As this was bumped today, I guess I'll put in some more. Cannot remember where I read about it, but there is a reason why I have numerous external harddrives, two old HDD's in my PC, a couple of "old-style" SSD's and some M2's... and cannot find anything. Not organized, and a lot of stuff saved. Aaanyway.
The Cosworth F1 car.
So, it was never meant to be the most aerodynamical thing in the world... quite obviously. Back when it was made, 1969, the main issue in F1 wasn't so much the aero and how to generate the most downforce while still being slick. The biggest issue was a general lack of grip. Keith Duckworth (that's the "worth" part of Cosworth) designed a 4WD transmission for the car, which was meant to help with traction in general, and that being a bigger positive than the extra weight being a negative. However, the car was heavy, and not very fast. Not helped by wings actually becoming a thing in F1 through the late 60's, and helping the traction issues in a way that didn't cost performance through weight in the same fashion. Cosworth therefor retired the car before it ever got to race.
There was a boom in 4WD cars in 1969, all Cosworth-powered. The Lotus 63, which John Miles raced for half the 69 season without much success. Even Graham Hill, Mario Andretti and Jochen Rindt tried it out. Swiss-Swede Joakim Bonnier even had one for his private team for one race. McLaren had their Mclaren M9A, which McLaren himself raced once, and never used again. Matra also had their MS84, tested by Beltoise and Jackie Stewart, and used for a few races by Johnny Gavin, who actually scored the only points in F1 by a 4WD car in 1969.
Arguably, had those cars been there in 1968, they would've had much more success, and 68 saw many races affected by rain, while 1969 was for all intent and purposes a bone dry season. The last 4WD car that was raced in F1 was the gas turbine Lotus 56, which, according to Colin Chapman should've won in 1971 in a rainy Dutch GP if not for David Walker crashing. (That is the same Walker who didn't score a single point for Lotus in 72 when Emerson Fittipaldi became champion for Lotus).
Anyway, BRM also had an unraced 4WD car, the P67
Ferguson (Of Massey Ferguson!) developed a 4WD system meant for F1 cars in the early 60's, and the Ferguson P99 was born. It was raced by Rob Walker's team, who most famously ran the Cooper team where Stirling Moss raced. Rob Walker entered it in one single World Championship event, but numerous non-championship F1 races, and even won the Gold Cup in 1961 with Stirling Moss racing it. With the death of Ferguson himself, the company changed focus to car manufacturers instead of racing, and offered the 4WD system to any F1 team who wanted it. BRM got it for their 1964 P67. 1970 Le Mans Winner Richard Atwood qualified the car last for the 1964 British GP and pulled out.
Saying that the BRM P67 was unraced might be a bit wrong, as it was sold on and in private hands (with some changes), it won the British Hillclimb Championship, but it never raced where it was meant to.
While being in the 60's, a car that was never meant to race. The Pininfarina Ferrari Sigma from 1969. A prototype that was supported by Ferrari, Fiat and Mercedes(!), designed by Pininfarina inspired by the high numbers of deaths in F1 in those times. The car was based on the Ferrari 312 that Ferrari raced in F1 the last years of the 60's, and had a V12 Ferrari engine.
It was meant to show off new safety standards that could be used. It had a survival cell for the driver, multi-layered fuel tanks of plastic, an onboard fire extunguisher system, safety belts and sidepods, wings and bumpers to avoid interlocking wheels. All back in 1969. I think it looks quite good to be fair.
Lastly we got the funny looking 1993 Simtek concept.
Look at how the front suspension is made, but due to rule changes it was too late to the party as it was outlawed. Now, Wirth Reserach became somewhat of a meme and laughing stock with the Virgin F1 car that didn't have a large enough fuel tank, and wasn't a big success in the 2010 and 2011. With F1 cars that was developed purely by CFD and never saw a wind tunnel. This failure have to a degree tainted his reputation and also affected how many view Simtek in F1 in 94 and 95 due to Nick Wirth. Regardless, after working with Adrian Newey at Leyton House and leaving to create Simtek, the company designed and F1 car for BMW in late 1990. Which reportedly BMW aborted to join DTM instead in 1991, while Simtek ran the 3-series cars.
For 1992 that BMW design was somewhat updated and sold to Andrea Moda. Then for 1993, Simtek was hired by Bravo GP to make their F1 car. However, the spanish team (which had Adrian Campos involved), lost their backer when he suddenly died, and the team never ran. The picture above is for the Bravo car/updated design.
Then Wirth decided to try to enter F1 himself. Jack Brabham bought in to the team, David Brabham joined as a driver. The car were to feature active suspension (something Wirth reportedly developed for March before starting Simek), but like so much other, it was outlawed. Simtek's history is well known. A 94 season filled with challenges, and tragedy. 1995 looked much better but they ran out of money.
The interesting thing here is the design, and what potential it really had. The 1995, S951 car was a evolution of the S941 from 94. Which in turn was an evolution of the S931 Bravo Car pictured above, which was made directly from the blueprint of the Andrea Moda S921, which in turn was basically designed back in late 1990 for the stillborn BMW project. With how fast F1 was moving in the 90's, the rate of development and money. It is quite impressive that an underfunded team with under 50 employees ran in the points in an F1 race in 1995 with a car that and the groundworks done in 1990. When looking at the Andrea Moda S921 and the Simtek S941 there are loads of similarities.
Of course, that wasn't unique back then. Forti-Corse's first F1 car, the FG01 was pretty much a reworked Fondmetal GR02 or the stillborn GR03 project from Sergio Rinland. Rinland who after all was the one helping Forti with their FG01. But as those cars all raced, or at least started a GP, that's a story for somewhere else.
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