From Ford and Chevrolet to Ferrari and Porsche, almost every car manufacturer is constantly competing for technology in the field of racing cars. But why did they do that?

First of all, it must be to show off its technology and assets, which is something that the capital community is born to do. Put that aside.

Car manufacturers also use racing cars as technical testing laboratories. Modern cars benefit from the technology honed by decades of racing competition. These technical tests and adjustments can make our cars better.

Here are some of our car racing techniques, which have already been installed in the cars we usually see.

Turbo

Turbocharging - using an exhaust-driven compressor to drive more air into the engine - is not a technology that started with racing cars.

Since 1962, when GM used turbochargers in Ozmobil F85 and Chevrolet Corvair, car design engineers have been following the technology.

But turbocharged cars did not have much impact at that time. In the 1970s, Porsche introduced 917/10 and 917/30 Can-Am cars, while Renault assembled turbocharging for Formula One racing cars.

Turbochargers have also injected new energy into the Offenhauser engine of IndyCar cars decades ago. By the 1980s, racing cars had become crazy because of the technology of turbocharging. The turbocharged F1 racing car was assembled to generate tremendous power, which made many drivers and automobile manufacturers happy at that time.

It was that era that paved the way for turbochargers to become the mainstream of road vehicles.

Turbochargers can increase vehicle performance, which makes them more and more frequently used by automobile manufacturers. This technology allows manufacturers to reduce engine sizes in the name of fuel economy.

Turbochargers allow smaller engines to generate more power. Ford, for example, installed the dual-turbocharged V6 on its F-150 pickup truck. Ford did not use the larger V8.

Full wheel drive

Audi Coupe Quattro is the first vehicle equipped with all-wheel drive system, suitable for all road conditions of ordinary vehicles. Based on Audi's experience in developing Iltis military vehicles, Quattro was built to dominate the World Rally Championships. Engineers believe that the extra traction of full-wheel drive is beneficial in some special stretch stages. Quattro proved their correctness and won the championship in 1983 and 1984.

The name Quattro (Italian for "four") has been used in Audi's current all-wheel-drive vehicles. Thanks in part to Audi's success, other car manufacturers have adopted full-wheel drive, which means you no longer need pickups or SUVs to drive confidently on slippery roads.

Meanwhile, the technology paves the way for cars like Subaru Impreza WRX and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, which, like the original Quattro, will make road versions for enthusiasts.

carbon fibre

In 1979, John Barnard, then a designer for the McLaren Formula One team, was looking for a way to reduce the chassis of a racing car in order to make room for more aerodynamic components at the bottom of the body.

This is the "ground effect" in F1, when these elements were the key to winning. But there's a problem: if the thinned chassis is made of standard aluminium, it's not hard enough.

Barnard learned about carbon fibers from British Aerospace company contacts and decided to use the material in the F1 chassis (in business called a single shell).

When McLaren MP4/1 made its debut in 1981, it won the British Grand Prix, proving the car's performance potential.

Carbon fibers proved to be extremely safe when the driver got rid of the violent impact in the Italian Grand Prix. Today, every F1 car is equipped with carbon fibre chassis.

Carbon fibers are also used in road vehicles, but this material is not the mainstream. With the exception of Alfa Romeo 4C, only exotic supercars (including those made by McLaren) use carbon fibre chassis.

And carbon fiber components are generally used in relatively inexpensive cars. Recently, BMW has taken the lead in using carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) in vehicles such as I3 electric vehicles because it is easier to mass-produce and lighter to make the body so as to ensure fuel economy.

Automobile tail

In the 1960s, the wings gave Formula One racing cars a new level of performance. But the application process is not easy.

Like the wings of an airplane, the wings of a car guide the flow of air. However, unlike airplanes, which direct faster air downward to generate lift.  The car is directed to the top to generate downward force, which pushes the car onto the track and generates more grip.

After several pioneering efforts - in 1966, the Chaparral 2E - F1 team began to use wingspan in 1968, and other teams quickly followed up the technology.  However, due to several crashes caused by the collapse of the tail, the use of the automobile tail has been tightened.

Those early technologies were groped in the dark, and their potential for performance was undeniable. As engineers gain a deeper understanding of aerodynamics, the wings become a fixed configuration for F1 and other racing car series, as well as dozens of road performance vehicles.

Semi-automatic transmission

Manual or automatic. It used to be a simple choice, but that was before the racing team discovered the performance advantages of the transmission system. Installation