Automotive paint and the F1 car...

[Sparky]

These two don't mix.

As anyone who's ever struggled home from the motor factors with a couple of litres of cellulose under their arm will tell you, the stuff's darn heavy. Even with the evaporation of solvents, there's an awful lot of paint and vynil graphics required to cover the myriad surfaces on a current F1 machine. That's a lot of ballast (Well, enough to be a design concern!)

Food for thought...

How often are the cars repainted (damage not withstanding) due to damage from airborne debris and contaminants. If you argue that there will be as little re-painting as possible so as not to increase the weight of the panelwork unnecessarily, how is the issue explained? Are the tubs and covers stripped to bare composite and repainted that way, or are space-age materials used that resist damage and fading? Like a plastic or poly resin?

What do ya say?

[enzo]

Any time werepaint ANYTHING, it gets stripped. If not done this way, you could expect to add 4-5 lbs to the car every time it's redone ! This is one reason why you don't see cars painted with highly translucent colors - to get the correct color all around the car you have to spray a thickness that won't show any substrate variations, meaning it has to be danged thick & therefore heavy.

[Graham De Looze]

what repair i understand they have several new parts in stock ready to fit

[enzo]

Stuff gets repaired all the time - there are a lot of shops here in town that make a very good living repairing broken stuff. Teams aren't frivilous in how they spend their money - spending $5000 to repair a wing is a lot smarter than spendin $15000 to replace it !