What F1 car.

[Mark-C]

Schermerhorn said:

I would have loved to have seen 'fan car' style technology merged with Red Bull Diffuser technology.

I may be wrong but surely that doesn't work? The fan car needed a good seal all round and the diffuser needs the air coming underneath the car (plus the exhaust for a blown one.

Anyway since the BT55 is a lovely design and nobody has posted a pic here is one ... plus the Arrows A2 which was an interesting take on the wingless ground effect car that I always rather liked and could have been interesting with twenty years of development if the rules hadn't changed. I still think big tyres and ground effects would solve a lot of the problems we see today with cars not being able to follow each other too closely.

[rhysenna]

What I love about F1 is all the regulation changes and the way that the designers come up with solutions. Can you imagine if those rules came together.

A McLaren from 1991 with ground effect or a 2004 Ferrari with 1500hp.

[grkify]

Never seen that arrow A2 looks crazy!

[The Hypno-Toad]

Mark-C said:

Schermerhorn said:

I would have loved to have seen 'fan car' style technology merged with Red Bull Diffuser technology.

I may be wrong but surely that doesn't work? The fan car needed a good seal all round and the diffuser needs the air coming underneath the car (plus the exhaust for a blown one.

Anyway since the BT55 is a lovely design and nobody has posted a pic here is one ... plus the Arrows A2 which was an interesting take on the wingless ground effect car that I always rather liked and could have been interesting with twenty years of development if the rules hadn't changed. I still think big tyres and ground effects would solve a lot of the problems we see today with cars not being able to follow each other too closely.

Nearly all of my favourite F1 cars have been mentioned in this thread because I've always loved F1 cars that try something new and for whatever reason didn't work.

I'll add the Lotus 56B 4wd gas turbine car. As far as I've been able to gather if todays tires and carbon brakes were around when it was, no one would have seen where it went. Beautiful looking thing in gold and black too.

Would like to have seen the idea Chapman was apparently knocking around for a Lotus fan car to combat the Brabham. The story went that it was to have four fans around the outside of the car. (I'm guessing one on each corner of the sidepod.)

[m444ttb]

I've always been intrigued by the 'fan car' concept particularly having heard Murray talk about the version he had in the drawing board that would have moved the concept forward significantly.

Otherwise I'm curious about how the technology of the early 90s could have evolved. Cars like the Williams FW14B with ABS and active ride. If you could match some of that (with 20 years development) to the ground effect / fan car concepts plus the devopment in tyres and brakes along with what manufacturers could probably push the current V6T engines to without the fuel restrictions then it could be mega. Mega dangerous and mega fast mostly!

[andyps]

Just remembered another one - or at least part of one. Williams were developing a CVT gearbox when they got banned - would have been fascinating to see, even if the sound would have been odd.

[Adam205]

andyps said:

Just remembered another one - or at least part of one. Williams were developing a CVT gearbox when they got banned - would have been fascinating to see, even if the sound would have been odd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3UpBKXMRto

[grkify]

andyps said:

Just remembered another one - or at least part of one. Williams were developing a CVT gearbox when they got banned - would have been fascinating to see, even if the sound would have been odd.

nice that would have loved to see it in anger

[Tc24]

andyps said:

Just remembered another one - or at least part of one. Williams were developing a CVT gearbox when they got banned - would have been fascinating to see, even if the sound would have been odd.

Good call. Terrible sound, but would love to see how it compared with the semi-auto box. Wasn't 2s per lap mentioned by someone at Williams?

[Bomba]

I remeber Williams testing a F1 car with a CVT transmission in the early 90's this transmission got banned after the one test. While I don't like CVT systems in road cars, I think it would be tremendous to see it for one season in F1.

[Thundersports]

The A2 is a wild machine not very successful mind you. A friend of mine rebuilt one not long ago as a runner although it has never seen the track since rebuild! There were 3 built with two different roll bar configurations for there two drivers Mass and Patrase who is rather tall.

[Coatesy351]

If I remember correctly Ground effects cars rely on a carefully controlled ride hight. I think the Lotus 80 suffered badly from inconstant downforce because of ride height variations. Active suspension would fix this and make the ground effect work properly . I would love to see that.

Edited by Coatesy351 on Thursday 18th December 23:52

[Eric Mc]

The Lotus 80 was a lovely looking car - but it didn't work very well.

[The Hypno-Toad]

Thundersports said:

The A2 is a wild machine not very successful mind you. A friend of mine rebuilt one not long ago as a runner although it has never seen the track since rebuild! There were 3 built with two different roll bar configurations for there two drivers Mass and Patrase who is rather tall.

Please, please, please say he's going to get it running! It is really one of my favourite F1 cars.
If only that I'm sure Lord March would be delighted to see it go up his hill. It's a remarkable attempt to build something different.
Now all we need is to get Bernie to let someone start up the BT55....

[Thundersports]

It was sold to a collector in Monaco it could run but I have no idea if it ever will. The other 2 chassis aren't complete and need full restoration.
This website is great for old F1 car information. http://www.oldracingcars.com/f1/type.php?TypeID=A2

Edited by Thundersports on Friday 19th December 21:28

[The Hypno-Toad]

Thundersports said:

It was sold to a collector in Monaco it could run but I have no idea if it ever will. The other 2 chassis aren't complete and need full restoration.
This website is great for old F1 car information. http://www.oldracingcars.com/f1/type.php?TypeID=A2

Edited by Thundersports on Friday 19th December 21:28

That's such a shame but its nice to know one still might run. Thanks for the updates, Thundersports.

[WelshChris]

Lotus Turbine - remember hearing it whistling around Silverstone - an interesting concept