Quote:
Originally Posted by midgetman
I beg to differ. The current rules leave little room for innovation without spending money but think over the years how brilliant design within a loose framework has allowed smaller teams to shine.
The tiny Cooper Car Company standing motor racing on its head by putting the engine behind the driver.
Colin Chapman in his early days had pretty meagre funding compared to the might of the Ferrari etc.
Adrian Newey getting the March/Leyton House to the sharp end of the grid with his fantastic aerodynamics.
The Cosworth DFV.
Ross Brawn in 2009.
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I appreciate the conversation. And to your point, never say never. It's always possible for low cost innovation to occasionally create clever solutions.
But most of those examples are from an era when everyone was still figuring out how to make fast cars. Today it is more understood. IMHO, it is much harder today to innovate in ways that result in radical performance increases. I would argue the Brawn example doesn't even fit your argument. They were well funded. Honda just bailed out at the wrong time.
Lastly it's likely any dramatic innovation would be short lived and the "Garagista" quickly overtaken again. For lighting to strike multiple times for a single small team (to allow them to constantly perform better than their budget would allow), it would require some type of rare genius designer or design team. And how would a small team expect to retain that talent long term? They couldn't. Those with money would scoop them up. So occasionally blips can happen, but likely have no staying power.
Richard