Favourite F1 cars 1980 onwards

[Piginapoke]

Last odd-ball- 1989 Brabham BT58- just for the clean lines and livery. At least it looked fast!

[blackmme]

There’s quite a few Brabham’s in the thread which is a testament to GM’s sense of aesthetics (and his legacy post 86).
I will always have a soft spot for the BT50 basically a BT49 with a grenade strapped to the back of it.
I had both the Tamiya 1/20 kit and the 1/10 RC versions of it and still think it looks cool even whilst it combusts itself!

[Deesee]

Can’t believe no one like the shark fin variant



How did Newey go from that Leyton House to that..

[LaurasOtherHalf]

HardtopManual said:

All the obvious ones are done. Here's a not so obvious one:



Loved the ingenuity of the F-duct, the driver pairing and the livery. And 2010 was a great season.

I think the most "wrong" looking F1 cars of all time (even worse than the big airbox tiny front wheels period of the early 70s) was the narrow rear spoiler/flat wide front spoiler days post 2008.

Damn those things were ugly.

[DanielSan]

The picture on the previous page reminded me of this one, not many liked how it looks but then again I like the BAR split livery...
|https://thumbsnap.com/oKCgvrUU[/url]

Actually I just like most of the 99/00 grid
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[KR158]

There are some excellent choices already posted, seriously good stuff! Personally I've always absolutely loved the 1993 Williams FW15C, unquestionably my favourite vehicle, Land, sea or air. It never really seems to get mentioned anywhere as one of the greats, which it undoubtedly is. Possibly because of it's dominant predecessor FW14B & it's tragic successor FW16. Yet it has absolutely perfect proportions, iconic, incredibly pretty livery. Fitted with all the Bells & Whistles of the time.
Truth be told, all of the 1993 grid were lovely looking & sounding beasts, the Sasol Jordan 193, Mclaren MP4/8, Footwork FA14 Even the slightly chunky looking Benetton B193B.





Following on from this came the very slightly chunky looking FW16, I was never really a fan of the early version but when the "B" Spec was introduced mid-season in Germany it transformed not only it's performance, but the super short sidepods looked fantastic & it suddenly looked really minimalist & arrow like.





And (there's a theme developing, I'm sure you've noticed) the '96 FW18. Just absurdly pretty.




I very vividly remember the first time that I saw the '94 Ferrari 412 T1. I was 15, stood in local newsagent thumbing the new issue of Autosport. It truly took my Breath away. Just stunning. In contrast to the FW16B, a mid-season shortening of the sidepods robbed it of some of it's beauty, but the ealy season version was absolutley Gorgeous.



And finally, not often mentioned. The Simtek S941, I first saw it in the now defunct "F1 News" Magazine, post season in very late 1993, loved it straight away. A very stubby Nose, slightly chunky aesthetically but a gorgeous metalllic Purple & dark metallic Blue livery. For some reason I've always loved this tragic Car from a plucky little, if short lived team.

Edited by KR158 on Saturday 26th December 21:38

[HardtopManual]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

I think the most "wrong" looking F1 cars of all time (even worse than the big airbox tiny front wheels period of the early 70s) was the narrow rear spoiler/flat wide front spoiler days post 2008.

Damn those things were ugly.

I also don't think the MP4-25(?) is a beauty queen, but all the beauty queens had already been posted :-)

[KR158]

Crafty_ said:

Scuderia Italia F192

A lovely looking Car. This example looks like it's been modified, it's fitted with a re-fuelling Valve & the Nose is definitely not period correct either, any information of this?

[anonymous-user]

KR158 said:

Crafty_ said:

Scuderia Italia F192

A lovely looking Car. This example looks like it's been modified, it's fitted with a re-fuelling Valve & the Nose is definitely not period correct either, any information of this?

Possibly been updated as a 'Ferrari F1' show-car at some point? There are a number of old back marker chassis out there with modified bodywork being used for publicity - I think Microsoft had an F2 car with F1 style bodywork for a display in their Reading office at one point.

[KR158]

Landcrab_Six said:

KR158 said:

Crafty_ said:

Scuderia Italia F192

A lovely looking Car. This example looks like it's been modified, it's fitted with a re-fuelling Valve & the Nose is definitely not period correct either, any information of this?

Possibly been updated as a 'Ferrari F1' show-car at some point? There are a number of old back marker chassis out there with modified bodywork being used for publicity - I think Microsoft had an F2 car with F1 style bodywork for a display in their Reading office at one point.

I think you're right, there are some seriously weird showcars & modified examples out there aren't there!? Some aren't even especially well presented. I think the worst I've seen was an Andrea Moda in an absolutely horrendous semi Williams FW16 Rothmans livery. Over/ undersized Logo's, in the wrong places & some that shouldn't have been there at all, it was just awful. I won't post a Picture because this Thread is all about beauty & our favourites. This Dallara has been very subtly altered, I was just curious.

