It is no secret that as of late, Kimi Raikkonen has not been performing up to par lately.  His failure to rise to the top in Germany and reports of a “subdued demeanour” have increased speculation that the 28 year old Finn may soon retire from the sport.  Thats right…retire.

During Raikkonen’s recent performance through the Hockenheim weekend, he was reported to appear unfocused.  Also, when asked about the recent speculation on his retirement he refused to either confirm or deny the accusassions.

A local paper had this to say…

“He finished sixth on Sunday and talked afterwards, in disconsolate tones, about a lack of grip. It is thought he was referring to his car. But whatever the state of his transport, he is a man who sometimes appears to be in the damp hold of a malaise.  If Raikkonen does leave Ferrari, he will leave formula one. Where else would he want to go? He might even devote more time to his snowmobile racing. It would be a terrible waste. But perhaps his mood has been further darkened by the realisation that he is up against somebody whose talent for driving a racing car at immense speeds with exceptional skill is even greater than his own.”

Kimi Raikkonen’s demeanor was further put into question a few weeks ago when he shoved a photographer on the grid at Silverstone.  Overall, he seems unhappy and frustrated with his situation.  Maybe he needs a vacation?

Spaniard Fernando Alonso sure wouldn’t mind seeing Raikkonen retire.  The world champion’s return to renault proved unsuccessful due to an uncompetitive car.  Speculation has arisen that he is looking to make a move to Ferrari, however, that would be reliant upon Raikkonen’s retirement.

Cambridge university recently created a new device that they codenamed and kept hidden from rivals because of the advantage it offered an F1 team. However, that device, disguised under the name “J-Dampener”, is finally being made available for use to the entire F1 family.

This piece of innovation is being heralded as the technical innovation of the year for F1. So what exactly is it? Well, for starters, its proper name is an “inerter”. It was called a “J-Dampener” at first to keep its secrets and keep the competitioni guessing as to what its actual purpose was.

Inerters improve mechanical grip. They offer greater flexibility in a vehicle’s suspension system, which overall gives the driver a greater advantage. Typical suspension systems have 2 parts: springs and shock absorbers. These two elements shape the vehicle’s handling. The idea is that there is always a trade off between the driver’s comfort and the vehicle’s handling and grip. Sensitive handling, which F1 drivers need, requires a harder suspension and good mechanical grip requires a sosfter suspension. In the trade off between these elements, as a vehicle corners, the load begins to vary on the tires which affects the grip which cause the vehicle to slow.

Proffessor Smith of Cambridge found that this trade off of elements could be better resolved with the addition of a 3rd element that makes the suspension more flexible: the inerter,

The inerter looks superficially like a conventional shock absorber, with an attachment point at each end. For example, one end may be attached to the car body and the other to the wheel assembly. A plunger slides in and out of the main body of the inerter as the car moves up and down. This causes the rotation of a flywheel inside the device in proportion to the relative displacement between the attachment points.

The result is that the flywheel stores rotational energy as it spins. In combination with the springs and dampers, the inerter reduces the effect of the oscillations and thus helps the car to retain a better grip on the road.

Sounds great doesn’t it? Well, the fun doesnt stop there…inerters have a few other potential applications beyond racing. Soon, we may find them in standard road vehicles and motorcycle steering systems.

Smith had this to say…

“I was nervous about talking about the idea at first because it seemed so elementary a concept. It was very difficult to believe that nobody had thought of it before and I presumed that either it had been done already, or there was some sort of snag.”

“As I discussed the idea with colleagues, however, I began to realize that it hadn’t been done and it was possible to achieve this trade-off to improve vehicle suspension. The next question was can it be done – and once I had worked out what it should look like, that was a fairly simple matter. It’s very pleasing that what began as a theoretical idea is now being used in motor sport, and hopefully it will gradually be incorporated into other types of vehicle as well.”