Help make F1 better

[KC_BPF1]

- Bring back wide 1993 slicks

Snap! (Of course 'wide' is relative - they had actually been reduced in width at the start of 1993)

- Ban refuelling

Snap again! Did you know all the teams bar Ferrari had decided against refuelling by the end of 1993, but it was carried through because Ferrari wanted it as it would negate the disadvantage of thier thirsty V12s...only heard about that recently.

- Increase the weight of the cars to 700kg

Problem with this is the expense already going on incredibly exotic ballasting materials - you'd have to regulate that as well.

- Ban the wooden plank

Not sure about this - very low ride heights were a contributory factor in many accidents pre-1994. Indeed I wonder if a raising of the plank to further inhibit underbody downforce, plus a reshaping of it so that it might not cause the aquaplaning effect it does in wet conditions, might be worthwhile. This is why I didn't incorporate anything on the plank into my proposal...

[Lotusonpole]

Hi all...
Having thought about the state of Formula 1 for some time and reading the openning post, I tend to agree with most of the points.

The point of banning fuel stops seems to split the community so I think a compromise might be in order and my suggestion would be to only allow one scheduled stop per GP for fuel and tyres. Of course normal fault correction, punctures and damage control would still be allowed.

If grooved tyres would be banned I ask what would they be the alternative? A return to slicks would only increase speeds.
Maybe a treaded tyre with a pattern of grooves across the width in addition to the radial ones. Similar in apperance to high performance tyres for road cars. The total percentage of groove area I'll leave to the more knowledgable.

Also I would ban barge boards and any winglets etc between the front and rear wings.

And I think venues need to be re-thought. What is the point of holding GP's at circuits that have no passing places?

If the sport can get sorted then also I would love to see the number of teams alowed to race increase.

And finally, more creative freedom for the designers. All the cars look alike bar livery....not counting the Williams of course.

Basically I would like to see F1 given back to the fans and racing put back into racing. At the moment it seems we fans are way down on the list of priorities. Its almost like the "sport" is a private affair for big businesses and we fans are only tolerated as long as we pay massive amounts for tickets.

One last point...I'm fed up with being told..."Oh...you're just a purist aren't you".

Thanks for listening...

Cheers
Peter
feel better now

[Glen]

You could radically improve F1 by actualy watching carefully, instead of just assuming that there is no overtaking (which is just plain incorrect). Partly the TV directors are to blame.

The proposed new rules for qualifying and tyres will shake things up quite enough I reckon, although with far, far, fewer sets of tyres allowed expect to see the tyre with the best consistency winning (guess who?).

I had a good laugh about the discussion on this thread about stopping MS winning via strategy - well, doh! If winning by strategy (and by definition pulling out a string of staggering laps on demand) is so easy how come no other team is doing it? Maybe they just haven't thought of it yet.

[Aysedasi]

Oh I think they've thought of it all right - Ferrari and TGF are just too good at it, quite patently.

[ASCII Man]

Originally posted by The Monster
- Return the cars to 200mm width

I don't think that the drivers could fit in a car just 200 mm, or 20 cm wide...

[Super Tourer]

The main factor that will influence F1 in the future and decide the rules will still be the entrants.

Currently the issue is this:

The Concorde Agreement requires total agreement on any changes, hence the pace of change is painfully slow. Even looking ahead to the potential new engine rules, BMW want to continues with V10's the others are open to V8's....

After the CA is finished the FIA believe it is party time as they can set the rules without agreement from the teams, and then you either enter or you don't. In theory that is fine, but in practice of course it's nonsense as the entrants will only ever want to build the car THEY want to build and will always try and get the rules changed accordingly.

If you look at any other FIA series, they have all suffered from the same. Look at the WRC, the FIA imposed new rules onto the series, the result is a weakened entry and top drivers on the sidelines without a drive.

Ditto sportscars in the past (and no doubt again), in the UK even TOCA had to open the series to ETCC touring cars when insufficent teams/manufacturers wanted to build cars to the rules they originally wanted.

Rule making in top line motorsport tends to be reactive. The FIA will always be behind the thinking of the teams who have highly paid and qualified people working 24/7 to see how 1mm shaved off an endplate will work or whatever. So, the temptation from rulemakers is always going to be a 'cut to the quick' which in effect gives them some breathing space whilst the engineers work to claw back the advantage they have 'lost'.

This brings us onto the clash between innovation and competition, the manufacturers will generally want F1 to remain 'cutting edge' to challenge their engineer's and for the well funded ones - increase or maintain their advantage, whereas the FIA will want costs pared down and a more 'basic' approach.

Many agree that aero needs to be reduced, but once again you only have to look at the hundreds of millions of dollars the teams have spent on new wind tunnels, to see that is not going to be an advantage given up lightly.

The FIA and FOM are always going to be dependent on the teams, so they will still required a 'concensus' even if they can implement new rules without their 'actual' agreement - which still sounds difficult to me.

[Lotusonpole]

I agree that Ferrari and MS have done nothing wrong, its up to the opposition to catch and beat them.

And behind the leader yes there has been passes and attempts more than we actually get to see thanks to the TV coverage...but ..It was quoted on a local TV F1 programme here that the total passing attempts for each GP currently is around 15. Compare that to an average GP of say 25 years ago when the pass attempt average was up to 60 or so.
No matter what rule changes are imminent, I would like to keep 3 litres, anything less seems too feeble for F1.

Cheers
Peter

[Kicking-back]

F1 had 1.5l engines way back in the fifties and no-one thought it feeble then.

[Lotusonpole]

I agree that rules by themselves are no guarantee for great racing and the cream will always get to the top no matter what they are, but I still think a set of rules that encourage racing on the track rather than in the pit lane is imperitive.

Cheers again
Peter

[Lotusonpole]

50's?... I remember them.
At that time the lower formulas ran engine sizes correspondingly smaller... way down to 500cc.

It's just that the 3 litre size has been so constant* and has seen consistently the best racing since the 60's that it just seems right.
*3.5 not withstanding.

So I do think it feeble, unless they allow any number of cylinders/configuration to give a little spice.

(The hair on the back of my neck still tingles at the sound of a BRM H16 or the Matra SIMCAS irrespective of litres)

Ooops...gone all nostalgic...apologies.

There is one over riding fact from all of this...we all want whats best for the sport.

Cheers
Peter