F1technical.net

Well, since this is the aero/chassis forum. I am posing the question of what are some of the great ways teams have gone around the rules and given themselves an "unfair" advatange.

My contribution is through Nascar's use of a "body mount". It was a piece of angle iron disquised as a body mount in the front wheel wells that created downforce on the front end through some boundry layer manipulation.

Don't know if it's illegal, but I've heard the stories about how the NASCAR guys pull up underneath and inside of the car ahead of them. They put their front right tire close to the other guy's left rear, upsetting the other guy's undercar airflow and causing him to get "loose", and thus slow up.

Those circle track racers are ruthless, so I'm sure there's some truth to the story.

Riff........I've heard similar, but to get someone loose you gotta be behind 'em.........if you pull inside, the inside car (yours) gets loose................

my fav is from nascar too, they used to fill some of the tubes with mercury and when they got out on track they opened a valve and all the mercury would flow to the left, then close the valve back up. After the race when they checked your right side weight you just opent he valve back up and all was good.

Oh, it's very true, and the NASCAR drivers use it as a regular tool. In oval track racing, they run close together. But passing may be difficult, because most of the time, the low line is the one that is desired, and the slower car is running on it. So the driver behind attempts to place his vehicle on the outside or inside rear quarter panel. In that position, the air to the spoiler of the leading car has it deflected, with a reduced downforce. The rear end loses traction, and if the driver is lucky, his car just drifts up to the higher line while the car behind just motors by. Sometimes the lead car winds up out of control, spinning out.
In NASCAR, running that close, and even bumping each other is regular, and considered acceptable. Personally, I believe any bumping or unfair treatment is unacceptable. maybe that's why I am never going to consider myself a NASCAR fan.

As far as cheating, the history of racing is one long, continuing saga. I am probably aware of hundreds of occasions. Heck, I used to do it myself, when I was a mechanic for a pro level ice racer. The rules allowed only stock sheet metal screws on the knobbies for the ice. But we used to grind the edges to a sharp bevel, then send all the screws out for heat treatment. Lots of work, and a wee bit of money, but we had good traction.

Or how about the NASCAR crew chief, after inspection he used to run his fingers along the radiator fins, pushing them in, and reducing drag.

DaveKillens wrote: The rules allowed only stock sheet metal screws on the knobbies for the ice. But we used to grind the edges to a sharp bevel, then send all the screws out for heat treatment. Lots of work, and a wee bit of money, but we had good traction.

I like that one. pretty tricky

You might want to read up on Lotus' dual chassis. I don't know too much about it tho.

Without a doubt Lotus' most controversial car was the Lotus 86 (1980). Immediately after the introduction of wings to F1 in the 60s, there was a spate of dramatic crashes as the struts used to attach the wing to the axle broke. Therefore the governing body decreed that all wings must be in integral part of the chassis and connected to the wheels only via the suspension. The Lotus 88 had two chassis, one inside the other, connected by a very weak suspension system. The outer one contained the aerodynamic bodywork, but at high speeds the downforce would flatten the inter-chassis suspension, effectively connecting the wings directly to the wheels. The driver, meanwhile, was in the inner chassis, which had its own 'proper' suspension to keep the wheels pressed to the track. The car was within the F1 regulations, was cleared to race by the FIA10 and would clearly have been safe and the fastest car on the track by some way. At the first race of the season, the race stewards11 refused the car permission to race without giving a reason. The car never raced. Chapman had finally reached the limits of what was permissible in F1, just as he had in Indycar 15 years earlier and in club racing before that.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A827598