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ChrisL · 04-26-04, 08:52 AM

There are two types of motorsport. There are technology based (where the primary goal is to win by a combination of engineering and driver excellence) and parity based (where the primary goal is to minimize the engineering factor and maximize the driver input). Whereas in the past, almost all motorsport was technology based, today there are few pure technology based competitions. (F1 and LeMans series maybe). However, if we were to continue to cut the leading F1 cars off at the knees until everyone was even, we would simply end up with another parity-based formula. As a car enthusiast first, I would find that very disturbing. I would like to think that there is at least one race somewhere where the car is still the main focus.

Having said that, the unfortunate situation today is that technology has got to the point where you can build anything to almost any spec that you desire. Unless you put some sort lid on it, using 1950’s rules for example, a theoretical F1 car could probably be built to travel at 600km/h and create G forces of more than 10 Gs (figures I plucked out of the air, but not inconceivable).

My solution? Make a simple change in the F1 philosophy. F1 of cars today are little more than ground-bound air craft and have very little relevance to road going cars. So pick out all the aspects of the cars that detract them from road going cars, and BAN them. NO wings! NO components that will only last for 2 hours, NO slicks! etc etc And if someone comes up with an alternative, ban it too. That would improve the unpredictability by scrambling all the currently fine-tuned technology (for a while) and bring F1 back to real racing cars - as a development bed for road cars. A bit radical, but then isn’t that what F1 is supposed to be?

That was my rant [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

04-26-04, 08:52 AM	#13 (permalink)
ChrisL Chris Liokos 7 Tenths Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Australia GT40: RF40 Posts: 775 Rep Power: 14	Re: F1 is boring me to death!!!! There are two types of motorsport. There are technology based (where the primary goal is to win by a combination of engineering and driver excellence) and parity based (where the primary goal is to minimize the engineering factor and maximize the driver input). Whereas in the past, almost all motorsport was technology based, today there are few pure technology based competitions. (F1 and LeMans series maybe). However, if we were to continue to cut the leading F1 cars off at the knees until everyone was even, we would simply end up with another parity-based formula. As a car enthusiast first, I would find that very disturbing. I would like to think that there is at least one race somewhere where the car is still the main focus. Having said that, the unfortunate situation today is that technology has got to the point where you can build anything to almost any spec that you desire. Unless you put some sort lid on it, using 1950’s rules for example, a theoretical F1 car could probably be built to travel at 600km/h and create G forces of more than 10 Gs (figures I plucked out of the air, but not inconceivable). My solution? Make a simple change in the F1 philosophy. F1 of cars today are little more than ground-bound air craft and have very little relevance to road going cars. So pick out all the aspects of the cars that detract them from road going cars, and BAN them. NO wings! NO components that will only last for 2 hours, NO slicks! etc etc And if someone comes up with an alternative, ban it too. That would improve the unpredictability by scrambling all the currently fine-tuned technology (for a while) and bring F1 back to real racing cars - as a development bed for road cars. A bit radical, but then isn’t that what F1 is supposed to be? That was my rant [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]