Formula 1, two decades ago, when the cars still looked clean

"Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French" (Tentacle) 01/26/2014 at 11:06 • Filed to: None

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Two decades ago, I was a F1 fan. I would watch the races on TV, most of them live. (Though not the Asian and Australian ones, my parents weren't fan of the night time local time idea.)

That was a time, that, to me anyway, Formula 1 cars still just looked great.

Please don't get me wrong, I understand the (aero) tech in general terms, and I accept that form follows function in F1, but, ye Gods , I long for a balance between technology and aestetics!

Can you imagine cars like this now? No slats, flaps, slits, or double-curved barge boards, no DRS equipped rear spoilers, no complicated curved and bulged triple-layer front spoilers, no WTF-is-going-on weirdly shaped wing end plates, and no trick exhausts (though those are impossible with the 2014 regulations)

And no genital-inspired noses!

[in Clarkson voice] Just look at it!!

Even then the cars started to get, hah!, spoiled. (See what I did there?) By comparison to 2014 standards though even the Benetton looks incredibly clean .

And the irony of it all? Since F1 cars didn't have the extreme aero technology that they have today, they were less reliant on downforce. Which allowed for a thing called drafting. Cars could get within half a car length without having the turbulence wreaking havoc. Overtaking happened more often, without using technical patches like DRS and KERS. The sport simply didn't need that.

Enough proverbial Rambling Old Man. Here's a parting shot.

Roberto G. > Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French 01/26/2014 at 11:14

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So sadly true.

Goshen, formerly Darkcode > Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French 01/26/2014 at 11:24

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Mika Hakkinen, four years before his first world title.

Forgetful > Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French 01/26/2014 at 11:26

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The day the music died.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French 01/26/2014 at 11:26

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...but they were slower (for a given power output).

That is the only thing that an F1 team gives two hoots about.

If an F1 car is pretty, but slow, it's a bad F1 car. If an F1 car is ugly, but fast, it's a good F1 car.

Ultimately, these noses are due to safety regulations. If a nose is high, and someone T-bones another person there's a chance that the nose skirts up over the side-pod and hits someone in the head. Slim, but possible.

There's probably prettier ways to incorporate this, but if ugly is fast then ugly it is.

lucky's pepper > Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French 01/26/2014 at 11:53

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While I completely agree with you, almost anything old looks better to most of us. Decades from now people will be waxing nostalgic for the race cars of today.

I'm not a Nascar fan, but look at this field of cars from 1970! I wouldn't have missed a race then.

Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 01/26/2014 at 12:09

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But it's not the nose in particular. I can understand the nose restrictions for the last season and the current one.

What I simply (and strongly) dislike is the ... I dunno, the convoluted way F1 cars look nowadays. There is so much aero going on that it distracts from the car-ness.

Again, I know that it serves a purpose: to get more downforce in an efficient way (get the downforce with as little drag as possible) but it takes away from the aestetics.

DeltawingGothamDeserves > Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French 01/26/2014 at 14:51

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When real men drove these things.

Biodegradable Wiring Harness > Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French 01/26/2014 at 16:38

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Gorgeous, but I liked them even better pre-1993 when the rear wheels were wider. Ferrari 642 is my favorite.

Aaron Short - PROUD OF LEYLAND > Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French 01/26/2014 at 20:15

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Ugly F1 cars have always existed.

These should not put people off F1, this is engineers testing the limits of physics and the rulebook, this is function over form. It is fascinating and should be applauded, not bitched about.

There's been quick, beautiful F1 cars sure:

but their has also been quick, 'ugly' cars:

There's also been slow beautiful cars:

And slow 'ugly' cars:

But what connects these cars is genuine innovation.

The triple deck rear wing jordan, low body mp4/4, shark fin mclaren, the x wing tyrell, the cheese garter nose car, the tea pot, the 6wheel tyrell, the original low body brabham, the surfboard nose car and the horned sauber; all these cars are engineers pushing the boundaries and learning new things.

And they cannot unlearn these things, such as the winglets and complicated endplates, if these were banned, you'd be banning innovation and killing the sport.

I bet you next years noses will still look odd, the engineers are trying to get as much air to the rear end as possible, this requires getting the nose out of the way or creating a venturi with it. May not be pretty to the shallow mind but is still wonderful.

Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French > Aaron Short - PROUD OF LEYLAND 01/27/2014 at 00:27

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Perhaps I should have used different wording.

I never used the word "ugly". That was deliberate, because I don't think they are really. The beef I do have is that, oh man, they are so overly complicated and cluttered nowadays.

I'm fan of the K.I.S.S. principle, so current cars have an engineering beauty, but not an aestetic beauty. They are visually to busy. But lacking beauty doesn't automatically put them on the opposite side of the spectrum into Ugly territory.

If it's up to me, F1 cars should be cleaner aero-wise. Relying less on downforce in the process, instead giving them more mechanical grip, would improve overtaking possibilies too. Does that make sense somehow?

d3v > lucky's pepper 01/27/2014 at 05:41

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Obligatory "that can't be NASCAR, they're turning right."

d3v > Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French 01/27/2014 at 05:43

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Then we move back the clock by a further ten years and see a snow plow on the track.

A world championship winning snow plow, I'll give you that, but still a snow plow.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French 01/29/2014 at 20:15

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2014 will mark the 20th year of the 1994 San Marino GP, where Senna and Ratzenberger lost their lifes.

April 31 and May 1, to be precise.

puddler > Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French 01/30/2014 at 08:40

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if you're worried about the aesthetics of a racecar, you're interested in the wrong sport. maybe try tuning in to 'the voice' or such.

Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French > puddler 01/30/2014 at 09:01

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If you read that in my post, you read it wrong.

I long for a balance between technology and aestetics! But I fully understand that technology takes priority. Then again, rules governing the sport can set boundaries as to what is possible.

I mean, nothing wrong with this:

or this:

Ok, granted, those are in essence road-going cars, so here's another one:

Technology and beauty can go hand-in-hand.

I mean, that car is so incredibly clean and uncluttered compared to a modern F1 car.

puddler > Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French 01/30/2014 at 09:11

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technology is what slow people use to go fast. true beauty: