[Ducati] (NDC) Of weights and measures (was Jerez GP testing 800's)

[Mikiel Kingsley]

On 12/4/06, Garth Williams <garthw at houston.rr.com> wrote:
>
> Mikiel,
>
> Agreed, except that in the 80's costs did get out of hand, and banning
> the most expensive stuff was the easiest way to deal with it. In
> retrospect, it only made costs go up as engineers now had to figure out
> how to squeeze that last little bit of performance they could within the
> rulebook.
>
> I don't like traction control and active suspensions because they took
> something away from the absolute control of the driver.  It used to be
> that the driver was King.  Now, it's a bit watered down.
>
> The real issue the FIA should deal with is getting aerodynamics to the
> point that the cars don't need "clean air" in order to turn good lap
> times.  That, above everything else, killed F1 for me.  If you can't
> pass in dirty air, you can't pass anywhere except in the pits.
>
> One single FIA Kart race has more passing than an entire season of F1.
>
>
> Garth


I hate to keep going about F1 on the Duc list but...

I think if they want to make F1 exciting again, in my oh so very humble
opinion, they should ban refuelling and tell the teams, "Look, you get this
much fuel for the race and that's all.  We don't care how much you burn
during practice or qualifying, but you only get so many liters for the
race."  The amount could be calculated from consumption figures from last
year's race on the same track, and it would be just BARELY enough.  Teams
that want to use a lot of downforce would be free to do so, but they might
just run out of gas on the last lap.  Teams that want to actually finish the
race would have to use less downforce, making overtaking a possibility once
again and encouraging the manufacturers to find more efficient ways to make
power.  Regenerative braking and things like that would be encouraged (and
made legal), and they could save money by not having to haul those absurdly
expensive refueling rigs all over the planet.  Teams would be free to
experiment with any engine configuration they liked, 8s, 10s, 12s, or even
that crazy W11 configuration the Williams team considered a few years ago.
Plus, this is the sort of technology that would trickle down to actual road
cars once again.  We'd see more drafting, more passing, more innovation,
more RACING, and the FIA could let go of some of their micro-managers.

-Mikiel
'96 900SS/SP "Buttercup"