1970s F1 - airboxes

[Eric Mc]

I like various eras of Grand Prix cars - 1930s, 1950s, most of the 1960s, the mid 1970s, early 1990s.

I truly hated the early to mid 2000s but the current cars aren't too bad.

[Eric Mc]

I like various eras of Grand Prix cars - 1930s, 1950s, most of the 1960s, the mid 1970s, early 1990s.

I truly hated the early to mid 2000s but the current cars aren't too bad - apart from those with stepped noses.

[ajprice]

Eric Mc said:

I like various eras of Grand Prix cars - 1930s, 1950s, most of the 1960s, the mid 1970s, early 1990s.

I truly hated the early to mid 2000s but the current cars aren't too bad - apart from those with stepped noses.

Pre 2009, when they had more and more winglets and air guides all over the place (Honda nosecone rabbit ears, endless bits stuck onto the sidepods?!?!), they looked bad. 2009-2011 looked good, then the stepped noses happened (except for McLaren ) and it all went to st again!

I'm hoping that they can make the low nose rules next year look good.

[cubes]

Although long before my time I like the look of the mid-60s F1 cars before the introduction of wings. Look like a proper car imo!

[Eric Mc]

There are two distinct "mid 1960s" looks as the formula changed from 1.5 to 3 litre in 1966. The early "mid 60s" (1964/65) cars were 1.5 cars and were quite petite with relatively narrow tyres and neatly packaged (small) engines.

With the new 3 litre formula, the new engines were much bigger and were less neatly packaged on the back of the car. The Cooper Maserati T81 set up looked a real mess and the 1967 Ferrari V12 featured a massive snake's nest of with exhaust pipes.





Compare these with the Ferrari from 1965 -

[Piginapoke]

For me, the early non turbo cars of late 1980s are simply stunning

[stevesingo]

Evolution...

[Kaiser_Wull]

moffspeed said:

Because, like most things in F1, the designers took it to extremes :

Ah, the Ligier-Matra JS5, known as 'the teapot' (until they had to downsize the airbox, that is.) It may have looked awkward but you should have heard that Matra V12 sing.

[cubes]

I like that animation - pity it isn't 10x slower.