Mid 80es turbo engines, questions on top speed and lap times

[FW17]

This is where the 1000+ hp went, check out the rear wing;

http://www.autogaleria.hu/autok/brabham ... 984_r2.jpg

How did they get the car around a corner with so little front wing, looks like it set up for perpetual understeer.

[wesley123]

A much more rearward weight distribution.

[xpensive]

The giant rearwing was necessary to get the massive power down when exiting the corners.

[cossie]

Great era for racing fan, best of both worlds,F1 in TV and CART just getting people like Mansell , this is one of my all time cars, great liverly, and a they running about 1000 bhp. great liverly

[trinidefender]

This is where the 1000+ hp went, check out the rear wing;

http://www.autogaleria.hu/autok/brabham ... 984_r2.jpg

How did they get the car around a corner with so little front wing, looks like it set up for perpetual understeer.

When you look at it, it actually seems as though that car has more front wing area than current F1 cars. This is due to the fact that the wing along its whole span is working to produce downforce without worrying about producing vortices to control the flow. There is also no neutral section like today's cars which helps to add to wings effective surface area. Lastly the wing sections are clearly very heavily cambered. A heavily cambered wing produces lots of lift (read downforce) at low speeds but creates lots of drag at high speeds.