08/07/2023
Aston Martin's new F1 factory and campus
WeAdmire had the chance to admire Aston Martin's new F1 factory and campus adjacent to Silverstone on Thursday evening. No images were allowed beyond the foyer but we had a guided tour of the inner sanctum that included the bays where the cars are built. It is an extraordinary facility with rows of the most sophisticated CNC milling machines, autoclaves of every size, great natural light and a straightforward progressive layout focused on the construction of racing cars. The galvanising effect was refreshing to experience.
The things that surprised me: The confines of an F1 cockpit, the drivers have almost no room to move; check out the width at the shoulders. 1st image. In the tangle of things suspension and aero at the blunt end, there are apparently no drive shafts. Said shafts are narrow in diameter such they can be encased in a aerofoil shroud that hardly looks different from the wishbones of the suspension. 2nd image. A mechanic showed us a shaft from a 2020 car. They are made of a ti alloy with a diameter smaller than the Ti tubes of my bicycle. The mechanic confirmed they were a tube and smiled when I asked about the wall thickness. They handle around 1000bhp. Apparently they have twisted up in races - starts and full power corners post hitting kerbs are the danger moments - but they have never completely failed in a race. Finally what is the blunt cylindrical end to the leading surface of the sides of the rear wing about? 3rd image.
We hope to be able to bring you an Aston Martin F1 artefact modelled by Yukio Miyamoto for our t shirts.
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