Chevy and Honda in Indycar also...simple twin-turbo V6s. They sound better than F1 also; although not awesome.
You mean circa 1930's cars ?? That would be v-e-r-y exciting indeed They wouldn't be antiques if they had been allowed to continue engine development now would they. Try YouTube video of 20,000 RPM Honda engine on a dyno and you tell me with a straight face that excitement doesn't matter. Of course, it's all BS because it's the manufacturers who insisted on hybrids, or they wouldn't spend the budget money.
CART or any American single seater series are spec series ... zero interest from me and a lot of the world, including Americans (based on the fact that it struggles). F1'S biggest problem isn't lack or sound or overly complex engines, but the fact it is too close to a spec series. Relax the rules and allow the engineers to show their magic. Pete
Whatever it is now call? Champ cars? I know Scott Dixon does all right ... but otherwise irrelevant to me. Pete
I don't see that either, because there is no technical challenge in warming up old technology just to make noise around the tracks, and it doesn't justify the expense. If the big manufacturers leave, F1 will become a low-tech series.
Yep, and give up altogether any attempt to limit costs. F1 is supposed to be expensive. F1 should be technical warfare, plus a tyre car, diversity of engine solutions, etc...
You missed the particular point which is that manufacturers are interested in being involved in engine supply that is not bleeding edge hybrid, etc.
You need wikipedia. Champ car is dead and was not a spec series. There were something like 5 different chassis and more engine suppliers than F1... Indycar is a spec series with a Dallara chassis and two engine suppliers - Honda and Chevy. Indycar gets as many viewers in the US as F1 in the US...which is to say not many relative to other popular sports like American Football and Basketball. I don't know why you think F1 is close to a spec series. This year in particular, the designs are pretty far apart and the performance gap between the teams is significant. There are also no restrictions on development as the token system is dead. I do agree that there should be more testing. You are also wrong about Ferrari - F1 is a significant source of revenue for them. I've posted details of the financials in the past, and they are available on their web site as well now that they are public.
There are many imposed parameters in terms of chassis and power unit. There is not much freedom of design left; many dimensions are imposed, type of engine, number of cylinders, etc... Even Adrian Newey complained about it.
Indycar is hardly a world wide series,. A manufacturer supplying a relatively cheap engine to a national championship doesn't commit itself to great expense.
I think Ferrari is unique to manufacturers, especially in regards to their involvement in F1. Ferrari uniquely sells road cars due to their participation in F1 history, not just F1 now. Ferrari without F1 participation would not be Ferrari, and visa versa. Renault, Mercedes and Honda don't and it really is all about training their engineers and developing technology. Winning is but a bonus, except to Ferrari. I'm sure they commit large sums to F1 but where else can your engineers learn so much and get such useful real world results. Just imagine the cost of a training department and trying to dream up ways to develop their expertise ... Pete
And who'll be funding that? It'll be Ferrari against Mercedes, and the rest outside 107% rule. Simple as that. There's no money for teams. Exactly. If F1 was a spec series or as close to it...why is there 4-6 seconds difference between the fast and slow cars?
There's nothing particularly "low tech" about the Ferrari F12 TDF engine and I would rather see these and Cosworth's latest offerings battling it out than the current beige nonsense from big sedan manufacturers and their self-interest (and I say that as a Merc owner). Is F1 an exciting motorsport or a sedan R&D lab ? Ferrari F12tdf: Track-Level Performance on the Road - Ferrari.com Let's not forget, plenty of tech going on across other areas of the car to play with.
Who puts money UP FRONT in F1 ? Mercedes, Renault, Santander, Vodaphone, Red Bull, Sahara, PETRONAS, Honda, Haas, Banco do Brasil, Nokia, Chandon, Johnny Walker, Martini, and plenty of other sponsors who invest in and finance the teams to design, built and operate their cars, and the championship take place. Fans hardly invest in F1, they only go to races if they can; very few actually support teams. Also fans are unrealiable source of revenue; they go to races, or they don't, depending on the weather and plenty of other factors, like the economy, etc...
William, are you under prescibed medication????? Sorry, just had to ask. Excuse me but NO FANS = NO VENUES and NO REVENUE leads to CLOSED VENUES.
Almost any quality motorsport event attracts spectators, beside it's not only track spectators that watch motor racing but also TV viewers. I would be surprised if F1 had problem to sell it show to TV channels, all over the world. TV advertisers will push TV executives to put F1 on the box. Someone said that the fans are the main stockholders in F1, and should therefore decide which way it goes. I am arguing the premises that the so called "fans" are not the main stockholders in F1. The sponsors are the main stockholders, then the manufacturers, and of course the organisers/rights holders. F1 is mostly sustained by sponsorship money, even TV rights are affected by TV advertisers. F1 was dying on its feet in early 60s, until advertising was allowed on the cars, and that saved it. There were spectators before, and F1 was on the TV sometimes. The sponsors started to fund the team's budgets, and companies quickly clocked on the fact that money spent on advertising was tax deductible. Instead of paying $millions to the taxman, tobacco companies each financed one team. Suddenly, when cars were covered in logos and sponsors livery, TV channels wanted to show the races because they could sell advertising! Bernie Ecclestone would never have lifted F1 from the ground without the sponsors; they are the ones that pump money in F1, and have been doing for several decades now. I count self-advertising manufacturers like Renault, Mercedes, Honda as sponsors as well, since they use their advertising budgets to (partly) finance their teams. Now, it's different, but the sponsors are the main contributors to the teams budgets.
