How to fix F1

I say introduce speed up zones like in racing games, drive over the arrows and BAM speed boost.....

there are a few engineering hurdles, like where to place them on the jumps.

pigeon wrote:

oldsaw wrote:

maroon92 wrote:

pigeon said: The tire war coming next year between Michelin and Kumho and the change to 18" wheels from 13" wheels will fix 90% of the problems in F1

Um...sources? Where did you hear this? formula1blog.com says nothing, autosport says nothing....

I read an Autosport.com article a few days ago that mentioned a possible Michelin comeback; not a peep about Kumho. That same article concentrated on possible rule changes allowing 18" tires to replace the current 13" donuts. The team-principle that was interviewed was less than enthusiastic as such a change would require very high funding and extensive testing to make the change work with the chassis/suspension combinations. Both those things (money and time) are in short supply and going to the 18" set-up would be another hurdle for the new teams. Since B'stone has already committed to leave the sport, the Michelin connection makes sense. I have read mention of Kumho coming but can't take that seriously. And, I really doubt the FIA wants to encourage another tire manufacturer war.

One part stuff I've read on f1live.com and other f1 sites that mentioned Kumho and/or Hankook as possible tire suppliers for 2011, one part the stories about Michelin not being interested in supplying F1 without someone to compete against, and about three parts rank speculation.

Michelin Wants Tire War To Return

Yokohama & Dunlop interested?

Reintroduce single element wings. Cut the sides down to 3" tall, and reduce area by 33%.

Metal valve springs- no air springs for engines. In addition to lowering the rev-limits, it will also benefit the auto industry, as it will help advance materials in the valvetrain.

Iron brakes. You can't abuse them, or they will be less effective. But you can over use them a few times to make a pass. Carbon brakes mean that you can't really out brake another driver, since the delta is very small between cars. Braking more variable will help a lot.

E-

alfadriver wrote: Iron brakes. You can't abuse them, or they will be less effective. But you can over use them a few times to make a pass. Carbon brakes mean that you can't really out brake another driver, since the delta is very small between cars. Braking more variable will help a lot. E-

I'm all for this one. Carbon brakes instantly halved or more braking distances in the early 90's when they were introduced.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Sprinklers

Cupcakes?

Hit it with a big hammer?

4eyes wrote: Hit Bernie with a big hammer?

Fixed it for ya

HAHAhahahaha

The Bahrain opener was a snorer, but last two races have been more than solid; Australia was a riot, and Malaysia was good even without rain to mix things up (though it did shuffle the grid in qualifying). I don't mind the occasional not-quite-thrilling race, makes the special moments even more special, like goals in soccer or hockey.

As Beavis and Butthead taught us, you gotta have stuff that sucks in order to have stuff that's cool.

Hope Mercedes gets into the mix soon, a four-way race for the championship would be pretty sweet.

I don't see the problem with F1. The last two seasons have been fairly exciting in my opinion. F1 is supposed to be where budgets and engineering run wild. I say less rules not more.

Michael Shoemaker killed F1. Nigel, Alain, Hunt the Shunt, Ayrton, etc.etc. had personality, sometimes subtle, but personality nonetheless. Ok, add that dour prick Mika Hakkinen to the Schumacher comment - Hell, it took Damon Hill crashing into them in the 90's to make that era interesting.

96DXCivic wrote: I don't see the problem with F1. The last two seasons have been fairly exciting in my opinion. F1 is supposed to be where budgets and engineering run wild. I say less rules not more.

Compare the last 2 seasons to the Schumi vs. Alonso '06 season... not even close.

nutherjrfan wrote: Michael Shoemaker killed F1. Nigel, Alain, Hunt the Shunt, Ayrton, etc.etc. had personality, sometimes subtle, but personality nonetheless. Ok, add that dour prick Mika Hakkinen to the Schumacher comment - Hell, it took Damon Hill crashing into them in the 90's to make that era interesting.

Sorry, but Mansell having personality????? I lived and died F1 when he was at his prime, I remember sitting up at 2:00am and crying when he lost the championship in Adelaide in 86, he was entreating, possessed nad's of steel and bravery over raw talent, but personality??? Nope, I think he had a personaility-ectomy at birth. I was and still am a huge fan of what he did, but he's as flat as a cardboard cut out.

