F1 Concept Car

[DeepFriar]

Article on the future of open wheel racing in The Verge. Dig the fighter plane look.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/29/8822041/closed-cockpit-f1-concept-car-open-wheel-racing

 

[OneEyeJack]

Instead of a fancy new car, how about making it cheaper?

 

[DeepFriar]

"Cheaper" (which ain't cheap) got us where we are now.

 

[JamesBond]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Instead of a fancy new car, how about making it cheaper?


Yeah just use GP2 cars.

Or if they want safer, just use NASCAR Nationwide cars and cut the fenders off.

Ultimately, they should just build the cars and race them on a simulator. Green technology is the future.

 

[DeepFriar]

Originally Posted By: JamesBond
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Instead of a fancy new car, how about making it cheaper?


Yeah just use GP2 cars.

Or if they want safer, just use NASCAR Nationwide cars and cut the fenders off.

Ultimately, they should just build the cars and race them on a simulator. Green technology is the future.


Oh the horror, the horror........

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted By: DeepFriar
Article on the future of open wheel racing in The Verge. Dig the fighter plane look.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/29/8822041/closed-cockpit-f1-concept-car-open-wheel-racing


Actually, that looks pretty cool! It certainly looks better than the current crop of Indy Cars, with all that silly bodywork hanging off of everywhere, and flapping in the wind. I would like to see how they would keep the driver cool in races like Malaysia. A/C perhaps?

 

[DeepFriar]

There would probably be a rule against testing A/C systems in order to give the small teams a break. This would be overcome by mandating eight or nine pit stops to replace the dry ice in the driver's crotch area.....

 

[A_Harman]

Originally Posted By: billt460
Originally Posted By: DeepFriar
Article on the future of open wheel racing in The Verge. Dig the fighter plane look.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/29/8822041/closed-cockpit-f1-concept-car-open-wheel-racing


Actually, that looks pretty cool! It certainly looks better than the current crop of Indy Cars, with all that silly bodywork hanging off of everywhere, and flapping in the wind.


Agreed! I think the Honda car looks like a cheese grater.

 

[Bill888]

Originally Posted By: billt460
Actually, that looks pretty cool! It certainly looks better than the current crop of Indy Cars, with all that silly bodywork hanging off of everywhere, and flapping in the wind.

I think the Indycars reached a high point when the last of the real Champ Cars were campaigned. As for the current Indycars, I still can't get used to those "pods" on the rear corners. Reminds me of the very end of the CanAm series when the real cars were gone and they tried to squeeze out a season or two using F5000 cars with enclosed bodywork, driver still sitting in the center. You either race open-wheeled or you don't. I also remember the disappointment as a kid of going to a gokart track only to see the things fully protected with a huge nerf bar.

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted By: Bill888
I think the Indycars reached a high point when the last of the real Champ Cars were campaigned.


Are you talking about back when Gil DeFerran set the closed course record at 240 MPH? I think it was at Fontana?? They had that real low rear wing.

 

[wildcatswo]

How about that Honda aero kit?

 

[DeepFriar]

Originally Posted By: billt460
Originally Posted By: Bill888
I think the Indycars reached a high point when the last of the real Champ Cars were campaigned.


Are you talking about back when Gil DeFerran set the closed course record at 240 MPH? I think it was at Fontana?? They had that real low rear wing.


Dim memory but didn't that one year at Texas International they begin getting into the mid to high 240's and it scared everybody including the drivers. Seems the powers that be put some more restrictions in place almost immediately.

 

[DeepFriar]

Originally Posted By: wildcatswo
How about that Honda aero kit?


That looks like a multi-slotted Gurney Flap at that angle.

 

[wildcatswo]

Originally Posted By: DeepFriar
Originally Posted By: billt460
Originally Posted By: Bill888
I think the Indycars reached a high point when the last of the real Champ Cars were campaigned.


Are you talking about back when Gil DeFerran set the closed course record at 240 MPH? I think it was at Fontana?? They had that real low rear wing.


Dim memory but didn't that one year at Texas International they begin getting into the mid to high 240's and it scared everybody including the drivers. Seems the powers that be put some more restrictions in place almost immediately.


I could be totally off. Are you referring to the 2001 Firestone Firehawk 600 at TMS? Race was cancelled hours before it was scheduled to start, and CART never returned. Drivers were experiencing vertigo. Eddie Gossage sued CART because "they should have known." One of many nails in CART's coffin. Meanwhile, IRL's race at TMS continued to thrive and is pretty much THE reason why IndyCar hasn't scheduled a race at COTA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVyfgh3TVCM

 

[DeepFriar]

Yep. That's the one. What a time that must have been.

 

[billt460]

Originally Posted By: DeepFriar
Dim memory but didn't that one year at Texas International they begin getting into the mid to high 240's and it scared everybody including the drivers. Seems the powers that be put some more restrictions in place almost immediately.


Here is the video of the record:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF8GTL0_rMA

 

[DeepFriar]

[/quote]

Here is the video of the record:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF8GTL0_rMA [/quote]

That Gil Defarren run will always be a stunner. Wonder what he was doing down the straights above what the 2011 race ran? Lordy.

 

[billt460]

That car looked like it was going 240 when it was sitting still. That's what a open wheel race car should look like!

 

[Bill888]

That's the era of cars I'm referring to. Also, when you watch his 241 qualifying run it's impressive just how stable the car is. Like the old adage states: if it looks fast, it probably is fast.

 

[billt460]

And the thing sounded fantastic! Screaming like that all the way around the track. Todays Indy and F1 cars sound like a bunch of SUV's leaving a little league parking lot, on their way to Pizza Hut.