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Formula One's science lessons

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F1 Mole | 16:09 UK time, Wednesday, 11 March 2009

What have wellington boots, knee supports and baby carriers got in common with Formula One?

Curious to find out The Mole dropped into London's for the opening of the exhibition which showcases 20 ways F1 is changing our world.

At its heart, F1 is about building the perfect race car and that means hundreds of engineers, thousands of hours of research and development and millions of pounds invested in the latest technologies.

Now, other industries are using that know-how to produce spin-offs - like a pair of anti-slip wellies, whose soles are based on the treads on F1 tyres.

Ron Dennis tries out the Ovei capsule used to capture data on healthcareIn America, US marines have incorporated technology from the cars' hydraulic dampeners in knee supports which help when they are standing in boats.

While the lightweight , inspired by the drivers' cockpit, is used to carry seriously-ill babies to hospital.

A lot of these technologies have been developed by the team, and chairman Ron Dennis was on hand to explain why it is important for F1 to spread its knowledge.

"We, as an industry, do have social responsibilities," said Dennis.

"The safety of the drivers is of paramount importance to us and not to use those technologies to produce a safer environment in which we live would just be wrong.

"I can remember coming up with the idea of 10 years ago which allows these ideas to be transferred into the outside world.

"None of this exhibit is about F1 suddenly deciding to demonstrate that it has all of these things that are of benefit to mankind and therefore please leave us alone in this credit crunch.

"It is not about saying we are not burners of energy, we are not inefficient.

"We are not suddenly jumping up and saying 'look at our social responsibilities' - this is a sustained process to take our technologies and put them into the outside world.

"It is also about encouraging young people to take up paths in science and engineering."

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