Quote:
Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith
The regs changed in 1988 regarding the driver's feet. Looking at this overhead comparison of McLaren's cars, the length of the car has increased behind the driver, in order to accommodate the fuel tank, the PU and the drive train, as well as having a longer nose.
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The cars have a massive empty space between the engine and gearbox nowadays. It's basically a big spider frame which acts as a spacer for aerodynamic purposes, they put the inboard rear suspension in the gap but it could easily be moved on top of the gearbox instead:
Credit: Scarbs
The tailshaft runs under the inboard suspension back to the gearbox cartridge (the tailshaft has broken off on the HAAS).
You can still see the tailshaft after Schumacher's Jeddah crash:
On this basis it would be quite possible to reduce the maximum wheelbase from 3600mm to 3300mm as long as the team's don't object. (The FIA originally proposed a 3400mm maximum wheelbase for 2022, but the teams only accepted 3600mm, or only 150mm down from the (uncapped) wheelbase which averaged about ~3750mm in 2021.)
Heck you could even mandate a maximum wheelbase of 3000mm and require the teams to mount the gear cartridge transversely like the 1995 Ferrari?
Of course the gearbox would block much of the venturi tunnels, but tough.