Illegal Legal Things
Posted: 21 Feb 2020, 17:11
(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.
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.