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Studying race-prepped factory or shop-backed cars is a side hobby of mine. One thing keeps coming to my mind as I look at these cars : Why is expensive carbon fiber being used in unnecessary places? Given that the general method of laying CF is the same as fiberglass, is that CF dashboard really needed?

The often-seen door “cards”, specifically, have me very confused about the spending of some teams. First of all, what is the purpose of interior door trim in a race car? It’s either purely cosmetic, provides a barrier from sharp door interior workings, or both. What’s wrong with low-grade 2mm aluminum stock as a skin? How about plastic or even cloth-like N-mil plastic sheeting (think extreme-duty contractor garbage bag material)?

It’s quite possible I’m ignorant or naive, but is carbon fiber really the proper material to make a WRC handbrake from? I have to believe that an amazing lightweight aluminum piece could be CNC machined from billet for half of the material and labor cost.

Wössner (aka “Woessner”) of Germany has come out with a new connecting rod design touting titanium-like weight without using titanium. These were shown at SEMA 2008, but there’s no information on their website. I suppose time will tell what kind of power they can handle, but it’s about time some interesting approaches to connecting rods surfaced.

Racecar Engineering is giving away their latest issue online. I highly recommend it.

Um.. wow? Read the news at F1 Technical.

BMW Service is researching augmented reality? Pay attention to the explanatory white text in the video if you’re not familiar with this sort of thing.