The genius solution to F1's brake dust problem

Founded in 2012 and headed by Christophe Rocca-Serra and Jean-Louis Juchault, Tallano Technologies offers an innovative solution for capturing at the source fine particles generated by the braking of vehicles. Aware of the public health problem that these emissions represent for the body and the environment, Tallano Technologies aims to revolutionise the way in which the automobile industry and public transport operators combat fine particle emissions.

Brake dust is a common sight in F1. Those clouds of black dust that explode from the wheels when a driver is braking heavily for a corner or pulling into their pitbox are part and parcel of grand prix racing.
But should they be? That’s a question that four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel raised this year when he complained about breathing in carbon dust, which was visible on his face and fireproofs, and describing it as not that healthy.
He attributed this to the rule changes for 2022, specifically the brake duct geometry that, direct the brake dust at the driver. This is also exacerbated by the return of wheelcovers in F1 for the first time since 2009.
So does Vettel have a point, is this really a new problem and what could F1 do to tackle it?

#F1 #tech #brakedust

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[WeAreTheRace]

Founded in 2012 and headed by Christophe Rocca-Serra and Jean-Louis Juchault, Tallano Technologies provides an innovative solution for capturing - at source- the fine particles generated by the braking of vehicles. Aiming to combat the health and environmental impacts of these emissions, Tallano Technologies is revolutionising the way in which the automobile industry and public transport operators combat fine particle emissions.

[gtostowe]

This is literally the focus of all of my research for my PhD. It’s cool to see them talking about it in my favorite sport as well. Just goes to show how the public’s perception of air pollution has changed over time.

[samiraperi]

"Not poisonous" doesn't mean "not harmful". Asbestos isn't toxic and you know what that does.

[TheEakles]

I imagine the brake dust has increased with the increased car weight primarily from the P.U. and no refueling. The cars have increased several hundred lbs since pre-kers

[flacko]

This is something I never thought about until seeing seb and lance’s race suits. I used to work in climbing gyms and although chalk isn’t carbon, it wasn’t fun sneezing out a cloud of chalk. I wonder if a mix of TAMS and stronger stopping power from the electrical unit in the car would help out with the carbon particles pollution, it’d maybe be significant enough to have to invest time in setup and make the race weekend more involved for them (probs not though since all the teams would figure it out fast but a guy can imagine)

[Runoratsu]

The brake dust extraction is a good idea, but additionally, I could see helmets being fitted with mandated filtration systems, maybe even a PAPR-like system, to be good way to protect the drivers, not just from brake dust, but also other particulate matter in the air such as ultra fine oil droplets and soot from the combustion process and tyre rubber dust.

[shaun]

There's ample evidence that fine particle ingestion is bad for long term health, surprised the F1 drivers haven't been more vocal about this to date, especially with awful car designs that dump it toward the driver.

[Flashbang_Photo]

Funny enough, new euro emissions regulate brake dust as well, so seeing that thrown to the drivers faces isn't great really

[JohnDoe-xxig]

Awesome job by The Race raising a relatively unknown but serious health issue to the general public. Keep it up.

[adamfreeman]

I've been working in brakes for 7 years. California and Washington states are currently leading the world for road car brake emissions. The US Environmental Protection Agency give brake pads a rating based on how much hazardous material they contain. Hazardous to humans if breathed in, but also hazardous to waterways and marine life. The idea is to regulate the 'nasties' in brakes and reduce the impact dust has on the environment. So F1 wouldn't really be 'leading' the charge here, cleaner brakes started happening 10 years ago already, but using some kind of brake filtration would be a high profile application and good publicity for the technology. The problem with many existing brake filtration systems is they rely on a filter which would quickly become toast at the temperatures seen on F1 cars.... they'd work on a road car, but an F1 car is a whole different challenge.

[mafiousbj]

The fact that a source of 20% of car emmissions is not being tackled or ackowledged by any big car manufacturer just tells us how marketing focused their "green" initiatives really are. Hell, I work in the mining industry and lithium mining is as bad for the environment as fracking most of the time, but it doesn't get a bad rep because electric cars are considered "green"

Unless the public at large start demanding something, they won't move a finger. It's up to us to demand change. A well informed consumer with ideals is the nightmare of any lazy company.

Thanks for shinning light on this often ignored topic!

[AdamWebb]

best option for the driver would be a filtered air feed for the helmet, Indy car do that, rather than playing with the brakes themselves

[kaichisendou]

Oh look at that, Russell said for this topic what was completely ignored about the porpoising issue: it's about not giving teams the option to risk their drivers' health

[wiryantirta]

Now this is a road application I can't wait to trickled down. The amount of times I have to scrub and power wash my wheels is too damn high.

[colevano]

imagine getting a check engine light on ur dash, just to find out it's because of your braking system air filter 💀💀💀

[dougmate]

I used to work on carbon fiber aircraft. I hated drilling, trimming, or blending it. I hated working with it because it would feel like you would take a bath in fiber glass insulation. Boeing told us that carbon dust is worse than asbestos. we would have to suit up in tyvek suits, and respirators, and you still would itch even with the suits on. Carbon fiber dust is no joke.

[LukaMMikic]

First time that a video is probably a native add and I'm not even mad.

[BOABModels]

I assume that driver helmets have a sort of filtration system to let air inside - surely this could be adapted to help? I don't know if it's used to limit smoke inhalation in case of fire?

[Gnrnrvids]

Cue Zoolander with "I've got the black lung pop"

On a serious note. It is a concern and ideally should be looked at.

[madskristiansen]

Remove the wheelcovers regardless. The rims underneath look incredible