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ive been following the forum for a while now and noticed that most of u guys are engineers.. This is a question for u guys.. what if there was no more technical regulations .. teams can design whatever they want.. go back to slicks.. big wings.. turbo ... i got 2 questions..
a) What will the car spec be?
b) how many seconds faster would it be around the track?
I think that even going to watch F1 under "no rules" conditions could be considered an extreme activity. I can't imagine the engineers even knowing where to start designing a car like this. The only boundary presumably being the tolerances of the human body!
Yes, BCS I imagine the only limiting design parameter would be the G-forces the human body could withstand. I think this would cap the tyres at a certain size, slick of course, and then the design would follow from there... I would expect the following features:
-large slicks, possibly enclosed at the rear, covered at the front
-2-3L turbocharged engines
-ground effects, movable wings and diffuser (e.g. angle of attack reduces to zero on acceleration, maximum on braking)
-traction control, brake assist, active suspension, launch control
-automatic braking and downshifts at adjustable points into certain corners
-fully automatic gearless transmissions
-exotic materials and fuels
-lighter cars
I would expect these cars to be easily 10 seconds per lap faster and really the only limit on their speed would be the G-forces the driver could withstand.
You are still thinking along the lines of the rules.
F1 car.. ~4Gs..
modern fighter jet.. ~10Gs+
Why all these piddly tires and piston engines? My "rule-less car" would be fueled by a liquid rocket engine, and would be an airplane built for nothing but huge G loads. It wouldn't be difficult to design an airplane that could do 15-20Gs. Why use a pilot? There are no rules... Just program in a track map. If you did have some rule that required tires in contact with the ground, just keep the airplane at low altitude with a tire that reaches down to the ground.
Rule-less F1 debates are pointless, because we can't even imagine what the final answer would be.