My Wacky Proposals to Reform F1

The sooner the better so that we can get some interesting F1.

 

Feeling a little Amish today?

 

1) Type of engine, number of cylinders, cubic capacity, atmo or turbo, ignition, revs, etc... ABSOLUTELY FREE. Commercial fuel only (no race blend).

2) Complete freedom in electronics aids, auto boxes, telemetry, ECU, etc... same for brakes.

3) Limit width to 180cm (200 cm now), that should reduce tires width too.
Increase minimum weight to improve safety structure.

4) Only fixed aerodynamics aids if they are INTEGRATED to the bodywork: no 'added' wings, winglets, etc... The airflow MUST follow the body contours.
Increase ground clearance by at least 1", to be controled by sensors under the car. Limits on diffusers sizes.

5) Improve team tactics by BANNING pit stops. The car MUST carry its fuel load, and have tires able to last the whole race.

6) Penalise pit stops by a mandatory minimum time spent in the pits (case of car running out of fuel, technical problem, or to change tires), let's say 15 or 20 secs, to be checked by telemetry on the car.

7) Neutralise launch control advantage by adopting rolling start reducing the risk of overheating, cars stalling thus improving satefy when the cars have maximum fuel onboard.

8) Ban Pace car or Safety car during the race: the drivers must slow down only at the scene of an accident, obeying the flag marshalls and closely monitored, but not along the whole course which artificially negates the advantage held by those leading.

9) Eliminate the present qualif lottery. One 1 hour session for qualif, no limit to the number of laps. Tires, tire changes, fuel load, etc.. absolutely free during this period. The chassis/engine combination qualifies together. If any change, to one of them (engine or chassis), loss of 5 places on the grid. If change to both (chassis + engine), loss of 10 places on the grid.

With these rules, the onus would be on the engineers to chose the most efficient engine formula, bearing in mind that increasing power would be at the expense of the fuel load you have to carry.

Reducing pit stops to just emmergency would reduce the so-called pit stops 'strategy', bringing back proper racing for the whole distance. The ban on safety car would reduce the power the organisers have at the moment to 'manipulate' the race by 'bunching up' the field.

Technical freedom should be encouraged; the improvement in technology makes it almost impossible to police.

 

Yep.

I like simple things, where you don't have to hire multiple 'engineers' at $250,000 a year JUST to run a racecar, to me that is nuts.

 

Just look at the way Ferrari was in the time of Gilles and Jody in 79 for simplicity.

 

1) Agree
2) Ban all electronic stuff EXCEPT those items that are available on the public retail market at a fair price for all.
3) Increase width so someone 6'4" 275 lbs can fit in one....
4) No sensors, and no to integrated bodywork and wings. This isn't Can-Am... but if you want to make it Can-Am, I won't argue.
5-6) Agree, somewhat, but allow pit stops, but ONLY within the first 10 laps or last, say, 5 laps. No fuel in-between those laps. And for tires, I'd say only if the car has a definite, visible flat. Mandate ONE compound, and rains, intermediates or slicks, THEN I would allow pit stops. Forget telemetry.
7) No launch control, but yes to the rolling start.
8) Disagree.
9) You race the car and the chassis you qualify, if you change either or both, you go to the back, all the way to the back. If you are not good enough to claw your way back into the points, or a podium, then too bad so sad. You qualify just like the old days, all practices are timed, you want to put a billion laps on your car and motor, go for it. Mandate X number of laps in EACH session, else one guy will go out for session 1 (of 4), set a time, and skip the next 3 sessions.


I'm all for technical freedom, but I want it available to everyone. If someone wants to design a better suspension, let them, but all the electronic 'driver aids' are a bunch of Ckrap.

I just feel this isn't 'racing', it's a very expensive development series that is culminated with a 2 hour 'show and tell' on Sunday, and how well you do in this 2 hour 'show' is in direct proportion to how much you spend.

 

It would be difficult to ban in F1 the technology available on street cars, so traction control, throttle-by-wire, automatic gearboxes, ABS, power-steering, data-logging, telemetry, etc... should be allowed.

By reducing the width, I meant the overall width of the car, not the tub itself. By reducing the width - and the tires width as a consequence, you will reduce corner speed, and increase the speed differential between straights and corners: braking will become more important, with opportunity to overtake.

By integrating all aerodynamic aids in the body work, I meant keeping the open-wheel configuration, but ban any wing, winglet, aerofoils, etc.. that is not part of the bodywork. At the moment, we have huge wings overhanging at the back of the cars, not part of the body work, but attached to the gearbox or chassis. Also, the air flow between the body work and the wing is not constant. If you rule to make it constant by forcing to close the gaps between body and wing, you will increase significantly the drag, and engineers will chose to reduce the drag, hence reducing the aerodynamic gain.
Less aerodynamics + unlimited power = cars more difficult to control + racing more spectacular.

 

Never heard this before. From a blurb in Autoweek:

Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna was once disenchanted with F1's state of affairs. The early-'90s trend toward gizmo-laden cars fitted with active suspension, traction control, ABS and semi-automatic gearboxes had, in his view, corrupted the art of driving and leveled the field of driving talent. So when Senna emerged from the cockpit of a Penske Cart car devoid of all such "driver aids" during a one off test in late 1992, his reaction was pure and predictable. 'It's a human's car!" he enthused.

Remember in 1992 it was about as close in performance that F1 and Cart ever were.

 

I dont exactly know where it is/was from. I just did a google image search for F1 Car, adn that was one that came up.

 

I like this one better.......
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So do I!!!

 

Now we are getting OT, but...........
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You think the current wings are huge, and the bodywork flows together today ?

Where were you in 82-83 ??

 

Again, it seems to me that they were closer in performance in 1980-88 or so.