is done no justice unless I buy a really good mic or something.
|