Contributors

CSE - Customised Search Engine - Conversations on Innovations

Custom Search

Innovation network making progress

Corporate Crowdsourcing

Where my visitors live

InnoCentive: Challenges-All Categories

IdeaConnection :: Idea Contests

EUROPA - Research and Innovation - What's New

EUROPA - Research and Innovation: What's New in Innovation

Thursday, May 07, 2009

F1, Formula One Racing's contribution to Innovations_20 ways F1™ is changing our world


Mea Culpa! When your wrong your wrong.

"Have you ever wondered how the glamorous sport of Formula 1™ relates to your own daily life?" asks the the London Science Museum. Even living near the French F1 racetrack at Nevers_Magny-Cours as we do, I for one can quite definitely reply, with a loud NO. And as if this is not enough, in a recent post (Monday, March 23, 2009 exactly) entitled:
On the Usefulness of Formula One ( F1 ) motor racing, following a lead by the Economist, I described F1 as a "land of dreams":

"Dreams,dreams, dreams all I ever need are ....dreams, dreams, dreams! In times such as ours, could such lullabies be "part of the problem and not part of the solution"?Dreams? OK, as long as its during your regenerating sleep otherwise keep it short."

Well I shall try and keep my mea culpa short as mea culpas should be.

It turns out that, 10 days later, from a tiny news snippet which appeared in my favourite materials magazine Materials World (MW) , in April 09, I twigged that others may not share The Economist correspondent's opinion and to some extent my own puritanical feelings about motor sport in particular and in general, to boot.

I read, with no ill feelings, and even some (professional) thanks, that the Science Museum in London had taken a different attitude to the question. Their exposition Fast Forward:

20 ways F1™ is changing our world seriously belies my previous impressions on the usefulness of F1 racing.

The Museum, whose free entry exposition runs from Wed 11 Mar 2009 - Mon 05 Apr 2010, explains that;

"Motor racing is about much more than the incredible speeds and the extraordinary human feats that we see on the racetrack, thrilling as they are.

It's about a different kind of thrill, one shared by F1™ professionals, scientists, manufacturers and designers alike. These are people who think up radical new applications for F1™ technology, and test and modify their ideas to come up with innovative products.

This temporary exhibition showcases 20 examples where F1™ technology is impacting on our lives, from changing the way we look after patients and design our sports equipment, to maintaining the heating systems in our homes."

Fuller online support material is given by 5 or 6 videos whose duration is 1mn or less

Fast Forward videos on YouTube. and a photo album
Fast Forward photo album on Flickr.

Materials (and design) of course play an important role.

Well worth an introductory web visit, and of course, if in London well worth a live visit.

More...
Current Science, Engineering, Everyday Things, Transport all at the Museum

Still more subjects...
Art, Energy, Environment, Medicine and Biology, Space, Transport.

Nota Bene:
Funnily enough MW featured on the same page "Industry and Innovation" perhaps a more far reaching innovation in the form of a top of the range, electric vehicle by the company Liberty Electric Cars.

0 commentaires: