Quote:
Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks
Tell that to Dicky Johnson. 
The engineers designed the DJR Falcon in '92 in good faith on the basis that the rules did not prohibit using the engine as a stressed member of the chassis, only to be told this was not allowed at the last moment. |
Which only shows that a new category wasn't run well at the outset, with the intent of keeping the cars (relatively) simple not covered well enough by those who wrote the rulebook at the time.
For sure there needs to be some capacity for good engineering but not the complete free-for-all that you were advocating in your earlier post.
I look at the example of HRT when it was dominating in the early noughties - rarely took the engines to the rev limit as they were built for flexibility, used 2-way dampers when the other leading teams used 4-way, used slightly older brake specs but good engineering and management had the team at the front consistently.
That to me is good engineering - taking what you have and making the absolute most out of it, rather than creating a spend-a-thon of new ideas because you can't get more out of what you already have.