F20AP1

All f1 cars will sound good regardless of the engine size... there is no doubt about that so stop complaining...

I actually will enjoy the smaller displacement engines... More real world engineering, something we can see trickle down into production cars 10 years from now... Honda has a reason to engineer some new engines now due to that fact.

bobby.is.rad

F1 hasn't allowed engines bigger than 3.5 liters for over 50 years, so they have almost always been small displacement.

Size doesn't have as much to do with it as number of cylinders does. I think to most automotive enthusiasts, a turbo V6 will never sound as good as a naturally aspirated V8, V10, or V12.

Here's what I'm talking about. These are the sounds that I associate with F1. Makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vs4Mv7ibkA

Now compare that to a turbo V6, and tell me which one you think sounds better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcmKJ5MhDh8

madkimchi

It was a joke. I was describing Honda s2000.

Mr.E.G.

While there is always room for improvement, I assure you that any increase in mechanical grip would reflect a delta that is several spots behind the decimal point. In other words, they have reached the pinnacle of mechanical grip. Perhaps not with the current formula but the technology and engineering prowess to extract obscene levels of mechanical grip are already available; there is no undiscovered territory in the realm of increased mechanical grip.

Mr.E.G.

The problem is that the aero stuff IS the problem; at least, a big part of the problem and/or the single biggest problem.

bobby.is.rad

Any of you guys ever driven the Lotus 49 in iRacing? It's one of the most powerful F1 cars before they had downforce and it's absolutely terrifying to drive. I can't tell you how many times I crashed just trying to drive in a straight line.

mosesbotbol

The problem with aero stuff is the wind tunnel testing costs. FIA wants teams to save money (restrict testing development), so teams spend on the most expensive area, aerodynamics. Wish F1 was more like "run what you brung" of 70's. F1 is only two coffin nails away from being a spec car series. What will happen when Bernie is no longer at the helm?

Mr.E.G.

Here's the thing that some of you guys are not taking into consideration...

When teams have virtually unlimited money to spend on making the best car, it really doesn't matter what the rule book says, because they will be able to dial in every last detail just marginally better than the other guy by spending four times as much as the other guy. In one of Simon McBeath's Aerobytes articles in Racecar Engineering, he analyzed the aero setups of several Formula Ford race cars. Now, you're probably thinking, "Formula Ford racecars don't have aero parts," and you'd technically be right. The point of his article was that even in a series where there are NO aero or downforce generating parts allowed, one can still realize a downforce advantage over a competitor through aero tuning. Essentially, he showed how you can create rear wheeler downforce by tweaking the driver's helmet to create carefully controlled drag, which then, acting through the driver's body, imparted a moment onto the rear wheels and increased grip.

The only proposal I've ever heard of that seems like it would work is that they should eliminate all aero devices in F1 altogether. As my anecdote from above illustrates, you'd still have some aero tweaking but removing the aero altogether would eliminate the largest cost component and would eliminate the concept of deliberately altering your aero setup to slow the guy behind you down. However, I don't know that I would ever want to live in a world with aero-less F1 cars. I love aero developments, but I also acknowledge that that field has advanced so much that any and all advantages come at the cost of millions of dollars.

So here's my proposal instead. Sure, we need some restrictions on engine size and sure we need some limitations on the aero parts that drivers use, but what F1 really needs is reward weight. You win a race and they add some ballast. Next go around you're slightly slower. Add in some rigorous required pit stops so that pit strategy become more of a factor in race results and there you go.

Bugsy

I'd be interested in more active aero. Keep it on the ground, use it for steering, brake assist, let it open for straights... go wild, but within a specific footprint. Challenge technology unbridled.
If just a few teams start to really run away with it, invert the starting grids based on current point totals. You'd get some passing for sure and eliminate qualifying costs.

berny2435

the biggest thing that kicks me in the ars about aero when I watch a race is that if these cars touch at all, or run over some debree and damage a winglet, there's a super high chance that guy has to pit and fix the issue b/c the car depending on the track, that just killed the race for that team. I love my run on sentences!

It's part of the challenge though. stay clean. stay frosty and stay thirsty my friend b/c its Friday