News Flash: F1 about to mimic CART...bleh

I'll agree with you there. It will/would also make it harder for teams to cheat if all driver aids were banned.

YES they are! And I think we may be in for some fireworks as some of the top teams try to squeeze more power than they should from these long term engines.

Don't get me wrong Pete, I agree with you whole heartedly on this new engine formula. I'll be very interested to see who goes with the shorter wheelbase design the new engine gives the chassis and who'll try to stay with the current wheel base. I believe the over regulations for the over all dimensions of the car have stayed the same. Will come teams make an even longer nose to fit the front suspension on, tidy up airflow upfront and shift the ballast even further forward? Will others go back to a longitudinal gearbox to tidy up the back end and use that extra length to shift the weight center of gravity forward in comparison to where it is in the current V10 cars?

Also this will mean Ferrari can go back to racing with an engine configuration it actually has in one of it's road cars! Let the marketing gurus loose!

 

Pete and Charlie,

I agree with you that the speeds were getting borderline dangerous and so a drop in power would be logical way of doing this.

Actually with the reduced downforce it might make corners more interesting and driver talent a little more important.

If the braking distances were increased somehow then the overtaking might also improve.

I guess its easier to say that the 2.4 l engine cap reduction meets the goal of reduced speeds and the two race per engine brings down costs. The two are separate goals and pretty much the discussion here seems to argue that bringing down the capacity brings down the costs.

 

Can I change your sentence to what I have been trying to say:

The two are separate goals and pretty much the discussion here seems to argue that bringing down the capacity does not increase the costs.

Pete

 

Unfortunately I'm going to bet that most teams will not need the full season to claw back some of the performance they would or should have lost with the new rules.
Toyota to Launch on January 8th
"The team has been very excited by results coming from the Toyota windtunnel in Cologne and it is believed that the new car will have as much downforce as the 2004 car, despite the fact that the rules have been changed to reduce overall downforce."
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns14021.html

So, I guess I was a little wrong in one aspect of rule #3.

 

Nice t know but Toyota werent on the bleeding edge of downforce anyway j/k

The engineering side is awesome ... every year they make so much improvements on the car despite draconian rules.

Case in point: The 2004 Minardi qualified faster than in Sao Paulo than the pole winning 2003 Ferrari by something like a second.

In which other business do you see so much improvement every year. Its incredible what these guys are capable of

 

Not to take away from Minardi, but most of that time can probably be attributed to the progress of the Michelins. Which is why a tire war is bad news if you want to keep the speeds down for safety.

 

Excellent point - a lot of that speed differential is due to the tires.... I forgot about that....

But the point is still the same how does Mcihelin improve that much every year ... fascinating engineering there

 

I've never understood making engines less powerful and cars slower. I mean its RACING for cryin' out loud! I certainly understand making cars more structurally safe and the courses safer, but not slowing the cars themselves.

On another note (rant mode on) I HATE the chicanes in the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans. I loved the idea that cars had to contend with slow turns and blasting down the Straight at over 200 mph. THATS racing!

 

Its an issue of safety.

Read this
http://www.atlasf1.com/2000/bra/preview/ward.html

 

I really don't have a problem with the engine displacement change, it's just the reasoning. I don't think it will lead to cost saving or safety for drivers (maybe a little, but I don't think by much). I think it's good since it will force teams to think of new ways to make more power (not through increasing displacement, which doesn't take much thought). The new technogoly developed will trickle down to road cars in the future. If the reasoning was said to increase technology development, then I wouldn't have a problem.

If they made F1 use 4 cylinder 2L engines, I couldn't care less because in 2 years, they'd make 800hp since F1 allows enough freedom to tune the cars. I hate CART and IRL since all they do is generic crap. Generic chassis(s?), engines, blah blah blah. I cannot become a fan of CART or IRL since I can't relate instantly. I started to watch F1 about 4 years ago and I was a huge fan of BMW's road cars before I watched F1 (not anymore, ahah). And guess what, I instantly became a fan of Williams BMW and after a few races, a fan of JPM. This cannot happen in CART or IRL. I watch and don't know which team I like--they're all the same! I still plan to watch F1 until they limit RPM, force generic chassis and engines, then I'm gone.

 

You touched on an interesting point. We tend to moan about how homogenous F1 has become, yet compared to CART and IRHeLL it has a strong element of personality. They need to guard themselves against looking like a spec-series.

 

Luke! LUKE! Come back, come back! Turn away from the dark side! It will only lead to ruin and you becoming a BAD driver!

Jim

 

...

Interesting ...

Pete

 

... self delusional fool

LOL!!!

Jim

 

It's actually very good news for Honda, BMW and MB because they can now have a true link between their F1 teams and their road cars- V8 engines.
Obviously the size of the engines will be larger but a medium direct link is better than the none at all that they have now, except the new M5. And it may make the new M5 even more desireable because it will be more rare since the next generation will almost certainly have a V8.
Needless to say it's superb for Ferrari. Can you say a F430 CS with a detuned F1 V8 screaming to a 10,000 redline? I certainly can.


Forza,


Cavallini