The Safety Car has a big job to do on the track.
The Safety Car's job is to guide the car that's in first place at the time and control the speed of all the cars, and when the Safety Car is on the track all the drivers have to maintain their current position and not overtake. Lastly, the distance the Safety Car travels around the track is counted as part of the official race distance. Compared to the CART and IRL in North America, there are far fewer opportunities for Safety Cars in F1.
F1's new Safety Car, the SL63 AMG, was developed from a civilian car and was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show not long ago.
But there's still the occasional chance to see a Safety Car before or during a race, and when a race meeting decides to send one out, the reason must be that the track conditions are no longer suitable for racing. For example, if it suddenly rains during the race (but the cars have not yet changed to rain tires, and the race meeting deems it necessary to control the driver's race speed), or if there is a collision at a certain section of the track that requires clearing the field. If the accident is not serious enough to warrant a red flag, the yellow flag will be displayed and a Safety Car will be sent to the track.
The SSL63 AMG is powered by AMG's new 6.3-liter V8 engine with 525 horsepower and accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in 4.6 seconds, 0.1 seconds faster than the old version.
The past Safety Car was modified by Mercedes SL55 AMG, which was powered by a supercharged 5.5-liter V8 Kompressor with 476 horsepower and 71.4kgm of torque, and was capable of accelerating from 0-100km/h in 4.7 seconds, and to 200km/h in just 16.1 seconds. It doesn't look as bad as it looks.
It's not an easy job to lead a Formula 1 car, either, and the Safety Car is now driven by Bernd Maylainder, a race driver in the Porsche Supercup Series. There's an FIA-certified observer and an FIA medical representative.
The interior of F1's new Safety Car, the SL63 AMG, has also been modified for the race.
It is reported that the new F1 safety car SL63 AMG is developed from a civilian car and was unveiled at the recent Geneva Motor Show. SL63 AMG adopts AMG's new 6.2-liter V8 engine, with a maximum horsepower of 525 hp, and accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in 4.6 seconds, which is 0.1 seconds faster than the old version. The newly developed AMG exhaust system features larger diameter exhaust pipes and a new rear muffler to ensure smoother intake of the naturally aspirated 6.3-liter engine.
The new medical car for the 2008 F1 race uses the C63 AMG Touring version, which will be officially put into service on March 16 in Australia.
As for the drivetrain, the SL63 AMG adopts AMG's newly developed 7-speed quick-shift gearbox, which can change gears in just 100 ms. Combined with the 3-stage ESP system and the rear axle differential, it ensures optimum handling in extreme weather conditions. Other notable features include 19-inch ultra-light alloy wheels at the front and rear, as well as 255/35 front and 285/30 rear high-performance Bridgestone tires, which are said to be the top-of-the-line "running shoes" developed from Formula 1 tires. As for the medical car, a C63 AMG is used.