2012 The Year of Ugly Open Wheel Racers

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Definitely not a year for the good looking race car. From the Deltawing all the way to the ALMS LMP cars.....simply ugly. Give me the sports cars!

 

There is always an exception.... the McLaren looks really good.

 

Yes, I watched the same Indy race. Took me a few moments to figure our they weren't go carts on steroids.

 

Its almost as if they are trying to take F1 off the rankings for the number one most watched sporting event world wide. I mean come on you can almost paint the cars all black and stick the batman emblem on there and no one would ever know the difference.

 

There are complaints everywhere, among racing fans, the press, even the racers themselves. Google this: 2012 f1 ugly

 

*Shrug* I dig the side-pods on the Indy cars. Let's not forget why they are there...

 

I can appreciate your point of view. I'll note that Dan Wheldon was actually testing these new chassis for Dallara. They were already in the works for this season before the nightmare at LVMS. As far as the bumper cars thing: Yeah, I saw that too. Not what I had in mind for good open wheel racing either.

[INFLAMATORY OPINION]
I was at LVMS for the Indy race the day Wheldon died. I will argue there really was only one real factor. As I watched the "undercard" race (Indy lights I think) I saw the cornering speeds they had and the energy released when the wrecked. It was massive.

It comes down to speed. The banking after the re-pave is massive at Las Vegas. It makes for great NASCAR races where the down-force plays a much smaller role in comparison to Indy. The banking allows for more speed by using the improved mechanical grip then the cars can go faster which increases the downforce their aero creates. Problem is when the get sideways (how that wreck started) thier aero is almost immediately unloaded creating a snap-sidways effect. It was this snap-sideways effect that started the huge wreck that collected and flung Wheldon into the retaining fence.

LVMS is too fast for Indy cars. I saw it with my own damn eyes. Do they get faster elsewhere? Yes, but they don't hold anywhere near the same corner speeds on harsh banking with that much down force anywhere else.

It had nothing to do with the million dollar run to the front BS. Number of cars on the track was a factor as it allowed the wreck to spread faster and more severly. However, it wasn't the cause.

I know that Indy will never go back to LVMS. Rightfully so. I watched a guy die on a race track and, even though I never met the guy, it leaves a sinking feeling in my gut every time I think about it. It's odd, I have seen the replay footage and it all looks so slow. Having see the whole wreck myself it started and was over in a flash. No one in our box noticed Wheldon's car. It was the car that looped past turn three all the way to the back-straight on fire that had our attention.
[/INFLAMMATORY OPINION]

If it suits, feel free to move the opinion portion to the "Politics and Other Messy Stuff" forum.

 

^+1 Those cars were going to be here even without the tragic loss of Dan Weldon. I hope the cars are safer & that is the main thing. Good drivers will still have excellent car control & car placement. The lesser drivers will still run into other cars as they always have.

Now my take on the F1 cars. They were beautiful in Malaysia. Alonso & Perez doing what no one thought they could was an absolute thing of beauty for sure.

 

Got to say that after watching the Indy cars a bit, they are growing on me to the point that I think I like them!!

 

Nah.....they still look way over-"balanced" (?)

That front wing with the huge rear end just makes them look stupid.

 

Re: The Ugly Nose of F1

From my understanding that's the constructor's fault. The maximum nose height was lowered, but most of the constructors wanted to use last years' bathtub, hence the step. Mclaren decided to build a new car instead of using the money-saving step of using an old body. I can understand smaller teams opting for the step nose, but the richer teams *COUGHFERRARICOUGH* could have built a new part if they wanted.

Of course, I could be wrong.

As for the new Indycar design, it looks like the late 70's Lotus to me.

 

Looks like they can't make up their minds if they want to race OPEN WHEELED cars or ALMS cars.

Part of being a professional driver is knowing the limits of both our car and yourself. I am adamantly against anyone getting hurt, but racing is a dangerous sport. If you want safe, play XBOX.

I will say I miss the good old days of race cars that were sexy.

If anyone wants to know why ALMS is gaining in popularity, it can be traced directly to this conversation. ALMS cars still look like "real" race cars.

The two main open wheel series, however, are butt ugly, bordering on silly as hell.

If you want to slow them down, how about regulating their top speeds and quit imposing new rules that make the cars ever more stupid looking with each passing season? Even better, have a cop posted next to the track that writes tickets to the speeders...

 

Wow, so boys bring your balls and nothing else.. we're doing away with seat belts, Hans devices, fuel cells, safty cages and we're going to plant trees along side the racing surface at every track.... Now then, that' ll bring back that smell of burning flesh we all enjoy so much!!!!

....come on, I love the old cars and their simplicity as much as anyone...but, making the cars and tracks safer for the drivers, ultimately allows them to race EACH OTHER harder. Which after all, other than merely time trialing, is what racing is all about, isn't it? It's those wheel to wheel moments between two or more great drivers that are remembered most....not that qualifying lap time.....

2cents, flame suit on.

 

I agree with you 100% minimark. They have made the new Indy Car safer, but they still can & will bite. Racing is dangerous even in a car designed to be safer. No need to make the cars less safe for the sake of aesthetics....

 

I also think the old cars look more... muscular. There is a design aesthetic of the early days that really appeals visually

Here I disagree. The sleekness has evolved from a variety of pressures: The need to be aerodynamic , the need to be fast, and the need to be safe. Physics, engineering, and safety. To me that makes a beautiful machine.

 

This isn't a question of safety with the new Indy cars EXCEPT for the ovals (which in my opinion they shouldn't be racing at anyway cause of the speeds and delicate aero balance they have). Look at what NASCAR had to do to stop the too fast cars from flying when going backwards. They need to look at ways to keep the speeds manageable at these ovals.

Racing has always, and will continue to be, a race for speed tempered by the rules. A race isn't anymore exciting for the fans at 220mph than it is at 160 at an oval. So to declare that they have to do such a radical redesign of the rear end of a car for safety doesn't hold much water with me. Especially since the front wheels are much more responsible for cars getting airborne that the rears are.

Now the nose change req for the F1 cars was a direct result of the rules on the dimensions of the car not being consistent. They saw a large difference in size between the front of the cars and the side pod so they needed to take action.

 

I've been wait'n for a few weeks now to get a chance to talk with an Indy driver friend of my son-in-law's. As I'm certain there was much that had to be considered for this evolution to occur, I'd like to hear the driver's perspective on the new car design and all that surrounded the redesign decision.

I'll offer a rendition of his thoughts on the subject as soon as I get my opportunity, maybe sometime over the weekend..... Not sure he's around the Central Coast right now.