4. Gear Box (estimated cost: $504,000)
Europeans call it gearbox. Americans call it transmission. The name may be different, but the price is one: $504,000. That is extraordinary for a car part.
Gearbox is one of the parts of F1 car which keeps developing the most. Ideas and inventions in the formula world have turned a simple longitudinal transmission clutch into a sophisticated hydraulic gearbox.
How crucial is a gearbox in F1 racing? The slightest error on this high speed gear changing system can block the rear wheels and cause the car to spin. The worst case happens when white smoke appears from the car’s rear.
A gearbox is a very secret high-tech product. All of its 400 individual parts, including the bearings and seals, are custom made for each car. The half billion cost should come as no surprise.
