Aesthetics thread

Post here all non technical related topics about Formula One. This includes race results, discussions, testing analysis etc. TV coverage and other personal questions should be in Off topic chat.
Sevach
1043
Joined: 07 Jun 2012, 17:00

Aesthetics thread

Post

Together with changes to the engine formula, aesthetics is also gonna be a topic of discussion amongst F1 teams, so i would like to hear some opinions regarding what would you change to make the cars look "better".

I'll start:

Wider cars.
Bigger rims, lower profile tires.
Wider tires, specially front.
Lower and wider rear wing (you can change the depth if you want to keep the downforce levels but please make it wider).

User avatar
McG
-19
Joined: 16 Feb 2011, 17:45

Re: Aesthetics thread

Post

I like them the way they are, just last year were some horrible noses.
F1 is dead.

User avatar
hollus
Moderator
Joined: 29 Mar 2009, 01:21
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Re: Aesthetics thread

Post

To me, the cars would look "better" if they all looked different from each other. 1974, 1981 anyone?
Rivals, not enemies.

ScottB
4
Joined: 17 Mar 2012, 14:45

Re: Aesthetics thread

Post

To me, in a way I miss the crazy aero cars of a few years ago; F1 should be the pinnacle of racing technology and those cars looked like that. The current formula cars are looking decent enough after a shaky start, but I wouldn't like anything based around any 'retro' ideas.

The later 'West' Mclaren's might be my favourites, with the narrow low noses, curved sidepods and huge front wings.

And yeah, anything that encourages some variation in approach would be good. Last year's weird noses at least made the cars pretty recognisable from each other!

Pingguest
3
Joined: 28 Dec 2008, 16:31

Re: Aesthetics thread

Post

The less aero the better it is. Particularly with open-wheel cars, downforce generating aerodynamics have no relevance.

User avatar
Tim.Wright
330
Joined: 13 Feb 2009, 06:29

Re: Aesthetics thread

Post

Pingguest wrote:The less aero the better it is. Particularly with open-wheel cars, downforce generating aerodynamics have no relevance.
And how do you propose to reach 3-5g of cornering and braking accelerations without a huge amount of downforce?
Not the engineer at Force India

J.A.W.
109
Joined: 01 Sep 2014, 05:10
Location: Altair IV.

Re: Aesthetics thread

Post

Suction?

IMO, the aesthetic look would be improved by increasing tyre sizes,
& they do present as disproportionately small/skinny these days..
"Well, we knocked the bastard off!"

Ed Hilary on being 1st to top Mt Everest,
(& 1st to do a surface traverse across Antarctica,
in good Kiwi style - riding a Massey Ferguson farm
tractor - with a few extemporised mod's to hack the task).

Manoah2u
61
Joined: 24 Feb 2013, 14:07

Re: Aesthetics thread

Post

+2.

Bigger size rims like the ones we saw on the Lotus and several photoshops,

and increased tire sizes at the rear by quite a big margin. Interestingly, this would make it probably a tad
more difficult for the aero guys to direct air to the back, but nothing they wouldnt' be able to overcome.

I don't want to see tractors pull models, but a fair bigger tire size at the rear would be absolutely great.

I'm not particularly fond of the 'flat' front wing either, i preffered the 'aerodynamical' shape of the wings
pre-2009.

Offcourse the nosecone solutions are something that needs fixing.
"Explain the ending to F1 in football terms"
"Hamilton was beating Verstappen 7-0, then the ref decided F%$& rules, next goal wins
while also sending off 4 Hamilton players to make it more interesting"

User avatar
adrianjordan
24
Joined: 28 Feb 2010, 11:34
Location: West Yorkshire, England

Re: Aesthetics thread

Post

J.A.W. wrote:Suction?

IMO, the aesthetic look would be improved by increasing tyre sizes,
& they do present as disproportionately small/skinny these days..
But isn't suction just another form of aero?
Favourite driver: Lando Norris
Favourite team: McLaren

Turned down the chance to meet Vettel at Silverstone in 2007. He was a test driver at the time and I didn't think it was worth queuing!! 🤦🏻‍♂️

Facts Only
188
Joined: 03 Jul 2014, 10:25

Re: Aesthetics thread

Post

It's an impossible task to make the cars 'look better' because looks are subjective. Making them faster is a simple case of comparative measurement but who is going to be the person to say that something looks better? Just look at the most beautiful car thread for evidence of this.

It's also ridiculous to think that rules can make the cars 'look better' every era has had its beauties and it's dogs and in every era people would have disagreed on which were the beauties and which were the dogs.

Although I have noticed one trend, you could easily replace the word 'better' with 'older' everyone just wants the cars to look like the first F1 cars they fell in love with.

My only real thought on the matter is that F1 should just look 'more' than other race cars to the layman viewer. Currently they are a little indistinguishable from GP2 and FR3.5 and the same could be said of the mid-late 90's cars compared to CART, the Champ Cars just looked like 'more' of a racing car and it was the closest a rival got to F1.

