Illegal Legal Things

[Wallio]

(So I'm not sure if this should be in the Stoddart forum, but it seems to be the most active. Mods, feel free to move.)

This mornings announcement of the Mercedes DAS system being banned in 2021 got me thinking, what innovation in F1 that was legal, then banned bothers you the most? What item do you look at and say: "Yeah, that was 100% legal."

Now admittedly I'm in the super minority that believes F1 should be a virtually unlimited formula with active suspensions, ABS, traction and launch control and 4 wheel drive. But even in keeping with the more restricted modern era we have, there's a few that bug me.

1.) Benetton's 4-Wheel Steering - The rules banned 4 wheel drive but said nothing about steering. Now admittedly in The Mechanic's Tale Steve Matchett says it never worked right, the drivers HATED it, and if the rear steering rack failed, the loss of hydraulic fluid seized the gearbox solid. But dammit it was legal. And the FIA swept it under the rug as a "driver's aid" at the end of 1993.

2.) X-Wings - Yes they were ugly, but dammit, they WORKED. A small, cheap thing that mixed up the midfield and allowed lesser teams to influence how even Ferrari upgraded their cars. In No Angel it is said that Bernie used the pit incident as a pretext to ban them simply because they were so ugly on TV. With the way cars in 2006-2008 developed, you have to wonder what the X-Wings would have looked like if they had evolved.

3.) Mclaren's "fiddle brake" - Often referred to as a "third pedal" this is incorrect, as DC actually had FOUR pedals since he still preferred a foot clutch. In 1997 the internet was still in its infancy, so I can vividly remember seeing the pictures in F1 Racing and being blown away. The pedal famously worked the brakes on only one rear wheel, allowing tighter corner exit, and the car to be set up with more oversteer and then be balanced out by the pedal. Mclaren foolishly called this system "brake steer" which allowed the FIA to ban it as Four-Wheel Steering (again!) despite it never actually effecting the steering. Also forgotten to history is that Jordan was running the same system, and with good results.

[Rob Dylan]

One of my favourite car-developments is the X-Wing stuff in the mid- to late-2000s. I loved the way the cars looked when they started accumulating various different wings and pieces, and how even the commentators were bringing up the new little things Honda would put on the side of their car, and the comparisons between them.

They looked bloody beautiful in my opinion.


P.S. Moved to correct forum.

[dr-baker]

Of course the Brabham fan car was never officially banned, but was withdrawn before being so.

[Wallio]

Of course the Brabham fan car was never officially banned, but was withdrawn before being so.

On his episode of Beyond the Grid Gordon Murrary says it actually was approved by the FIA, but they told him it most likely would be banned the following season. His way of incorporating the fan had it actually be used for cooling, with the areo benefit being a (totally intentional) side effect. Since the rules said the devices primary function couldn't be aero, and it wasn't, it was legal. Lotus' twin fan design convinced Bernie to pull the car, and you get the idea that Gordon is still a bit miffed about that!

[yannicksamlad]

Personally I didnt like X wings - they seemed a bit of a hazard all things considered, and of limited advantage.

For me, it seemed a bit of a shame when more-than-4-wheels was banned. I know it was likely provoked when there was a possibility that only Williams were going to have a 6 wheeler and it was going to destroy everyone. But after a season , then everyone could have had one . Seems a neat way of getting grip ( and reducing the danger of punctures). It would have made pits stops more exciting too ( a very small point indeed, but in these days of 2 second pitstops where we often watch 14 seconds [guess] of car trundling in pit lane in order to witness 2 seconds of 'action' I like to think of ways to increase those 2 seconds without refuelling).

On the other hand, with more wheels then maybe the cars would have been less spectacular. So perhaps best to ban it..

[yannicksamlad]

There was Piquet losing a perfectly good win in Brazil 1982 for 'water cooled brakes' issue .
Not really an innovation that was banned though. More of an interpretation of the rules that was 'eliminated'/over-ruled .
A bit like the Michelin tyres of 2003 that deformed/wore away to give a greater tread width .

[mario]

There was Piquet losing a perfectly good win in Brazil 1982 for 'water cooled brakes' issue .
Not really an innovation that was banned though. More of an interpretation of the rules that was 'eliminated'/over-ruled .
A bit like the Michelin tyres of 2003 that deformed/wore away to give a greater tread width .

Some might suggest that the "water cooled brakes" was veering more into outright cheating, given that the system wasn't intended to coll the brakes, but to allow the car to run underweight instead.

One that might be debatable would be the Ligier JS11, where the team found that the floor was almost too effective and ended up causing the car to bottom out at around 260kph. The solution there was to put a flap into the venturi tunnel that, if the pressure differential grew too great, would open up, allowing for some partial equalisation of pressure and preventing the car from hitting the ground.

Unfortunately, the journalist Giorgio Piola did eventually manage to photograph the flaps on the successor car, the JS11/15, whereupon Ligier had to remove the flaps as they were declared to be a movable aerodynamic device.

[yannicksamlad]

Some might suggest that the "water cooled brakes" was veering more into outright cheating, given that the system wasn't intended to coll the brakes, but to allow the car to run underweight instead.

One that might be debatable would be the Ligier JS11, where the team found that the floor was almost too effective and ended up causing the car to bottom out at around 260kph. The solution there was to put a flap into the venturi tunnel that, if the pressure differential grew too great, would open up, allowing for some partial equalisation of pressure and preventing the car from hitting the ground.

Unfortunately, the journalist Giorgio Piola did eventually manage to photograph the flaps on the successor car, the JS11/15, whereupon Ligier had to remove the flaps as they were declared to be a movable aerodynamic device.

I'll certainly agree the water cooled brakes scheme was fully beyond the spirit of the rules and taking advantage of a loophole which needed to be closed . But I think it should have been closed prospectively and 'clarified/banned' going forwards. From my recall, I thought Brabham , Williams etc had a good case for their interpretation and Brazil should have been Piquet's win . So I wouldnt think of it as approaching 'cheating' ( as that has some element of deception , to my mind) .

As for the Ligier 'valve' ; that certainly seems like a movable aerodynamic device and illegal ( from my understanding) , albeit with some continued denials of its existence/purpose.

[ibsey]

There was lots of rumors of illegal activity in 1994....if you can handle the truth then I recommend this book; https://www.performancepublishing.co.uk ... eason.html

Or if that is too expensive here is a shorten (cheaper) version; https://www.audiobooks.co.uk/audiobook/ ... on/380646#

[ibsey]

Lotus had a ride height adjustment on their 1986 car (the 98T). It was used during quali sessions which helped Senna bag a number of poles that year. It was also used during the race (after enough fuel had burnt). Other teams questioned it's legality and IIRC it was briefly referred to during the 1986 FIA season review video.