11 replies to this topic

[Wishbone]

There've been lots of posts recently about people who may/may not have cheated in the past and present.

I just wondered who people thought were THE biggest cheats in F1 or if there was anybody who was particulary clever at interpreting the rules?

I'd be interested to hear more about RD (APART FROM THE WATER THING) as he'd always come across to me as a decent sort of bloke until his recent public whining.

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"Racing is life. Everything else is just waiting"

[Turbo]

How about Frans, who (as most of you know) doctored a photo showing a "glowing Ferrari brake disk' in GREEN, supposedly giving evidence of traction control. He then posted it here, and sent it to at least one news site (f1.uk.co, which thankfully realized that brake disks don't glow green). Ironic then that this was an attempt to mislead people to believe that Ferrari were cheating.


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Bring back slicks and turbo!

[RedFever]

Yes, I remember that one. People were dazzled for a few posts until ellen UK jumped in and explained she saw the same pic with RED glows and that the pic had artfully retouched with Photoshop!!! FRANS is the biggest cheater in F1's history!!!

[magnum]

Buy this week's autosport (ah borders on 2nd avenue, how I love thee!), fascinating article on cheating. Very interesting - and Irvine claims Ferrari did not cheat as they have too much to lose. Funnily enough, I said the same thing ... and was roundly hounded. But what's new. Max Mosely compared the doping scandals with the F1 traction control ... and makes some very interesting points. Also there is a little article on other "cheats" - inverted commas because they were open about their interpretation of the rules, rather than hiding their CHEATING behind software programmes made specifically to throw off the FIA scrutineers - the double-chassis'd lotus, for instance. Go buy - essential reading to understand this whole thing. At least, they agree with me so i'm happy .. i'm not insane after all.

[Vicster]

I think the best, most obvious cheat was the hydraulic system of the early '80s that raised and lowered the chassis to keep the skirts touching the ashphalt for maximum ground effect. So obvious and such a slap in the face of the FIA.

[Samurai]

whadayamean it's Frans !!??!
The biggest cheater is Scumacher of course. When FIA couldn't overlook his most blatent cheating, wasn't he banned for 4 races in '94?

[Mobile_Chicane]

Bernie Ecclestone.

[vroom-vroom]

Although not a cheat 'per se', one of the funniest was that Vacuum Cleaner Brabham (a team owned at the time by a certain Mr Ecclestone) which won a race in the seventies with Lauda. It basically had a huge fan that sucked air from underneath the car - providing suction - and spit it out its back end. The team's explanation for this device was to "cool the engine." It was banned immediately afterwards for safety reasons because any following driver would get pelleted to death by all the gravel sucked in and thrown back out like deadly projectiles!

[Ray Bell]

The water cooled brakes of the eighties were a fun thing. Adding ballast to the car, they then dumped it with the first or second brake application, but were able to top it up before any weigh-in (under the rules). Then they had lead pellets in the water! Tyrrell were the ringleaders, I think Brabham had a go at that, too.
I don't think the Brabham fan-car was such a cheat, myself, just clever thinking. One thing it did show was the real importance of downforce - they outran cars that were lighter and more powerful with that setup.
Other teams were miffed when they saw it being sucked to the ground when the throttle was blipped in the pits!

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Life and love are mixed with pain...

[This message has been edited by Ray Bell (edited 04-22-2000).]

[The Swerve]

One of my favourite cheats was a F3 team. They wanted to run an illegal part that gavethem a huge power advantage - I think it was something to do with a turbo or air scoop.

When qualifying they left the pits with the legal part fitted - the driver toured around until he was out of sight of the marshalls and then his engineer jumped out the bushes and bolted on the illegal part!

Driver whizzes around and set fastest lap and then slows again (out of sight of anyone) - engineer jumps out, whips off the new part and puts back the old, and then the car cruises back to the pits for inspection.

Brilliant!

[doohanOK]

How long ago did that F3 thing happen?

regards,
doohanOK.

[The Swerve]

I think it was the 80's but I'd have to check. I'm trying to find the article that had it in amongst all my million + racing mags cos there are a few other really cunning cheats in there that I can't remember off the top of my head.