Prost the professor was similar, cold calculating, but not the most interesting of characters.

Now with Senna he was so controversial he did posses a form of character. While I massively admire what he did I really didn't like who he was or how he did it.

Hunt the shunt, now he was personality defined, but not in the same class as the others mentioned.

The Chin always was an A.hole, although I'm hoping his comeback does better from here on out.

BradLTL wrote:

96DXCivic wrote: I don't see the problem with F1. The last two seasons have been fairly exciting in my opinion. F1 is supposed to be where budgets and engineering run wild. I say less rules not more.

Compare the last 2 seasons to the Schumi vs. Alonso '06 season... not even close.

But look at the eighties when the teams were allowed to run wild with turbos. Those were exciting races. The real problem with F1 is the people trying to make the racing closer and thus making these stupid rules. Look at IRL or NASCAR, they are spec series but the guys with a lot of money still win. They should throw the book wide out then maybe some of these small teams if they have a creative engineer can win a race here and there.

rumormill says F1 may be going to 1.5 liter turbos...YAY! now decrease downforce.

One suggestion - don't build cars that do this:

http://img638.imageshack.us/g/buemibih1.gif/

hmmm. was that a hydraulic failure, or an electrical failure?

In reply to maroon92:

Reports claim the RF upright collapsed under braking. The resulting stress on the LF cause it to instantly do the same thing.

It was a new design tried for the first time in practice for this weekend's China GP; won't be used for the race.

Gee, ya think?

Any remember Gerhard Bergers Ferrari front wing failing for no know reason in warm up at Monza? Nigel Mansell then raced with the same part, again that guy had nad's of steel. This reminds me of that, especialy if they race the parts.

I'm doing this from memory, so I may have a few points off. I think it was Giles Villenuve (sp?) that bet a mechanic he was going to get pole (can't remember the track), and then proceeded to do so. The way he had to do it was go flat out through the start/finish, which meant you couldn't make the first turn, so he wrecked pretty hard. He did get pole though if I remember correctly. Knowing you would wreck would take some balls.

We were at Darlington once and had a wreck in practice that tore the car up pretty good. We got it fixed before qualifying but had zero time to sort out anything, and it was a scramble to get to grid. Anyway, we managed a top 10 qualifying effort, but the first turn had to be a nail biter. Not sure I could have put that much faith in the car to do that. Darlington is unbelievably intimidating. You have to go flat out at over 160mph heading straight for a concrete wall and trust you can make an almost 90 degree corner when you get there. It doesn't drive like a normal oval at all. If you don't make it, you will go head on into the wall. I'm not much of an oval fan, but that place takes real commitment from the driver's point of view. By comparison, Daytona and Talladega are a cake walk.

Back to F1 though, I remember someone asking Frentzen that question back in the late '90's and he said "give Adrian Newey early retirement". His Red Bull car looks to be carrying on where his Williams and Mclaren cars left off.

I'm not much of an F1 fan (prefer cars with fenders) but wouldn't a "tire war" be a BAD thing?

I seem to recall reading somewhere that every time there was a NASCAR tire war, there were lots of safety issues, as reliability and longevity would be sacrificed in the name of grip.

I think requiring H-gated transmissions would be kind of neat. Every time I champion automatics as performance transmissions and get resistance, those people seem to forget that the only top-tier racing that requires a fully manual transmission is NASCAR. Everyone else permits transmissions that are manual in name only, the driver pushes a button that tells the electronics to make a shift.

Stop racing on Herman Tilke tracks. Reduce the amount of aero and increase mechanical grip.

That should solve 98.3% of it.

EDIT: And Bernie shouldn't get 50% of the TV money.

I think instead of Technical Regulations, their should be a spending cap with much freer regulation.

Want to run a 25k rpm V10 that requires a rebuild after each time on the track? Fine, but only if you can do it in the budget.

That's when we'd really see creative engineering come back to the forefront vs neat little fiddly bits that mess with the air.