Just done a bit of digging, turns out that it isn't a Dallara at all, explains the nose. Take alook at post #48. The Dreaded Andrea Moda is also to be found here (Shudder).

https://forums.autosport.com/topic/214635-the-tren...

Anyway, enough of that, back to our Favourite! Cars

Edited by KR158 on Saturday 26th December 23:26

[Eric Mc]

Definitely the Jordan 191 for me.

I wish the cars still looked something like this, all curves and swooping lines.

[HTP99]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

I think the most "wrong" looking F1 cars of all time (even worse than the big airbox tiny front wheels period of the early 70s) was the narrow rear spoiler/flat wide front spoiler days post 2008.

Damn those things were ugly.

The Brawn occasionally gets trotted out as being a looker, it certainly never was.

It's from an era where the cars were very oddly proportioned with their huge wide front wings and narrow rear wing, you've got those awful wheel cover things and in general the Brawn livery was pretty boring and uninspiring.

I think many get caught up in the Brawn story, which is a great one though.

[DoubleD]

Eric Mc said:

Definitely the Jordan 191 for me.

I wish the cars still looked something like this, all curves and swooping lines.

F1 has always moved on and tried new ideas, I'm glad that they don't still look like they did years ago.

[HardtopManual]

What strikes me about this thread ("favourite" F1 cars) is how many people value aesthetics over speed, engineering ingenuity and sporting stories. I'm genuinely quite surprised.

[HardtopManual]

I'll add another reason for the Ferrari 640 over its looks - it was the first semi auto. There's quite an amusing story behind it, too - it was thought unreliable (including by Ferrari engineers) due to its experimental gearbox. But it actually turned out that the problem was a crankshaft with too much flex in it.

[Crafty_]

KR158 said:

Crafty_ said:

Scuderia Italia F192

A lovely looking Car. This example looks like it's been modified, it's fitted with a re-fuelling Valve & the Nose is definitely not period correct either, any information of this?

You're right, I just thought it was a later revision or something ? Also looking at it the sidepods have a radius on the top edge, I remember an unusual and sharper edge there, more like this:

[Deesee]

HardtopManual said:

What strikes me about this thread ("favourite" F1 cars) is how many people value aesthetics over speed, engineering ingenuity and sporting stories. I'm genuinely quite surprised.

There’s some of the most dominant cars in the last 30 years posted here w11, mp4/4 (Prost vs Senna).

First large turbo with no ground effect championship winning car. BT52

The FW 14b (the most advanced car of its time).

The blown diffuser brawn.

Ratzenburgers simtec

The R25 which turned heads last week when wheeled out of a museum and fired up.

I’d have another look through

[Eric Mc]

DoubleD said:

Eric Mc said:

Definitely the Jordan 191 for me.

I wish the cars still looked something like this, all curves and swooping lines.

F1 has always moved on and tried new ideas, I'm glad that they don't still look like they did years ago.

I'm glad you're glad.

I'm glad I witnessed then when they were aesthetically pleasing to look at.

If the proposed set of new regs go ahead, the next generation may look better than the current messy monstrosities. Getting the nose lower with low set front wings will improve the looks dramatically. Simplifying teh front wing will also help. I've never liked the high nose with the full span nose wing - which came in with the Benetton in 1991. I liked Jordan's method of getting the nose high and I also think the Braun Tyrells were quite pretty.

[Eric Mc]

HardtopManual said:

What strikes me about this thread ("favourite" F1 cars) is how many people value aesthetics over speed, engineering ingenuity and sporting stories. I'm genuinely quite surprised.

For me, automotive technology is not just about the nuts and bolts (or these days, the software) of the car. For me motoring and aviation machinery has an impact on me in areas beyond just those factors. What a car (or an aeroplane) looks like is also important to me.

Racing cars to me are as much about art as they are about nitty gritty mechanics or even success or failure on track.

[DoubleD]

Eric Mc said:

DoubleD said:

Eric Mc said:

Definitely the Jordan 191 for me.

I wish the cars still looked something like this, all curves and swooping lines.

F1 has always moved on and tried new ideas, I'm glad that they don't still look like they did years ago.

I'm glad you're glad.

I'm glad I witnessed then when they were aesthetically pleasing to look at.

If the proposed set of new regs go ahead, the next generation may look better than the current messy monstrosities. Getting the nose lower with low set front wings will improve the looks dramatically. Simplifying teh front wing will also help. I've never liked the high nose with the full span nose wing - which came in with the Benetton in 1991. I liked Jordan's method of getting the nose high and I also think the Braun Tyrells were quite pretty.

It's a sad day the day that F1 stands still.


I like the look of the current cars so I'm also glad I witnessed them when they are aesthetically pleasing to look at.