What would a modern Can-Am car look like?

After this video of the 919 Evo running around the 'Ring popped up yesterday, I've been thinking about a modern Can-Am car. The series is held up as a high point of racing innovation and cited as where we want racing to be.

Well, we don't, really. It was never very competitive racing and the attrition rate was stupendous. Some of the most iconic cars never even finished a race, or were hit with a rulebook ban in this most open of series. One team would dominate every year. But the cars were pretty wild.

If it were brought back, it would only last a few years before it got completely out of control (again). But if it did, what would the cars look like? The basic ruleset was that the cars needed to be two-seaters (just like Le Mans cars have to have a trunk) with enclosed wheels, some basic safety regs and the races were about 200 miles long. Moveable aero devices were banned fairly early. They were typically a bit quicker than F1 cars of the day.

Let's start with the 919 Evo. It's a hybrid. Would the ideal, no-holds-barred racer be a hybrid? The 917-30 was basically outlawed when a minimum fuel economy of 3 mpg was instituted. By comparison, modern F1 cars get something like 7.5 mpg. Due to the length of the race, fuel economy is a factor as is tire life to some extent. And the Evo is a bit faster than last year's F1 cars, just like a proper Can-Am.

How would you spec a 919 Evo-beater? Posting a picture of some Red Bull fantasy is taking the easy way out

It very much depends on how the restrictions are written.  You've already hinted at one- fuel economy. 

Maybe the whole thing can be driven by a simple fuel restrictor that are randomly given out during the weekend- much like CART and the pop off valves.

Would there be a weight limit?  Would there be any bias toward one technology or another?

Hard question to answer without a decent set of restrictions.

But I suspect it would look much like any current P1 car, like the 919 looks.

Money no object? Open rules set? Sounds like a certain D Sports Racer.

I'd leave fuel economy out of the equation for now - but it is a factor. The 917-30 would have to start the race with 2.5 times as much fuel as a current F1 car would or it would have to refuel, so that's a competitive advantage to the F1 car. Is it enough of an advantage to matter?

Let's use the same high level restrictions as 1966 or so because this is obviously just a fun thought process. No fuel economy restrictions, but let's say it has to run on the same fuel choices used by LMPs. No weight restrictions. Let the aero move because it's more fun that way. I want to see continually self-optimizing bodywork!

I suspect the fastest cars might actually be a type of mild hybrids. If you can extract more power out of a gallon you're going to be faster. Perhaps it would have most overall performance (weight vs. power) with an e-turbo alone, I'm not sure. At some point, if you make so much power that you can only make one lap on a tank of fuel, it makes sense to find efficient ways to stretch it out to two laps.

People talk about movable aero with respect to wings, but what about movable venturi tunnels? These are often fairly simple shapes. Sections of the floor could raise up, alter angles, etc.

I suspect the ideal shape of a race car is different than what we currently see in racing. Exposed wheels are clearly not the most aerodynamically efficient. I think the delta wing hinted at this, but there are plenty of other ideas out there. Imagine the same car with an engine that produced 1000hp instead of 350hp.

Can Am rules were very simple.  I think you would take a Mercedes F1 car, add engine cylinders until it was the proper size, use the hybrid portion as well, using batteries to get up to minimum weight, rebody for two seats and fenders, upsize the wheels to get all the brakes, then turn the aero guys loose.

I think it might look very much like a modern LeMans car, just more.

Snrub said:

I suspect the ideal shape of a race car is different than what we currently see in racing. Exposed wheels are clearly not the most aerodynamically efficient. I think the delta wing hinted at this, but there are plenty of other ideas out there. Imagine the same car with an engine that produced 1000hp instead of 350hp.

Can-Am rules required covered wheels, and any logical attempt at maximum performance would shroud them for sure. LMPs are a lot closer to the ideal than F1 cars are.

Deltawing-style stuff is what I'd hope to see!

With no minimum weight, I'm highly dubious that the hybrid tech is going to be worth carting around the track.

 I would take a look at any of the vision GT concept cars from the new Gran Turismo sport game. Those cars are cutting edge even though they are not real. They are also surreal to drive. The Chevy vision GT concept car has some sort of ion laser turbine Cannon for propulsion. It’s nuts

https://www.gran-turismo.com/us/vgt/chaparral/

 Ruthlessly ripped from that page:

“Conceived as a “Garage 56” Le Mans Experimental Prototype, the Chevrolet Chaparral 2X Vision Gran Turismo is a look into the future of motorsports and inspired by the combined sensations of flying in a wing suit and a Moto GP race bike... an experience where the 2X pilot flies around the circuit, headlong, just inches from the race surface. The 2X’s Chevrolet power unit is unlike anything seen on the track before... it literally thrusts itself down the track with laser pulse shock waves generated by an advanced propulsion system from Chevrolet.

