5 replies to this topic

[maximilian]

Apologies if this topic has been discussed before, but the whole we-have-no-software saga around Manor just made me wonder... whatever happened to just having an "engine": you put fuel in it, you crank it up, it runs, you drive!  It seemed crazy that they brought their entire team, cars, and equipment all the way around the world, and were then unable to turn a wheel because they didn't have software to run it all.

 

Which made me think more about the direction of F1 in general in terms of technology.  I am NOT a huge fan of "the pinnacle of technology" thing in F1, I would much rather see great racing, and I couldn't care less if they use the latest thinga-majig, to do whatever.

 

How viable/cool/horrible/stupid/awesome would it be to say... ban all electronic devices, and just focus on building the fastest MECHANICAL race cars without any electronic stuff?  Have an actual "steering wheel" - without 29 buttons and read-outs on it.  Have an actual "gear shift knob" that needs to be engaged with one hand off the wheel.  Have an "engine" that just runs on its own (see above).  Forget all the energy recovery and computer nonsense.  Leave the electrical stuff up to Formula E, let them be the bits and bytes racing people.  Return to just pure racing.  No more radio.  They still use pit boards anyways - stick to that, let the driver race with their own head, instead of all the artificial aids.  Stop having to explain the tech of F1 to the fans... how many of you really truly care about all that?  Or do you care more about the best drivers competing against each other in interesting, pure, entertaining races, without artificial stuff?

 

I realize that "technologically" this is a (probably huge) step back, but the spiralling costs are in part due to all the technological crap that is needed these days.  Maybe a simpler mechanical formula would lower costs, return racing back to the drivers and their skills, rather than computers and electronic aids?

 

Are we not kidding ourselves to believe that F1 is "street-relevant" or "green" by using a bunch of expensive and edgy but obviously temperamental new technology?  And it can be a just as interesting engineering challenge to build a purely mechanical system that still only uses, say 100kg of fuel, and that is of course as safe as the cars are now.  So it doesn't necessarily have to be a "retro-formula" - it can still be a masterpiece of engineering.  But that's ENGINEering.  Not information technology.

 

This isn't meant as a suggestion per se, but I am interested to hear your all's opinion on whether a "purely mechanical" formula may/could work, or if it's a nonsense idea...

Edited by maximilian, 15 March 2015 - 18:47.

[johnmhinds]

F1 engines have required software to run since the early 80s, this isn't a new thing that you can just roll back a couple of generations to eliminate.

Edited by johnmhinds, 15 March 2015 - 19:03.

[ninetyzero]

I'm not keen on F1 running with 1970's tech, this isn't NASCAR.

[Nathan]

In the grand scheme I'm not sure all this electronics stuff is that expensive.

 

I imagine it takes plenty of driver skill to fiddle with the steering wheel, and engineering experitise to hone it.

[Lotus53B]

The car I have outside my house, a simple 4 door saloon, needs, or at least, has, a computer to control it's engine.

 

I think that the computer is the minimal problem.

[Shambolic]

The car I have outside my house, a simple 4 door saloon, needs, or at least, has, a computer to control it's engine.

 

I think that the computer is the minimal problem.

 

Mine doesn't. But I did take the plunge and fit an electronic module in place of the points and condensor.

 

So far the cheapy no name Chinese "technology" has proved more reliable than the olde worlde bits it replaced, though that'll be because the pattern parts are utter carp.

 

In a way I'd love F1 to be tubular chassis, carb fed, dizzy ignited, simple machinery - Because then I could fantasise about one day cobbling one together, and trailering it to a race. But I wasn't even born in the days that actually happened.

 

What F1 could do with though, is some sort of "car self sufficiency", where it doesn't take something akin to Cape Canaveral to start and run the thing. I'd like to see the cars able to self start (a bit of adaptation of the ERS ought to make that possible), and without pre-warming, priming, or any of the other external processes required.