Chapter 347 Building an F1 Engine (Part 1)

"How is it possible?" Hisashi Matsuyama was stunned. Has titanium alloy been processed like this?

"I've already demonstrated it in front of you, what's impossible?" Guo Tailai also found it funny, and Matsuyama Hisashi's exclamatory question was too unreasonable.

"But how can you be so precise?" When the Germans measured just now, Hisashi Matsuyama also saw the above readings, and the digits that were accurate to the fourth decimal point showed that the dimensions processed by Guo Tailai were indeed accurate. Under 1 micron: "You're not using any measuring tools."

"Experience." Guo Tailai pointed to his eyes and showed his hands: "If you know people from Minebea, ask them what is the high-precision top, I think they will give you an answer .”

Of course, Hisashi Matsuyama knew someone from Minebea, so he made a phone call back on the spot. After chatting in Japanese on the phone, Guo Tailai's gaze was completely different.

That high-precision gyro can be said to be a disgrace to Minebea. Up to now, their company is still trying to copy the record set by Guo Tailai's handcrafted top, but unfortunately, it is still quite close. This is the Minebea of ​​1998, not the Minebea of ​​twenty years later.

Of course, Minebea's method of copying is to constantly study their high-precision machine tools and strive to improve the accuracy. Every time there is a staged achievement, a spinning top will be remade according to Guo Tailai's design for comparison.

Unfortunately, until now, Minebea's high-precision lathes have not been able to perfectly replicate the work that Guo Tailai handcrafted two years ago. The name Guo Tailai is simply like a thunderbolt in Minebea. When Matsuyama Hisashi asked, he was an acquaintance over there, so he naturally answered truthfully.

Putting down the phone, when Hisashi Matsuyama looked at Guo Tailai again, it was no longer the kind of look at a designer, but the respect of a handmade master. Sometimes the Japanese admire the spirit of craftsman the most, and Guo Tailai's manual processing is definitely the acme of this spirit.

The so-called titanium alloy processing method has naturally become a joke. However, what Guo Tailai showed at the scene also made many people understand the true value of Guo Tailai's car. If you look at the pure hand-made car demonstrated by Guo Tailai, the estimated price of three million US dollars may seem cheap. .

The dispute between Guo Tailai and Mazda about the prototype car also came to an end with the apology of Matsuyama Hisashi. The next step is to negotiate cooperation with McLaren.

This year the McLaren team is very unhappy, the unique slewing brake technology is disabled. Fortunately, the team's chief driver is expected to win the annual championship, but even so, McLaren has to prepare for the following next season.

The Porsche engine, because of Guo Tailai's hand-made and assembled, has brought about a performance improvement of more than 3%. McLaren immediately discovered this opportunity. If Guo Tailai can cooperate with Guo Tailai to make an engine by himself, will the overall performance be improved?

They were negotiating, but Mazda suddenly intervened to argue over the ownership of the prototype. Although it took only two or three days to solve the problem, McLaren was pleasantly surprised to find that the chassis of Guo Tailai's prototype car was made of titanium alloy.

According to McLaren's investigation, Guo Tailai performed the incomparably precise manual processing of titanium alloy technology in front of the German evaluation agency and Mazda Hisashi Matsuyama, which made Matsuyama Hisashi amazed on the spot. As soon as the news was known, the technical director of the McLaren team was immediately tempted. If, if the cast iron parts of the Mercedes-Benz F1 engine used by the McLaren team were made of titanium alloy, what would be the consequences?

The manager who was in charge of negotiating with Guo Tailai brought Heins, the first friend Guo Tailai met in Germany, to make this request to Guo Tailai. Hines looked at Guo Tailai eagerly, hoping that he would agree.

"I have no problem!" Guo Tailai let the manager and Hines breathe a sigh of relief, but what Guo Tailai said immediately put the manager in a difficult position: "Are you sure you can afford the processing fee?"

The processing of titanium alloy, especially the processing of the camshaft, crankshaft and timing gear, is a nightmare even after twenty years, not to mention in this era. In this era, if you want to make a perfect titanium alloy engine, it is only possible to pile up money regardless of the cost like Lao Mi made the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance plane. However, the processed titanium alloy engine is definitely a sky-high price.

Common materials such as cast iron and aluminum alloy, even if they are processed with high precision, the processing cost will not be too high. But titanium alloys are different. According to the manager's understanding of titanium alloys, the processing fee for replacing the iron parts alone may cost more than two million US dollars or even higher. The chassis of the car is straight, but these parts need to be drilled and various complicated processing, and the processing cost is simply not the same.

But when he thought of the benefits brought by replacing all steel parts with titanium alloys, the manager was very excited. Now the engine uses about 30% steel, and this part can reduce the weight by more than 40%, but the strength can be improved even more, and the service life can also be increased.

For this item alone, the weight of the engine can be reduced by more than 10 kg, and the weight of the same structure and the same design is less than 90 kg. At present, there is no lower limit for the weight of the engine. If the weight of the vehicle can be reduced by more than ten kilograms, coupled with the improvement of the overall performance of the engine, I am afraid that the performance of the vehicle can be increased to 5% just because of Guo Tailai. If the same parameters are adjusted according to the material properties, the volume can be reduced and the weight can be further reduced.

But the question is, is it worth it? The manager can't be sure now, which requires a professional comprehensive evaluation. After switching to titanium alloy, maybe the engine that could only be used for one station or two stations before, can be used for three or even four or even more stations after replacing the titanium alloy parts. From this point of view, it is still worthwhile.

The manager couldn't make a decision right away, but he still made an agreement with Guo Tailai that they would immediately organize engineers to make careful calculations to determine whether to use titanium alloy to make the engine. But before again, the two parties can confirm the contract, that is, even if titanium alloy is not used, McLaren still needs Guo Tailai to help build an engine by hand and conduct a comprehensive test.

This is an opportunity for Guo Tailai to gain a real foothold in the automotive industry. Guo Tailai did not open his mouth like a lion. He only asked for a symbolic processing fee of 100,000 US dollars. The two parties made an appointment and waited for McLaren to prepare materials and designs. , Guo Tailai helped them.

"Are you still going to England?" Zhao Xiangbei received the call with a displeased expression on his face: "How many people are waiting for you? What are you doing in England?"