Brake Check
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Necessity is the mother of invention. In 1982, Formula 1 teams using normally aspirated Cosworth engines were outgunned by the turbocharged Ferraris and Renaults. At the time, teams were allowed to top up cooling fluids after a race and before weighing by the scrutineers. So Gordon Murray at Brabham and Patrick Head at Williams fitted their cars with large water tanks, ostensibly to cool the brakes—nudge, nudge, wink, wink. The water evaporated almost immediately, allowing the cars to compete underweight before being ballasted after the checkered flag. A Brabham BT49D and Williams FW07C finished first and second in the Brazilian Grand Prix—and both were promptly disqualified.......no doubt to get even for the embarassment of poor rule writing.
Repeat Offender
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Crew chief Chad Knaus embodies the NASCAR dictum “If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’.”(it is not really a NASCAR dictum) Even as he won seven championships with driver Jimmie Johnson, Knaus was dinged for rules infractions on more than a dozen occasions. His craftiest workaround was rigging the track bar adjuster so that rotating the jackscrew caused the rear window of Johnson’s No. 48 Chevy Monte Carlo to rise outward, diverting air from the rear spoiler and maximizing top speed during qualifying for the 2006 Daytona 500. Knaus was suspended for four races and fined $25,000. While Knaus watched on TV, Johnson won the race anyway.
Did the rule say that it was illegal? Does the rule book say a person cannot be illegal by NASCAR rules only once? I know the writer has never read the NASCAR rule book
Th real story was that at racing speeds, SEVERAL plastic windows lifted when the wind sped over them...look up Bernouli's principle as to how an airplane flies.......but the story writer
Flexi-Flier
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Movable aerodynamic aids are a no-no in F1. But in 2010, as Sebastian Vettel was driving to the first of four consecutive world championships, two eagle-eyed journalists noticed that the front wings of his Red Bull RB6 were closer to the pavement on track than they were in the pits. How to explain this mystery? Designer Adrian Newey had come up with a method of laying up carbon fiber so the wing could droop under aerodynamic load while still passing the FIA’s rigidity test. After Red Bull’s outraged (and out-foxed) rivals complained, a more stringent test was instituted in 2013......NOW THE RULE WAS ACTUALLY CORRECTED ISTEAD OF DISQUALIFYING SOMEONE!
Bottom Line
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What’s the best way to hide an aerodynamic aid?
Stick it where the sun don’t shine. Exhibit A was the floor of the Ferrari F2007 F1 car. By attaching it to the chassis with a hinge at the rear and two adjustable springs at the front, the flexible floor allowed the car to be set up lower than the competition, making it more efficient aerodynamically. Also, it could be run more aggressively over curbs, allowing drivers to straight-line chicanes. In Australia, the first race of 2007, Kimi Räikkönen qualified on pole and won effortlessly. The aero police at the FIA then devised a new rigidity test that consigned Ferrari’s movable floor to history’s dustbin. THEY CORRECTED THE RULE INSTEAD OF DISQUALIFYING SOMEONE.