A bit of history

[manchild]

Apart from very unusual shape for early 70s cars notice how similar hight of cockpit relative to drivers head was (relative to contemporary - post 1994 cars). I know it was just fiberglass or aluminum but at least it looks better than it looked 20 years after that when driver's head, neck and shoulders were directly exposed...

[img::]http://f1rejects.com/teams/eifelland/la ... s-rs-2.jpg[/img]

[img::]http://f1rejects.com/teams/eifelland/la ... ing-rs.jpg[/img]

[img::]http://f1rejects.com/teams/eifelland/la ... n-rs-3.jpg[/img]

[img::]http://f1rejects.com/teams/eifelland/la ... i-rs-2.jpg[/img]

[img::]http://www.autocoursegpa.com/images/cov ... l/1992.jpg[/img]

http://www.forix.com/8w/eifelland.html

[Reca]

Indeed it wasn’t strange from early-mid 70s till mid-late 80s to have at least the drivers shoulders covered by the bodywork (as you said the chassis was ending much lover), sometimes also part of the helmet as in that particular cockpit with frontal engine intake designed by Colani for the Eifelland. Then in late 80s in some cars the sides became lower sometimes leaving even the shoulders uncovered, I don’t remember exactly the rules at the time about cockpit area, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you found that it has something to do with it plus weight saving.

Then the consequences of Wendlinger incident in Monaco 1994 suggested Sauber guys to introduce the head protections, structural, at the sides. FIA also increased minimum weight for second part of 1994 and for 1995 as incentive for the teams to adopt these protections, before introducing as mandatory in the 1996 rules a minimum height of the chassis.
Obviously the rule (designed by Barnard IIRC) was open to any kind of interpretation so in 1996 we had cars with huge protections like the Ferrari and Benetton, and cars basically without them as the Williams and Jordan...

[Tom]

what about the mid-80s Lotus and esspecially Renault, with the drivers so far forwatrd they could almost touch the tip of the nose.

[manchild]

I thing Ferrari holds the record

[img::]http://www.ff1.it/ff1/sezioni/f1/tutte_ ... i/1984.jpg[/img]

[mx_tifoso]

I thing Ferrari holds the record

[img::]http://www.ff1.it/ff1/sezioni/f1/tutte_ ... i/1984.jpg[/img]

OH MY GOSH !!!

thats one of the ugliest Ferrari F1 cars of all time IMO !
its just horrible, theres almost no protection for the driver besides that dingy little "shield" behind his head

[Tom]

I heard a story of when Brundle crashed a similar car at Tosa when his brakes failed ( ) and his helmet bent his steering wheel. Look how far the driver is from his wheel here, the seatbelts, which usually won't budge a cm, allowed his helmet to come into contact with the wheel!!! That's some massive forces.