The COAT - Round One - Lotus 79 vs Brabham BT49

[crmalcolm]

Continuing the first round, the twenty-forth match sees the Lotus 79 up against the Brabham BT49.

Lotus 79 (snaplap.net):
Lotus 79 was the car that won both Drivers’ and Constructors’ Formula 1 World Championship titles in 1978.

Colin Chapman, the owner of Lotus Team, always was ready for the innovations and experiments on his F1 cars. Some of them weren’t glorious but many were revolutionary and extremely successful. Lotus 79 definitely was one of them. After good try with Lotus 78, its successor took full advantage of aerodynamics and produced significantly more ground effect.

Lotus 79 was built around its predecessor but went through many changes and modifications. Much of the honeycomb used for the chassis was replaced by more conventional sheet aluminium, even larger sidepods were fitted to the car while the rear suspension was also redesigned to allow the air to exit the rear more cleanly.

The new car was powered by Ford Cosworth engine, the fuel tank became a single cell located behind the driver what helped in moving the center of gravity to the middle of the car. Additionally, the Lotus 79 was the first F1 car to be designed using wind tunnel and computer design aids. In fact, it was the first car in Formula 1 to use computers to analyze it in the pits during race weekends.

Lotus 79 was tested for the first time late in 1977 and before the season went through many modifications. However, it wasn’t fully prepared for the start of 1978 campaign. However, when it was seen at the racetrack for the first time, the new car immediately was named ’The Black Beauty’, after its famous and legendary John Player Special black and gold livery. This car is still considered as probably the most elegant in the history of motorsport.

The American driver secured 1978 Formula 1 title by finishing 6th in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza but that race was marked with Peterson crash at the start of the race. Ronnie’s car hit the guardrail head-on after the multiple incidents. Both his legs were broken and although his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening he died of post-operation complications. Peterson posthumously finished the season as a runner-up.

Andretti didn’t win any of the remaining three races in 1978, while Jean-Pierre Jarier, who replaced Peterson, wasn’t capable of pulling out the maximum from the car that was superior that season. Lotus finished the campaign with two trophies after winning the Constructors’ Championship, beating his nearest rival Ferrari by 28 points.

However, the Lotus 79 has a special place in the history of Formula 1, being the first F1 car to take full advantage of ground effects. The underbody aerodynamics, one of Chapman’s many great innovations still plays a vital role in the racing car design although the full ground effect cars are no longer eligible.

Brabham BT49 (ultimatecarpage.com):
Hastily put together during the second half of the 1979 season by combining the existing BT48 chassis with Cosworth's venerable DFV V8, the BT49 would end up being one of Brabham's most successful Formula 1 cars. There were two primary reasons for the mid-season engine change; Alfa Romeo's new V12 performed very inconsistently and the arrival of the Italian manufacturer's own works team had left team supremo Bernie Ecclestone with a nagging suspicion that Brabham was no longer a top priority.

Ironically, the discarded Alfa Romeo V12 had been hastily created after a specific request from Brabham designer Gordon Murray. It had replaced the Italian company's flat 12 engine, which while very low was also wide and as such interfered with Murray's plan to create a full 'ground effect' car in order to keep track of pioneer Lotus. Relying on downforce generated by tunnels underneath the side pods, ground effect called for the narrowest possible engine and drivetrain. The big advantage was that with ground effect, the downforce was generated without the drag created by conventional wings.

Shared between the BT48 and BT49 was the extremely compact monocoque chassis. The bottom half was constructed from the conventional sheet aluminium, while the top featured carbon fibre composite panels. This was a first for a racing car and added much needed strength to the chassis, which thanks to the ground effect aerodynamics was subjected to much higher loads. Inboard springs and dampers, actuated by pull-rods, were used on both ends to ensure the air could flow as uninterrupted as possible through the ground effect tunnels.

So complete was Murray's confidence in the ground effect aerodynamics that the BT48 was originally fitted with neither a front or rear wing. This proved far from ideal and wings were soon fitted, although they served mainly to trim the car's balance. When possible the car did run without a front wing to keep drag to a minimum. Another advantage of replacing the rueful Alfa Romeo V12 with the Cosworth V8 was the smaller fuel tank required. This, in addition to the lower weight of the engine itself, made the new BT49 the lightest of all the top teams' cars.

[S griffin]

Lotus 79. A leap forward from their revolutionary 78 and quite a beauty too

[chunterer]

BT49. Was competitive for longer than the 79.

[wolfhound]

Difficult call can I vote for both?