Cannonball89 Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 I just watched the first ten laps of the Grand Prix in Australia, and I gotta tell you I am so pissed off that they have made it so complicated. Talk about "manufactured excitement". I stopped watching NASCAR after they introduced the "chase" formatting to the points system because I saw it as a way to artificially make the championship more exciting. Now in Formula 1, they are doing the same thing but instead of messing with the points system, they have installed elaborate systems onto the cars themselves to artificially make the racing closer. I heard that they would have adjustable rear wings this year, and thought, "ok, there giving the teams a little more room to work with the rulebook" But no. They have actually made it so that if you are 1 second or less behind the car in front of you, only then can the driver activate the wing control. Talk about stupid and arbitrary manipulation of the competition. Whats wrong with making the drivers race like men and let the fast guys win? And this KERS system is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. It basically lets the driver push a button and get something like 80 extra horsepower. I mean thats just not racing when you can push a button and get a ~10% gain in horsepower. I can't wait until NASCAR and the FIA go bankrupt and we can start from scratch again with premiere racing leagues. Racing is plenty exciting without all this "manufactured excitement" BS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz21 Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 I haven't seen the race yet, but KERS has been around for a while. I don't know much about the adjustible wing stuff but I guess it can equate to the F-duct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 KERS was around for one season (2009). Its back for this season (2011) to see if the problems have been fixed. What's funny is at the Australian GP RedBull had KERS installed but never used it - and just stomped on everyone. DRS in conjunction with KERS did work to allow a few passes in turn 1 that would have never occurred. The new Pirelli tires were by far the biggest technical issue the teams had to work through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 I heard that they would have adjustable rear wings this year, and thought, "ok, there giving the teams a little more room to work with the rulebook" But no. They have actually made it so that if you are 1 second or less behind the car in front of you, only then can the driver activate the wing control. Talk about stupid and arbitrary manipulation of the competition. Whats wrong with making the drivers race like men and let the fast guys win? And this KERS system is the dumbest thing I've ever seen. It basically lets the driver push a button and get something like 80 extra horsepower. I mean thats just not racing when you can push a button and get a ~10% gain in horsepower. I got over the KERS thing when it was around in 2009. Toyota had some very interesting things to say about it at that time, you might want to look that up if you want more reasons to hate KERS. I couldn't believe what I was hearing when the wing rules were being described for this season, but F1 has a history of bizarre rule changes especially as of late. Last year was pretty good in terms of passing on track, etc, I didn't see a real need to change the rules to this extent. This wing thing is pretty hard to swallow. FWIW, the single best idea I've heard so far to make the racing and engineering modern, relevant in terms of improving road cars, and exciting would be to allow a gph limit on fuel burned and then allow any engine config and displacement the engineers could dream up. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that we would see some real advancements in efficiency if that were to happen, and they'd probably be much more applicable to road cars then setting the displacement and number of cylinders, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannonball89 Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 I agree that instituting a gallon per hour or miles per gallon rule would be a good idea. I believe that Le Mans prototypes have such a rule in place, or at least they used to. Racing does need to have some relevance to street cars in order for manufacturers to be involved. For example, instead of using Kinetic Energy Recovery as a short burst of power on the straightaways, it could be used as a slow trickle of power to reduce fuel consumption throughout the race. If the FIA were to make the fuel consumption limit strict enough I believe many teams would use KERS in that fashion. The FIA has moved slightly in that direction this season as refueling during pit stops is no longer permitted. I think it would be cool to see some diversification of engine technology too. Instead of everyone running 2.4L V8's (or 1.6L turbo 4's in 2013) it would be great to see some Wankels, Diesels, maybe even some sort of jet propulsion, who knows. I'm too young to remember the 60's, 70's, or even the 80's, but reading and watching film about F1 development during those days is mind boggling. Not just F1 but also CAN AM, Group B rally, even NASCAR. I just want to see very little interference from the FIA and other sanctioning bodies with regards to the mechanical aspects of the cars, that is when the really wild development takes place, and the best racing too. Sure one team will be ahead of everyone for a while, but eventually some one else will catch up. That's what competition is. Competition is not handicaps and push-button passing-power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 The problem that the FIA have tried to address is where a faster car can catch but not pass a slower car due to aerodynamic interferance which reduces the grip available to the following car once its gets close. They have tried other things in the past to rectify this issue so its an ongoing problem, I agree that the present attempt is too artificial but guess they have run out of ideas. Bring back turbo engines with their Push to Pass buttons? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neverdone Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 None of that has anything on Uncle Bernie wanting to LITERALLY spray water all over the course randomly every race to make them more exciting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaparral2f Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 It seems to me that all the sanctioning bodies have outlived their relevance. NASCAR with their car or the future (or what ever they called it) has basically turned stock car racing into spec cars. Right down to the brand tires allowed. Smokey Yunick must be spinning in his grave. The NHRA has been going downhill for years. First there was the "Bracket" system where its possible to loose by going too fast. then of course they aklso mandate that fuel has to be bought from their supplier, not to mention the billet block rules for top fuelers. The whole system seems to be built on money, not racing. No wonder old timers call it No Hot Rods Allowed. The IRL is no better than any of the others, Basically, the difference between the Indy cars is the paint jobs. Honda supplies all the engines, and the chassis are also mandated if I remember correctly. The FIA has always been a PITA They seem to think it is their duty to outlaw anything that resembles creativity. If an innovation lets s racer win, instead of letting the others catch up, they outlaw the innovations. This can be seen in the way they killed the CanAm challenge. When Jim Hall became successful using ground effects,(the 2J sucker car) the FIA came up with a rule against movable them. The Porsche 917's were practically unbeatable, so the fuel consumption rules were changed to make them unable to compete. IMHO, these sanctioning groups should control safety standards, but then just get out of the way. After all what is racing without innovation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(goldfish) Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 F1 has had push to pass buttons for a long time now, just how they get the extra power is different. Racing series without these sanctions turn into pay to pass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHO-Z Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Get ride wings and make them shift the car with mechanical linkage. When is see a vitage race on TV with Jim Clark and see them sliding through the corners, that was the great days of F1. It would be a better race even if the speeds were slower if most of the technology was removed from the cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi303 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Formula Ford is more interesting than Formula 1 these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Anybody remember 1785HP turbo fours running in F1? I do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Turbo 4's are back in 2013 IIRC. Somehow I doubt we'll see 4 digit hp numbers though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannonball89 Posted March 30, 2011 Author Share Posted March 30, 2011 Anybody remember 1785HP turbo fours running in F1? I do. Making more than 1000HP per liter from an engine is not that big of an accomplishment... Making that engine last more than a 1/4 mile is!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 F1 has had push to pass buttons for a long time now, just how they get the extra power is different. Racing series without these sanctions turn into pay to pass They have a couple of on the fly adjustments which affect engine performance but no push to pass control as such. The turbo push to pass system increased boost IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proxlamus© Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 I love the new rules on F1. it makes it exciting.. the use of KERS and the moveable wing is all about strategy. Its not only racing, but resource management. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrel Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 (edited) .................. Edited April 2, 2011 by Darrel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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