evolution of lotus f1 cars

[andyj007]

found this randomly online, started watching f1 in 85, remember drawing side profiles of f1 cars instead of listening to my teacher... in class

 

 

[Bravo73]

Also, essentially, summarised in this animation:

[ramjet]

Is the ground effect better in the newer cars than the older designs then?

[Bravo73]

No. Ground Effect aero has been banned since 1983. The original ‘ground effect cars’ were so efficient that they didn’t have to run with any front wings:

[andyj007]

ground effect ...  best check in with mr G murray on that one...  his  fan car created rediculous amounts of sucky down down force..

 

 

 

god damn i used to love f1 so much...  ...

[Bravo73]

It was also highly illegal. Even at the time. 

Engine cooling, me arse. 

[tim_marra]

In light of what happened with the Lotus Type 88 (twin chassis), where it was deemed illegal even before it could race, the Brabham fan car was allowed to compete and win a race before being banned.

A disgrace really, and very typical of how the FIA etc has treated Lotus over the years. Have a look at how the type 23 was treated at Le Mans, and why Lotus never returned during Chapmans life.

[USAndretti42]

Murray maintains that the fan car was legal to the letter of the rules in that more that 50% of the flow was for cooling.  Chapman had a 79 mocked up with a fan in each sidepod when he got back from Sweden in case the protest against the fan car failed.  Bernie decided that it was better to keep the constructors united rather than fall out over the fan car so agreed to shelve it.

The twin-chassis car was never stopped running because of the two chassis.  It was always through dubious attempts to show it didn't meet the ground clearance rules.  It was passed as legal several times but not allowed to run as the other constructors didn't want their cars to become uncompetitive and need redesigning with twin chassis.  Instead, they ran with suspensions that allowed the car to drop below the legal ride height once the car was out on track where the ride height could not be checked, a system that was blatantly designed to get around the rule.  No wonder Chapman got pissed off.

[PAR]

On 28/12/2018 at 22:53, Bravo73 said:

No. Ground Effect aero has been banned since 1983. The original ‘ground effect cars’ were so efficient that they didn’t have to run with any front wings:

What really got banned were the skirts that made the ground effect ridiculously efficient so much that the drivers could hardly cope with the Gs in the corners. There is still some ground effect (remember the Brawn double diffusers?) but much more modest.

43 minutes ago, USAndretti42 said:

The twin-chassis car was never stopped running because of the two chassis.  It was always through dubious attempts to show it didn't meet the ground clearance rules.  It was passed as legal several times but not allowed to run as the other constructors didn't want their cars to become uncompetitive and need redesigning with twin chassis.  Instead, they ran with suspensions that allowed the car to drop below the legal ride height once the car was out on track where the ride height could not be checked, a system that was blatantly designed to get around the rule.  No wonder Chapman got pissed off.

The twin chassis was outlawed not because of the ground clearance but because of the movable aerodynamic device rule. Other team argued that the outside chassis was a movable aero device, Chapman argued was not as it was the chassis (ie it does not move more than any other chassis on springs). It was most likely within the rules but not the spirit although the extra comfort to the drivers should have been a strong argument in favour of allowing it. Politics was definitely a big part of it being banned but also the risk of all teams having to redesign their car with double chassis’s which was clearly not a natural way to build a car meant that the FIA bend its own rules to ban it.

the Brabham was sheer insanity, but considering their history with fuel, it can be said they were relaxed on following the rules...