A crazy idea

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hulmerist
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Joined: 12 Feb 2009, 20:59

A crazy idea

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During my periods of down time i often have stupid ideas, so here's another one

With all the new teams showing an interest in f1 (10 possibles according to autosport), there's not going to be enough spots for them all, and most of them probably won't be able to fully fund it anyway, so why doesn't gp2 change to a kind of....second division formula 1, with the bottom 2 teams from f1 getting relegated and the top 2 in gp2 getting promoted

the feeder series would have the same regs as f1 but everything would be spec apart from the aero, so i guess the teams with the teams with the best designers and engineers would end up in f1, which would mean they have a better chance of staying there and competing with the established teams...maybe

with the cars being so close to f1 regulations it'd be a great breeding ground for young drivers getting to learn the cars and tracks etc

i've not really thought this through massively, and i can see the force indias of this world kicking up a massive fuss

feel free to tear apart my idea and confirm my suspicions it wouldn't work


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hulmerist
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Joined: 12 Feb 2009, 20:59

Re: A crazy idea

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now it does seem crazy...hard to see where the money would come from

yeah right

Dukeage
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Joined: 24 Jul 2007, 21:28

Re: A crazy idea

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I think it would be best to get a fixed set of teams, rather than go for promotion and relegation. The NFL is one of the best examples of a stable sports league.

If FOTA were to buy FOM in a formation of the Premier League style coup, with fifteen F1 teams getting equal shares of all the TV revenues, collectively done sponsorship (which needs to be exploited more) and other things.

However, the F1 derived F2 idea you propose could work IMO. The key parts of what I propose for F1 can be summarized as follows (I'm not going to post my full "manifesto", that can go elsewhere).
  • Bodywork extremities made of GRP aside from crash structures, reinforcement of the spirit of the new aero rules by specifically banning use of things like mirrors and crash structures as aerodynamic devices, metal suspension like F3. Road relevancy and cost control.
  • 640kg, minimum weight for driver+seat, no more than 5kg of movable ballast. We don't want the drivers like jockeys.
  • Six race engines, 800hp power limit and restrictions on gimmick technologies not found on that manufacturer's road cars, otherwise free with fuel economy incentives for manufacturers. Must supply price for engines of around £75,000. KERS to be included in the engine for this purpose. No part of the powertrain may be made of composites.
  • Spec telemetry and data logger, with all data made available to everyone (including press and other teams). This includes a heart rate monitor on the driver - yes, a bit like The Chair. No adjustable power control type systems (fuel mixture, launch maps, adjustable turbos and similar cowpoo) aside from pit limiters and a fuel save mode that is restricted to SC periods only.
  • Single fuel supplier, providing any non-diesel like fuel requested by manufacturers. LPG, E85, straight out petrol, hydrogen, whatever.
  • Larger cockpit openings, fitting a larger than average dummy like Formula SAE and must be adjustable so that a smaller than average dummy is able to reach the pedals.
These would largely cut costs in areas like engines (where manufacturers would be able to spend as much as they like and get no advantage, and privateers buy them cheaply) and a reduction in chassis costs. If need be, a budget cap could be done on the things that affect performance - but not engines, as they are the most realistic thing for road relevant technology development; and my plan would make then equal in performance but still produce technological warfare.

Then, you could detune the engines to ~600hp, replace the KERS (possibly with an "overboost" button to simulate it) get rid of some of the CF and replace it with GRP, stick harder tyres on - hey presto, F2.
You would have two lots of development for the price of one, as new cars from the ground up would not be needed - like Dallara's Formulino thing that goes from something like an FFord to something just below F3. As the series should be about the drivers, maybe do a (and I appreciate that some of the purists will want to make me drink my own genitalia for suggesting this :lol: ) GT3 style equalisation test for F2, but not F1 of course. That would make a great breeding ground for F1 drivers. F1 indies would be required to sell F2 cars to teams, with the mountings ready for two different engines - these being subsidised by F1's and F2's income.

If the second tier of football in many countries has a following, the world's second tier of motorsport should be able to get one.

Perhaps I need to lay off the strong cheese at night,

Dukeage.

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TheMinister
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Joined: 20 Feb 2008, 00:03

Re: A crazy idea

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I like the idea, but I think for it to make sense, there has to be an understanding of why football (soccer for you yanks) does so well with this model.
Football has a huge grassroots following, with the number of players in competitive clubs growing as you move downwards. For every player that earns $100,000 per week, there are 100 that earn $1000, 10,000 that earn nothing, and 10 million who enjoy a kickabout in the park. This means that the potential base of support for the big clubs is huge.
Contrast this with motorsport, where the grassroots following is relatively small, simply because motor racing is a very expensive sport. I can play football for the $3 cost of a ball, but to go motor racing will cost me hundreds of pounds.

In football, it is possible for the professional non-premiership teams to survive due to fans coming to watch them. This is because they provide quality entertainment every other saturday at the same venue. Motorsport moves around much more, and is not nearly as good a live sport- it looks much better on TV. And there would be very little interest in watching second tier F1 on TV- so tiny advertising revenue, so tiny funding compared to the big boys.

It also helps that all football teams play under the same set of rules and regulations- how on earth would an amateur team be able to build something that complied with F1 regulations?

So I think that whilst it's a nice idea, the grassroots support just isn't there to make it viable. Maybe in 50 years, when everyone is relatively richer, something along these lines could work.

Conceptual
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Joined: 15 Nov 2007, 03:33

Re: A crazy idea

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I come back to the F1.5 concept, where the teams would have their own "prototype" catergory. Thus running 1 car in each series and opening up the rest of the slots for more teams.

But, as happened in that thread, people hate the idea of having something that may be seen by the public as superior to F1, even though it allows for more teams, 2 races per weekend, and more value/exposure for sponsors.

If the capped teams were to be placed into F1.5 however, the cost cap could be tested and have the regulations ironed out for a 3-5 year period, and then combine them. Kinda like siamese development with the intent to combine into one entity.

And when the change happens, everyone will be good, or they wont be there, and the rest will get bought for their technology.

Aah, to dream!

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