What technology from Formula 1 has made it into mainstream cars?

what i heard:

tyre technology
traction control
electronic engine management
paddle shifters
turbochargers
high performance carbon ceramic brakes
carbonfibre bodies
CAD car design
use of wind tunnels in car design
crash helmet safety
suspension improvements
direct fuel injection (AUDI, Le Mans)
BMW Active Steering
rear diffusers

oh, and the double clutch gear box (developed by Porsche in ‘83 for Le Mans), now used by VW in most of its recent models.

1. Formula 1 tyres appear to be completely different from road car tires
2. GM did traction control first in the 70s. Did F1 vastly improve it?
3. What year did ECUs come into F1? 1980–1981 for road cars?
4. “Paddle shifters” have been around since the 40s, though they sucked. Did F1 do anything to make them more viable?
5. Turbos are 100 years old. What did F1 add to them?
6. Current cars use Carbon-Carbon breaks. What regular road cars have these?
7. CAD was first done by Renault in the 70s. Also violates 20 year stipulation.
8. Wind tunnels are 100 years old.
9. Regular car with a carbon fibre body? I don’t think so
10. HANS device, true, but you don’t wear one while driving, do you?
11. MacPherson struts for suspension has been around for many, many years? What suspension part were you thinking of?
12. Porsche and Le Mans are not Formula 1, though the 956 with doppelkupplungsgetriebe was hot stuff.

well, it is what I heard, but I did not look for any confirmations.

@arpinum
as for 9th, VW is planning to introduce the L1 in 2013, which will have a full carbon fibre body.

I believe F1 has contributed mightily to the development of tires for passenger cars, especially in the stability and handling in wet weather. I saw a presentation on this at the F1 race in Indy a few years ago and they showed some of the tread designs that were not completely adopted by tire manufactures for passenger cars but the concepts were.

The 2009–2010 Porsche 911 each offer carbon ceramic brakes as an option.

o.k. here we go…
seatbelts
disc brakes
mainboards
abs
cf body parts
aluminium body parts
high performance lubricants
In other words, pretty much everything…
I can keep going all day, obviously it takes a while for this things to be in mass produced cars but as always, it all started with top brands like mercedes, bmw, porsche, ferrari, alfa romeo…

Exactly what @flameboi just said at the end. I bet @ragingloli can direct you to some Top Gear episodes for each and every one of those technologies.

Crumple zones, impact disbursement designs, and celebrating with big bottles of Champaigne!
so there! ;)

@arpinum there are a number of cars that have carbon fiber bodies right now.

Pagani Zonda F Roadster and Cinque, Koenigsegg CCX R are full carbon fibre bodies.

and many other cars like the Ferrari F430, Lamborghini Superleggera and Reventon, and Mclaren F1 have many carbon fibre body parts. The Koeniggsegg CCX has a carbon fibre chassis as well.

Sidenote: Even though paddle shifters were in existence before F1 came to be, I doubt they would be where they are today without the adoption and developments made to them through F1.

Granted they are supercars, but they are still normal road legal vehicles.

The Alfa Romeo 8C is all carbon fibre body too. forgot about that one

1. I’m aware of the Pagani and its ilk, But my question was asking about mainstream cars, not hyper cars.
2. Chrysler put disc brakes on their cars in the 40s
3. Chrysler also came out with ABS, borrowed from aircraft tech, in the 70s
4. Seat belts were put into Saabs in the 50s
5. Bugatti used aluminum bodies back on the 57C
6. Mercedes had early crumple zones in the 60s. What specific crumple zone tech were you thinking of?
7. I don’t spray, nor have I seen people spray champagne when they buy a car
8. Synthetic oils came to cars in the 60s, but were used in airplanes before that. What specific lubricant came out of F1?
9. Mainstream cars seem to have a push in/ pull out mechanism for paddle shifters, while F1 uses left and right paddles. Ferrari and super cars may follow the F1 paddle design though
10. Carbon fiber came out of British Aerospace industry with Rolls Royce

So, anyone have a specific example they can point to, a general time it came into f1 and a mainstream car it is currently on.

@pdworkin Yes, the 911 has optional carbon ceramic brakes (yellow calipers), but F1 uses Carbon-Carbon brakes. Was there a point when F1 used carbon ceramic?

Oh, I don’t know; I was only commenting on the previous post. I am learning in here, not teaching.

f1 contributes almost nothing directly to mainstream roadcar technology.. the demands a too different. you’re all responding to the message most manufacturers want us to believe..

Patrick Head said as much in 2005

@tamajama Thanks for the info. Do you have a citation for Head’s statement, i’d be curious to read it.

The fact the manufacturers are bowing out left and right is part of what made me think of this. I have been skeptical of the benefits, although BMW said their hybrid system in F1 would be used in consumer models, too bad the thing never worked.

I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that the Lexus LFA didn’t get some help from the F1 boys, but again that isn’t a mainstream model.

At Honda, we strongly support the engineering challenge that the introduction of environmental technologies such as KERS provides. Honda has been developing more efficient and lower emission products for decades and the application of fuel efficient and alternative fuel technologies has been intrinsic to our automotive product development.

“The involvement of F1 in research into engines, electronics and the forthcoming regenerative braking systems will drive such developments forward and speed up the introduction of environmental technologies which will filter back to mass production passenger cars and be of great benefit to the environment and consumers.

“The great thing about competitive motorsport is that it accelerates development and with the F1 field currently working on KERS, the rate of progress in that technology is greatly increased.
Ross Brawn, Team Principal, Honda Racing F1