2016 F1 Car Launches

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by Alfaholic

I hope you've trademarked the "Lairy Canary" moniker Mike.

Any green on that Renault and my lawyers would have been on the case.

I just think it's great that a team have chosen a bright primary colour, rather than the almost default black / dark grey / dark blue or whatever. (Ferrari the main exception, of course!) Reminds me of 'Liquid Yellow' that that was or still is available on some Renaultsport models.....

[Mike Harte]

Somewhere buried deep in this thread there is debate about the beauty or lack of such in the current crop of F1 cars. Having seen a whole bunch of the ground-effect era F1 cars performing high speed runs at the 2016 Goodwood Members Meeting, boy, were they ugly. All straight lines and very little in the way of curves, with the driver almost, if not actually, sitting over the front axle, and by today's standards, looking very long in the wheelbase.

The worst, in my eyes, must surely have been the Hammer Head Ferrari 312T5 apart from which it was totally outclassed by the rest of the field.

Yes, today's cars could be prettier, especially if they removed all the fancy wings and other aero devices, but they are still a huge improvement on the cars from the end of the 70s and into the early 80s.

[wolfhound]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Somewhere buried deep in this thread there is debate about the beauty or lack of such in the current crop of F1 cars. Having seen a whole bunch of the ground-effect era F1 cars performing high speed runs at the 2016 Goodwood Members Meeting, boy, were they ugly. All straight lines and very little in the way of curves, with the driver almost, if not actually, sitting over the front axle, and by today's standards, looking very long in the wheelbase.

The worst, in my eyes, must surely have been the Hammer Head Ferrari 312T5 apart from which it was totally outclassed by the rest of the field.

Yes, today's cars could be prettier, especially if they removed all the fancy wings and other aero devices, but they are still a huge improvement on the cars from the end of the 70s and into the early 80s.

I have to disagree with you.
To my mind some of the best looking GP cars came from this period, cars such as the following Brabham BT48 & 49, Lotus 79, 80, 91 &92, Williams FW07.
https://www.google.ie/url?sa=i&rct=j...59635659307805
https://www.google.ie/url?sa=i&rct=j...59636010670159

[S griffin]

And the cars were more distinctive in those days, you could tell them apart without sponsors. The only time we get that nowadays is when we get a major rule change a la 2009 and 2014

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by S griffin

And the cars were more distinctive in those days, you could tell them apart without sponsors. The only time we get that nowadays is when we get a major rule change a la 2009 and 2014

At least the current cars have different noses, which helps.

I really liked the ground effect era, those cars were awesome and that forward driving position was fairly insane. I think the Renault 30B takes the biscuit.

[chunterer]

The current cars would look quite nice without all the ott bits and bobs sprouting up all over the wings and sides etc. The basic lines and curves look really nice on the Toro Rosso and Mercedes?

[Mike Harte]

I think that, unless you are a real fan of cubism, it was only the car's liveries that made the cars look attractive, especially the black and gold of the various Lotii. And seeing them again on track, it reminds one just how vulnerable the drivers were back then.