Most Advanced Era

[Ranger]

2004 was also a peak as there's not one lap record of a track on the 2004 championship that has been surpassed today, but that's down to tyres and engine restrictions.

[ioan]

2004 was also a peak as there's not one lap record of a track on the 2004 championship that has been surpassed today, but that's down to tyres and engine restrictions.

It's sad that we have engine restriction in the top class of motor racing. After all this isn't electronics and aerodynamics racing but motor racing. Very sad.

[ShiftingGears]

It's sad that we have engine restriction in the top class of motor racing. After all this isn't electronics and aerodynamics racing but motor racing. Very sad.

Agreed. Though I'd imagine it quite hard to find an agreeable compromise between regulating aerodynamics so as they don't inhibit racing and giving designers room so that the chassis aren't identical. But engine regulation does nothing for the sport. I bet some genius played their safety card in introducing it.

[futuretiger9]

The early 1990's cars were the most advanced ever

In terms of "visible" gizmos like active suspension etc, it would be 1993, before the FIA clamped down.

[ClarkFan]

I actually believe your "most advanced" question has multiple answers, depending on which element of the cars you are looking at.

First, a nod to the present cars. They are the fastest ever, and to get there they have to be quite advanced in a number of areas. Most notably, the gearboxes are on a different level from any previous era. That may seem a small complement, but when you consider how many times the cars change gears each lap, picking up a few hundredths of a second on each change becomes a major difference. In addition, due to the major increases in computing power, the current cars have the most engine management and traction control technology ever.

But there are aspects that are eclipsed by earlier designs. In terms of aerodynamic efficiency, I would nominate the ground effects cars of 1978-1982. They generated downforce levels roughly comparable to the current cars but with far less drag. I'm still not sure what evil the FIA believes they are holding off by banning true ground effects tunnels, but they are getting ugly cars with dirty wakes for their troubles.

For engines, I would nominate the last year of the turbo era. The cars were allocated 150 liters of fuel for an entire race, but still generated race-day horsepower levels comparable to the current cars.

And for suspension systems, I would join the group pointing to the early 1990's cars with ride height control. Again, I'm not sure what the FIA believes they are gaining from the ban, given that many road cars are now adopting this technology. Nothing like making F1 slightly less advanced that road-going vehicles. :\

ClarkFan

[D-Type]

I don't really understand your question.

Each year the cars willl always be more advanced technologically in all respects, mechanically, aerodynamically, electronically, and tyres, than the cars of the year before. Where particular technologies like movable wings and the use of beryllium have been banned, I do not consider that the cars of the following year were less advanced; conversely the ingenuity of the designers will have been stretched to try and reduce the impact of the ban leading to a car that overall is more advanced.

The only possible exception could be immediately post-war when on average the cars would have been less advanced than the prewar Mercedes-Benz and Auto Unions, but nevertheless the Alfa Romeo 158/159 and Ferrari 375 were pretty advanced bits of kit for the time and by 1951 they were lapping faster than the prewar cars at Reims and the Nurburgring, and nearly as fast at Monaco. When I checked the figures I was surprised that it was that way round - presumably at Monaco, sheer power for accelaration must have been the most significant factor while at Reims the superior cornering speeds must have compensated for the lack of power.

Mechanically, probably the final turbo cars were the most advanced in terms of specific piower output but they probably didn't have some of the sophisticated materials available now.

The first electronics in F1 racing I can think of is when transistorised ignition replaced the mechanical distributor introduced in 1962, I think. On that basis the most advanced purely mechanical cars were those of 1961, either the Ferrari 156 'Sharknose' that swept the board that year or the Lotus 21 which was 'best of the rest' with a less powerful engine.

Aerodynamics have been around since the very first Grand Prix - the winning Renault reflects best practice for 1906 when aerodynamics meant streamlining. But each year the aerodynamics will be more sophisticated or advanced than the year before.

[philipbain]

F1 cars in 1993 had a massive amount of technological gizmos, traction control, active ride suspension, semi-auto gearboxes with pre-programmed downchanges, 4 wheel steering, ABS and even continuously variable transmission was tested if not raced. All of these (except semi-auto gearboxes) were banned for 1994 and only traction control has made a comeback after the FIA found it impossible to police.

I would agree that the 2006 engines which could reach in excess of 20,000rpm and still last 2 complete race weekends were a fantastic piece of engineering, whilst 2007 standard areodynamics are more advanced than ever, being massively efficient.