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Old 13 Dec 2010, 04:11 (Ref:2803602)   #1
titan6
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"Sidepods" on Late '60/Early '70's F3

Why was there a move to the large bulbus "Sidepods" on Late '60/Early '70's f2 and f3 cars? They seem much too large for fuel only, even for the longer f2 races.
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Old 17 Dec 2010, 21:16 (Ref:2805772)   #2
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Some examples are the Brabham bt30, bt35 and the f2 Tecno, and the Lotus 59(1969). Anyone have any ideas? Thanks
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Old 26 Dec 2010, 14:18 (Ref:2808574)   #3
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I think it was more for safty reasons absorbing some impact in case of a side impact.
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Old 28 Dec 2010, 15:59 (Ref:2809007)   #4
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The cars with the big sidepods were F2 cars. F3 cars were usually slimmer - compare the Brabham BT28 and 30, for example. F2 cars of the 1600 era had about 20 gallons of fuel storage, so that took up a fair bit of space. The F3s had about half that.

The deformable structures that Delta mentions were introduced for F1 in 1973, and for F2 in (I think) 1975. F3 and F2 cars were closely related up to that time, and the sidepods were simply the bigger fuel tanks necessary for F2.
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Old 30 Dec 2010, 22:50 (Ref:2809555)   #5
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Thanks for the replys. It seems by 1971 all f3 cars (the new ones at least ) had the large sidepods. Did the new f3 1600 require that much more fuel, the race distances didn't increase? One interesting exception seems to be the Lotus 59/69-it buldged only at the drivers area.

Does anyone remember the wording of the deformable structure rule(i know all of our memory's of that time are crystal clear). Was the deformable structure area an air void of was there some sort of shock absorbing material there?

PS: when did the reg for fuel bags come into effect?
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Old 31 Dec 2010, 18:33 (Ref:2809775)   #6
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The BT35 F3 had a 13 gallon tank (the same as the Atlantic and FB versions), whereas the BT28 had an 11 gallon tank. The BT29 FB had 15 gallon tanks. The rationalisation of fuel tank sizes may be responsible for the apparent increased girth of the 1600cc car.

The deformable structures (which I don't think were ever made compulsory in F3) were filled with polyeurethane foam.

Fuel bags became compulsory in F1 in 1970 (if they hadn't, Ken Tyrrell might have run the Matra MS80 for another season). I should think they became compulsory in F3 in '73 or '74 (maybe 1974, when the formula changed to 2 Litres)
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Old 1 Jan 2011, 01:38 (Ref:2809836)   #7
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In '72 two friends of mine ran a BT29 in SCCA FB(1600 twin cam) in the slim sides so I don't think fuel was an issue. So, it seem the deformable structure rule came into effect in F3 in '71, at least in the area of the fuel tank which would explain the buldge in the fuel tank area of the Lotus 59/69.

Anyone have a FIA rule book from 1971
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Old 1 Jan 2011, 02:38 (Ref:2809842)   #8
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Originally Posted by titan6 View Post
In '72 two friends of mine ran a BT29 in SCCA FB(1600 twin cam) in the slim sides so I don't think fuel was an issue. So, it seem the deformable structure rule came into effect in F3 in '71, at least in the area of the fuel tank which would explain the buldge in the fuel tank area of the Lotus 59/69.

Anyone have a FIA rule book from 1971
Hmm. I really doubt that. The rule only came in for F1 in 1973 (as Alan Morgan noted above) and even then I seem to recall that it was not in place fully from the start of the season.

The 006 Tyrrell, for example, had a triangular side shape whereas the 005 before it was flat sided, though the tubs were very similar. The triangular shape was actually a full side cover made in fibreglass and foam filled to give the deformable structure width as per regulations. Others managed to pass scrutineering with even less foam. Iirc the McLaren had a very thin strip of foam filled fibreglass somewhere about the top of the tub and for about half its length.

Brabham did something different again.

The nice thing about those times was that teams could be innovatively different in ways that were visibly evident to all. Now such matters are either so little different that few are likely to notice when they are visible or are hidden from public view altogether.

I would imagine any changes for F3 were more about standardising production and making it adaptable to order requirements than anything else.
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Old 2 Jan 2011, 05:10 (Ref:2810081)   #9
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It still seems like there was some kind of rule change about the start of the '71 F3 season. Example: the '71 Alpine 360 F3 car had the fuel tank behind between the driver and the motor and still had the large side pods. Perhaps they were going to use the 360 in F2 but, a quick look at '71 F2 results did not show Alpine in the results.
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Old 2 Jan 2011, 10:55 (Ref:2810139)   #10
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As I said above, I don't think a deformable structure rule was ever introduced into F3. Deformable structures weren't introduced into F1 until 1973, and the tendency in those days was to filter rule changes down to the lower formulae a couple of years later, but I don't think it ever got down as far as F3. Ralt RT1 F2 cars had deformable structures, for example, but the RT1 F3 did not.

The 1972 Brabham BT38 - the access panel for the fuel bag is clearly seen on the side of the tub

http://www.f3history.co.uk/Manufactu.../brabham06.htm

Ditto the 1971 Elden PRH12

http://www.f3history.co.uk/Manufactu...en/elden03.htm

An Ensign. The access panels for the fuel tanks are inside the cockpit on an Ensign, but I can assure you there was no deformable structure on the 1971 Ensign I worked on last year.

http://www.f3history.co.uk/Manufactu...n/ensign06.htm

Last edited by Alan Morgan; 2 Jan 2011 at 11:22. Reason: Additional information
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