For instance:

F1:
Image

Champ Car:
Image

I chose those two so that livery would not be a defining factor. The Penske (I think) to a laymen looks faster, more powerful, more exciting, certainly my girlfriend just confirmed this.

I'm not saying F1 should copy anything from those Champ Cars, just that it should not look less than other racing series.
"A pretentious quote taken out of context to make me look deep" - Some old racing driver

Pingguest
3
Joined: 28 Dec 2008, 16:31

Re: Aesthetics thread

Post

Tim.Wright wrote:
Pingguest wrote:The less aero the better it is. Particularly with open-wheel cars, downforce generating aerodynamics have no relevance.
And how do you propose to reach 3-5g of cornering and braking accelerations without a huge amount of downforce?
Why does Formula One that any way? I prefer cars that are technically difficult instead of physically difficult.

J.A.W.
109
Joined: 01 Sep 2014, 05:10
Location: Altair IV.

Re: Aesthetics thread

Post

adrianjordan wrote:
J.A.W. wrote:Suction?

IMO, the aesthetic look would be improved by increasing tyre sizes,
& they do present as disproportionately small/skinny these days..
But isn't suction just another form of aero?

Different means to a similar end..

Aero down-force forms such as wings, as currently applied, are less efficient due to more drag, AFAIR..

Perhaps more actively trimmed aero, such as aircraft use - could be incorporated.
"Well, we knocked the bastard off!"

Ed Hilary on being 1st to top Mt Everest,
(& 1st to do a surface traverse across Antarctica,
in good Kiwi style - riding a Massey Ferguson farm
tractor - with a few extemporised mod's to hack the task).

Manoah2u
61
Joined: 24 Feb 2013, 14:07

Re: Aesthetics thread

Post

Facts Only wrote:It's an impossible task to make the cars 'look better' because looks are subjective. Making them faster is a simple case of comparative measurement but who is going to be the person to say that something looks better? Just look at the most beautiful car thread for evidence of this.

It's also ridiculous to think that rules can make the cars 'look better' every era has had its beauties and it's dogs and in every era people would have disagreed on which were the beauties and which were the dogs.

Although I have noticed one trend, you could easily replace the word 'better' with 'older' everyone just wants the cars to look like the first F1 cars they fell in love with.

My only real thought on the matter is that F1 should just look 'more' than other race cars to the layman viewer. Currently they are a little indistinguishable from GP2 and FR3.5 and the same could be said of the mid-late 90's cars compared to CART, the Champ Cars just looked like 'more' of a racing car and it was the closest a rival got to F1.

For instance:

F1:
http://historyf1.narod.ru/photos/f-061.jpg

Champ Car:
http://www.fanmercedesbenz.com/wp-conte ... 22x274.jpg

I chose those two so that livery would not be a defining factor. The Penske (I think) to a laymen looks faster, more powerful, more exciting, certainly my girlfriend just confirmed this.

I'm not saying F1 should copy anything from those Champ Cars, just that it should not look less than other racing series.
agreed with the penske. I always loved that car a lot, looks mighty.

aesthetically better looking is a no-go in reality though, because in truth, aesthetics don't equal performance, which is why F1 cars look like they do, and why GP2 cars look like they do, and why Formula E cars look like they do. That's the entire thing.

However, a big part here is due to regulations. Change rear tires a couple of sizes and it changes the entire aero philoshopy of the entire vehicle. Change it to 18" rims and it also changes a lot, like the suspension control arms, etc.

aesthetically, this looks jaw-dropping aweosme:

Image

in reality, it's not aerodynamically sound, which is why we'll never see them like this.

same goes for this:

Image

looks awesome [ even though in a matchbox kinda way ], but it's just not realistic.

meanwhile, this is not an F1 car, but looks stunning, and presumably is aerodynamically sound

Image

if you ask me, visually, these were the coolest F1 cars ever

Image
Image
Image

i also get that time advances and thus technology. Which is why i don't really have a problem with F1, except for
artificial stuff, like DRS, but also a mess of regulations which needs additional rules to artificially make the original
error more visually pleasing [iron board noses or phallic nosecones].
"Explain the ending to F1 in football terms"
"Hamilton was beating Verstappen 7-0, then the ref decided F%$& rules, next goal wins
while also sending off 4 Hamilton players to make it more interesting"

Sevach
1043
Joined: 07 Jun 2012, 17:00

Re: Aesthetics thread

Post

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/31454550

So wider cars, lower rear wing (hopefully wider too it will look extremely weird otherwise).

I hopefully they will increase the size of the front tires together with the rear.

henra
53
Joined: 11 Mar 2012, 19:34

Re: Aesthetics thread

Post

Sevach wrote: So wider cars, lower rear wing (hopefully wider too it will look extremely weird otherwise).
Sounds great to me! That said I doubt it will have a huge Impact on the acceptance and success of F1 to the wider audience, although better looking and more powerful cars are definitely a step in the right direction. Some more noise might also not be a mistake.
The spectacle should come from the cars and Drivers mastering them and not some artificial crap. People are not stupid...

From my (spectator) PoV I would be happy to see some of these changes already in 2016.

Post Reply