... And the ugliest car so far is....

[wolfhound]

Originally Posted by P38 in workshop

Thats a Lotus 91.

Much better looking than the current crop.The ugliest of which is the Caterham and it will have to be good to preserve the job of the designer responsible in the light of the statement from Tony Fernandes last week.Full marks for courage to the team,zero marks for aesthetics.

I picked the wrong one by accident.

[steve nielsen]

Originally Posted by p-matt

Caterham the ugliest for me, McLaren not far behind.

The Sauber, Force India and Red Bull do a good job of shielding the ugliness with their paint jobs.

But none of these cars are as hideous as the 1998 X-wing cars

and it's also not the first ridiculous F1 car



the 1979 Ensign



The 1983 Tyrell 012

[nicanary]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

and it's also not the first ridiculous F1 car



the 1979 Ensign



The 1983 Tyrell 012

Passengers who have arrived on BAFlight666 please proceed to carousel 1, please proceed to carousel 1, to collect your luggage........

(It's either that, or the Princess Diana memorial fountain)

[Adam43]

Now I've seen them for a few days, I am over it.

Obviously 2014 F1 is still the world's worst thing ever.

[Salamus]

I'd say the Toro Rosso is the worst.

I just hope that these "noses" don't start wobbling around at high speed.

[mikuni]

Ferrari looks the most awkward/ugliest for me, closely followed by the STR. I can just picture the noses breaking off and the track looking like it is littered with dildos.

[numbersix]

Well, Grand Prix is the name of the game ...

[greentrumpet]

Looks like the McLaren ran over Jar Jar Binks.

[Adam43]

Which is a good thing! So that is now my favourite.

[Marbot]

The Sauber seems to be sporting a certain type of moustache?!!!

It's all very confusing, but this is what happens when you let modern day F1 car designers design cars, and not the rule makers. The regulations were left open enough to allow the creation of what can only be described as being 'highly unaesthetic'.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Disagree on that...

This is what happens when the rule makers stipulate specific widths tolerances and cross-sections at various points. The F1 car designers then working against those constraints to make their car as aerodynamic as possible.
In this case the possible solutions are most unappealing.

The question is, is it up to the rule setters to adjust the stipulated bits to allow greater aesthetics, or the car designer to back off on the Aero to make a nicer looking car, in the knowledge that the designers in the other teams aren't backing off?

[karimbo]

Originally Posted by bella

if you think caterhams nose is phallic then one has to wonder when you last saw anything resembling one

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Disagree on that...

There was nothing to stop Sauber from making something even less aesthetically displeasing than what Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari have managed. But Sauber, and obviously some others, have taken the wording of the regulations to the extreme, the consequences of which are for all to see. The FIA, or to be more precise, the teams, have managed to put together a regulation that didn't stipulate a minimum dimension for the nose section. Why would they? They never have done before.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Disagree on that...

This is what happens when the rule makers stipulate specific widths tolerances and cross-sections at various points. The F1 car designers then working against those constraints to make their car as aerodynamic as possible.
In this case the possible solutions are most unappealing.

The question is, is it up to the rule setters to adjust the stipulated bits to allow greater aesthetics, or the car designer to back off on the Aero to make a nicer looking car, in the knowledge that the designers in the other teams aren't backing off?

Its what happens when you fiddle with regulations, to try to write something to get a desired result but fail to accurately define what you want.
Reducing under the body aero is desirable to reduce cornering speed but it would have been simpler to produce a nose that incorporated a front wing and say "This is what you will all use, so work with it."
It wouldn't create variety but then on the evidence of these attempts variety isn't always the spice of life......

Or is it?

[Born Racer]

I'm enjoying the noses. They're all engineering solutions and at least they're entertaining.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by vincegail

Take your pic:

F1 cars designed by H. R. Giger.

[Born Racer]

Caterham takes first. It reminds me of some kind of 90s toy cars called Connect'ems or Connex or something where you joined the front, middle and back of different vehicles.

Force India is second, followed by Williams (looks a bit flaccid). Then STR (saved by the paint job somewhat).

The Ferrari is weird but from front-on looks kind of like a melted-down version of the mid-90s. The McLaren at least looks a bit fighter-plane like.

[Cynic]

Reminds me of a comment allegedly by an Airbus engineer that aerodynamics does not yield to style...

Caterham definitely the worst, Ferrari clearly saved money by having theirs designed by Dyson, and I'll reserve judgement on Williams as I'm not convinced it's actually finished yet. I'd say RB and Mercedes are the best of a bad selection.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Marbot

There was nothing to stop Sauber from making something even less aesthetically displeasing than what Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari have managed. But Sauber, and obviously some others, have taken the wording of the regulations to the extreme, the consequences of which are for all to see. The FIA, or to be more precise, the teams, have managed to put together a regulation that didn't stipulate a minimum dimension for the nose section. Why would they? They never have done before.

Agreed.

To the wider audience...

Given the goals of the nose regulations, has anyone given a try at rewriting them? I am not saying it can't be done, but it's likely not as easy as you think. I also think you run the risk of highly restrictive and wordy rules (I.e. Spec nose) or you stop one problem, but create another that you just didn't see coming.

And I don't think "style" comments like "must not look like a gentleman's sausage or lady parts" will work!

Richard

[numbersix]

I'd like to understand the physics of these things. I was taught that for a given weight, if the contact area is reduced, the pressure per unit area increases. So why should a stiletto nose offer more protection than one with a larger spread? Yes, I know it collapses but wouldn't something of larger contact area crumple as effectively?

Perhaps the FIA are just compensating for something...

[mikuni]

I don't believe the FIA intended this. They gave a minimum cross sectional area similar to that of the noses at the time (wide and flat) and then also gave a maximum height from the ground (among various other requirements that are mentioned).

The teams could have made a conventional nose as the regulations expected, and had this start from the very front of the car (similar to what Ferrari has done), but instead they opted to keep the high nose to keep as much air flowing underneath as possible, with the penis extension out the front to meet the minimum requirements.

[Born Racer]

But the FIA are always one step behind the aerodynamicists in that regard. It's long been that way.

[Tucky]

Although the caterham looks disgusting, you've got to admire them for thinking outside the box. I don't want rules to make the cars identical, it's not what F1's about. If people want to watch something where the drivers are really the only difference then send them to the lower formula's (btw i'm not knocking the lower formula's, i think they're fantastic, it's just not about innovation)

[mikuni]

If I were writing the regulations I would at least sit down and have a beer with one of the teams aerodynamicists to go over the regulations trying to think outside the box and look for any loop holes. Especially for such a big change at the front of the car.

The recent platypus nose debarcle should have given a bit of an insight into the way the teams would approach any change. This was a warning shot for the FIA, but they missed or ignored it.

But in saying all of that, change is good in my eyes and I'm excited about the season now more than ever.

[JeremySmith]

That green thing. I don't care what box they stepped outside off..