The driving position creates one of the most immersive and exciting experiences ever imagined in four wheel motorsports. The vehicle architecture and design take its shape as a result of the “forward flight” driving position, one where the pilot becomes at one with the structure of the car. Once on board, with the canopy retracted to the closed position, the 2X forms a totally unique envelope around the pilot’s outstretched body. Hand and foot controls operate independently and involve all of the frictionless, magnetic bearing wheels. Vehicle acceleration, deceleration and direction is controlled by the movement & physical inputs of the 2X pilot, a true application of four points of control. Braking is handled by a combination of Brembo magnetic re-gen callipers and deployable AeroBrake panels in the 2X bodywork.

The integral BodyFrame is created using a unique “layup schedule” which allows the entire structure to act in unison with the 2X suspension. The main body also incorporates the super-ridged propulsion structure which ensures absolute accuracy of the thrust parabola to the laser pulse cone. The variable positioning of the thrust cone vanes serve to create propulsion and downforce by the simultaneous use of this multi-vane adjustability and a lower Thrust Vectoring panel. The combination of these two technologies allows the Chaparral 2X pilot to fine tune downforce to the exact spot on a given circuit, actually “pressing” the tire’s contact patch onto the track surface and enhancing mechanical grip where needed most.”

There would also likely be tech like the inertial dampers from the Renaults a few years ago, and active suspension to go with the active aero.

To keep things in some sort of humanly survivable limitation, the speed/power/grip would have to be limited in some fashion. I suspect that if allowed to run wild and not need to actually carry people, the cars could run beyond what drivers (riders) could withstand for more than a few laps.

I think one of the big things would be highly active aero. And I'm not simply talking movable downforce-creating aero but devices that create aero forces in multiple vectors, using not just the force of the wind the car is passing through, but pressures created by engine combustion, wheel motion, etc.

Active suspension and multi-axis stability control are already insanely advanced on street cars. What happens when we adopt those systems for true racing use beyond just longitudinal traction control?

And what about active tires? For an F1 car or P1 car, the tires are one of the main sources of compliance in the car, and it's basically just a big, dumb spring. Tires that could change sidewall stiffness or profile through the use of reactive materials would be insane and allow a huge jump in performance.

Also, at some point in the VERY near future, the biggest thing holding a race car back from its ultimate lap time will be the meatsack behind the wheel.

JG Pasterjak said:

Also, at some point in the VERY near future, the biggest thing holding a race car back from its ultimate lap time will be the meatsack behind the wheel.

Fun fact: When Sebastien Loeb took his (fairly unrestricted) Peugeot to Pikes Peak, he beat the calculated optimum time by 2 seconds. We might need the meatsacks a bit longer.

Active tire compliance, I like it.

Formula E  with a body  and driven by  Nintendo

we are all wearing 3D helmets............

The trouble with an open formula is the first thing you need to do is get rid of the soft squishy steering wheel to seat back spacer.  with modern understanding of aero it would be quite simple to build a car, assuming tires were available, that would be too fast for a human to drive.  You could easily get to a situation where the driver would black out under the extreme G forces, especially the combined forces.  So right away you need rules in place to make it human directed, which means limiting aero and power, so the point of an open formula is immediately out the window.

Other than that, start with something like the 919 but have lot's of active aero.  Not just DRS like systems, but you could go back to skirts and suckers and infinitely adjustable diffusers etc.  The whole thing would be set up more like a ground effect aircraft on the straights to minimize drag.  You could even have positive lift at higher speeds once traction is no longer a problem to minimize frictional losses in a straight line.  Then lift off or hit the brakes and you would transition instantly to a ground effect monster that could probably pull something stupid like 10g's in braking OR the corners.  As for the powertrain I would assume some kind of pure hybrid.  Make the internal combustion part as efficient and light as possible, say a 2 stroke turbo diesel or even a gas turbine that only drives a generator.  Four wheel electric motors for infinite four way torque split etc.  

I don't think it would take a few years for the costs and technology to get out of control, I don't see anyone willing to sign up for something that would make Space X look like a bunch of garagistas right out of the gate.

I think a very smart man already asked himself the same question and came up with the Aston Martin Valkyrie.

In terms of regulating a series, I think safety, tire availability and choice of venues would be the first things to figure out. Moveable aero seems like a no brainer for outright speed and distancing the series from F1 and current prototypes.

I wonder if there is a way to give an advantage to novel technologies without penalizing other cars. Maybe each team has to be doing something novel, whether alternative fuel, turbine power, electrification or otherwise.

Such a series may never come to be, but Pike's Peak and Time Attack offer some glimpses into what a series with minimal regulation might look like.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson :

Maybe the drivers wear G-suites like fighter pilots?

In reply to stafford1500 :

To be honest, I think the inerters and other assorted wizardry would have no chance against true active suspension. Even regular old 'magnetic' shocks would be a huge step forward from anything on the grid at a contemporary grand prix.

Active sidewalls is a fascinating idea.

Torque vectoring would seem to be a must. They're already playing around with it in FSAE.

white_fly said:

I wonder if there is a way to give an advantage to novel technologies without penalizing other cars. Maybe each team has to be doing something novel, whether alternative fuel, turbine power, electrification or otherwise.

"I'm sorry, your car is not interesting enough for our racing series".

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I literally thought about doing it exactly that way. Or something like iron chef, but for teams of engineers and fabricators.

Probably like those ugly ass modern LeMans prototypes.