Why have a formula at all?

Question

It use to be about going so fast that your ear gets torn off.

Now, past the design zynith, we are slowing the cars down under the guise of safety (don't get me wrong, I like safe).

Why not have one race, not like ACO and American Le Mans Series, but a race where the idea is to simply bring the best car, without restrictions, like the Quatro did 20 years ago.

The SCCA changed the rules every race until the Audi was as slow as the other cars. Where's the racing in that?

Answer 1

id kill to see an unlimited race, build the fastest car you can be it fendered or open wheel, active aero and suspension, no rev limit, no tire regulations, no material restrictions,
nothing but here is a prize first one to finish gets it....

but im not going to hold my breath, your average formula one car costs around $14 million each, and that's with the last 5 to 50 years of research and evolution

how big would the prize have to be to make it worth the R&D and building expence for a compleatly new car with state of the art technology?

so for that reason i will restrict my racing fantasies to simpler impossabalities like reuniting american open wheel

Answer 2

If you built an unlimited car it would most likely have a helicoptor engine just like an unlimited hydroplane. You would have 2000+ HP, low maintenance and a power to weight ratio not even a F1 engine could match. No longer airworthy engines and spares are cheap as well. A turbine did race once at Indy, and then it was promptly banned.

However, if you look at unlimited hydroplanes the sport has gone into decline since they started to use the Huey engine. The fans miss the rumble of the V12 airplane engines. So higher technology is somtiemes self-defeating in terms of spectator interest.

Answer 3

I would love to see an un-restricted racing series but in this age two things have ruined motorsports. Governing bodies and NASCAR fans. Governing bodies seem to be hell bent on slowing the cars down and trying create more parity. And with NASCAR's polarity exploding all these new fans really want to see close and even racing, even at the expense of making it a spec series just to pacify their fans and sponsors. I find the idea of watching 40+ cars bunched together, sharing air boring. The idea of motorsports isn't necessarily the best driver winning but the most advance and well engineered car winning..

Answer 4

Bring back the Can-Am. Lets get the best engineers in the world working on these cars and build the fastest, best handling car that money can build.

Answer 5

ditto!

although, I think there will always be a struggle to have a safety/speed compromise

bring on the speed!!!