First F1 car to use wings?

I checked with the National Sprint car Museum and the first recorded use of a wing was by Jim Cushman in 1958

I checked with the National Sprint car Museum and the first recorded use of a wing was by Jim Cushman in 1958

GeorgeTheCar,

Here is a photo of Cushman's modified, which raced at the Columbus Speedway in Ohio:



The two "rudders" at the rear apparently turned in synchronisation with the front wheels.

GeorgeTheCar,

Here is a photo of Cushman's modified, which raced at the Columbus Speedway in Ohio:



The two "rudders" at the rear apparently turned in synchronisation with the front wheels.

Blimey tip that wing on it's side at 45 degree and this could be running at Coventry among the Brisca F1s on Saturday night!

It was indeed Ferrari and Brabham at Spa '68, but this followed an unofficial test by Lotus during the '68 Tasman tour of New Zealand when Jim Clark showed an interest in this and his mechanic constructed a small airfoil made from a section of helicopter rotor blade was mounted on struts above the gearbox. After testing Clark thought they should stop testing as Colin Chapman back in England at the time did not know what they were up to.
Gianni Marelli a young Ferrari engineer who was there at the time photographed it from every angle.

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JimE

Picking up on Jim's point in this old thread, I find from an old Autosport that this was probably at Teretonga in January 1968, a race won by Bruce McLaren in a V12 P126 BRM.

Peter Greenslade writes '...As usual, most interest in the paddock centred on the gaudy Gold Leaf Team Lotus équipe, and there were some quizzical stares when a miniature aerofoil was produced and placed over the top of the gearbox.  Popular theory was that the gadget was to keep the big Firestones firmly on the road under braking and acceleration.  In any case, it had everyone guessing but, as far as Teretonga was concerned, it was nothing more than a legpull.......'

A shame it did not remain so, such is progress

GeorgeTheCar,

Here is a photo of Cushman's modified, which raced at the Columbus Speedway in Ohio:



The two "rudders" at the rear apparently turned in synchronisation with the front wheels.

One of Australias more famous Super Modifieds was Sid Hoppings CAE. It was well performed both on dirt and bitumen but then it grew wings [besides the top one] It had a wing on the front, one behind the cab, and one either side over the nerf bars. And then became the Batmobile and was booked and ran regularly all over Australia.
Though I have looked on the net and found many mentions of the car but only one poor pic of it running without sign writing at Liverpool.
Because of Modified being the first cars to use wings anything with a wing is just some sort of odd bod Supermodified! Though a modern F1 is just so ridiculous with all their finicky mad boffins nightmare attachments I am not sure what they are. The main rear wing is still recognisable however.
Possibly cars did use wings before Supermods but not many of them.

A shame it did not remain so, such is progress

Hear hear ! (or is that "here here" ? I've never been sure   )

 ...a modern F1 is just so ridiculous with all their finicky mad boffins nightmare attachments I am not sure what they are.

 

Couldn't agree more, aesthetically modern F1s are awful if not downright silly, and all in a never-ending quest for yet more downforce, what relevance does that have to the real world? I know that with racing generally, F1 more than any other aspect, "the show" is all that really matters, so I'm not putting this forward as a sensible suggestion, but would it be possible to have clearly specified drag co-efficient limits for racing cars, these things are wind-tunnelled exhaustively, so no problem sorting out all the figures. My current road car has a CD of twenty-something, modern F1s must be almost off the aerodynamic scale in the other direction, and all in the pursuit of downforce, downforce, downforce. Unless power was reduced, lower drag cars would be faster on the straights, but they'd be appreciably slower everywhere else. As I said, not really meant as a sensible suggestion, but what do the rest of you think? Maybe less ugly and less on-rails rars would actually inprove "the show". If Bernie gets wind of this, it could bring on the heart attack that retires him, or even finishes his reign.

But wings are useful for cigarette adverts.

Couldn't agree more, aesthetically modern F1s are awful if not downright silly, and all in a never-ending quest for yet more downforce, what relevance does that have to the real world? I know that with racing generally, F1 more than any other aspect, "the show" is all that really matters, so I'm not putting this forward as a sensible suggestion, but would it be possible to have clearly specified drag co-efficient limits for racing cars, these things are wind-tunnelled exhaustively, so no problem sorting out all the figures. My current road car has a CD of twenty-something, modern F1s must be almost off the aerodynamic scale in the other direction, and all in the pursuit of downforce, downforce, downforce. Unless power was reduced, lower drag cars would be faster on the straights, but they'd be appreciably slower everywhere else. As I said, not really meant as a sensible suggestion, but what do the rest of you think? Maybe less ugly and less on-rails rars would actually inprove "the show". If Bernie gets wind of this, it could bring on the heart attack that retires him, or even finishes his reign.

 

I agree, there is no logical reason for putting wings on racing cars other than as billboard space. If they were a new technical development, as in 1968, then fine, but when everyone has them the playing field has been levelled again and what's the actual benefit compared to the drawbacks, which are numerous and actually quite serious? Racing has suffered, safety likewise. 

 

The endless moaning about 'dirty air' spoiling the races and committees being formed to reduce it's effect (which they routinely fail to do...) the need for DRS and so forth is such bull, frankly. 

 I'm not putting this forward as a sensible suggestion, but would it be possible to have clearly specified drag co-efficient limits for racing cars, these things are wind-tunnelled exhaustively, so no problem sorting out all the figures. My current road car has a CD of twenty-something, modern F1s must be almost off the aerodynamic scale in the other direction,

 

 

Count me, in they could ditch the silly DRS and have proper over taking with the significant increase in braking distances.

 

GeorgeTheCar,

Here is a photo of Cushman's modified, which raced at the Columbus Speedway in Ohio:



The two "rudders" at the rear apparently turned in synchronisation with the front wheels.

looks to me like the car is on SLICKS too

from another thread on who used slicks first, when and why was F-1 so slow to go with slicks

 

edit odd that the picture shows on my quote and edit but not on the posting

Edited by ray b, 21 October 2013 - 16:55.

I think most of us agree that limiting aero to a simple front and rear wing with a flat bottom would improve F1. Slow down cornering and increase straight line and then maybe some braking duels again. And ofcourse use tyres that are capable of a race distance.

...aesthetically modern F1s are awful if not downright silly...

Not only that, but this absolute nadir in F1 aesthetics has been reached when every car looks almost exactly the same! It is an unvarying, relentless, inescapable landscape of ugliness. Bad luck? Bad karma? Bad judgement?

Bad regulations...

... this absolute nadir in F1 aesthetics has been reached when every car looks almost exactly the same! It is an unvarying, relentless, inescapable landscape of ugliness...

Sing It Brother!!!

Are there any articles written about the run-up to the 1969 Spanish Grand Prix and that weekend itself?  A messy meeting that could have turned out far worse.  Thanks!

No, the first F1 car with wings was Vaillante with their cars for Michel Vaillant, Steve Warson and Jacky Ickx. Everybody knows that

Edited by William Hunt, 23 October 2013 - 05:26.