Could We See An Unlimited Class In Motor Racing?

[RobertGracie]

"The car must turn around in less than 1 hour" What does that mean?

Its like when you do a Land Speed record attempt, the car has to do 2 passes one going away and one returning within an hour to get the record if you are just 1 second late the record is voided, think of it like that

 

[davewilliams000]

They should have unlimited showcase events, where they take cars that compete in exisiting championships and remove the performance restrictions to show how fast they are capable of going. Basically what porsche did with the 919. So you can have everything from F1/GP2, LMP1/2, GT3/GTE, DTM and Super GT and WRC and WRX. At the end of the season a couple of the big manufacturers that do want to showcase their performance technology can come down to an FIA hosted event and see how fast their car can go when it's not being held back.

Yes I like the sound of this. I have as thinking of a similar idea (specifically how fast could a 2017/18 F1 car actaulla go if they removed the fuel flow restrictor) earlier today before reading this thread.

The problem with the main concept of the unlimited class posed in the original post, (apart from the safety aspect) is that if it took off then which manufacturers would realistically be able to afford to do this and all the many other series there are... They probably get better value for doing what they do now than some series where there are no limits and no end in sight to costs - yes F1 is expensive for teams like Mercedes and Ferrari but they can't pour unlimited money into it as after a certain point it's not worth it

 

[RobertGracie]

Yes I like the sound of this. I have as thinking of a similar idea (specifically how fast could a 2017/18 F1 car actaulla go if they removed the fuel flow restrictor) earlier today before reading this thread.

The problem with the main concept of the unlimited class posed in the original post, (apart from the safety aspect) is that if it took off then which manufacturers would realistically be able to afford to do this and all the many other series there are... They probably get better value for doing what they do now than some series where there are no limits and no end in sight to costs - yes F1 is expensive for teams like Mercedes and Ferrari but they can't pour unlimited money into it as after a certain point it's not worth it

I know its theoretical to do it but the cost of it kills the idea already, as for Safety yes thats another nail in the coffin too how can you protect a driver in a crash up at 250mph+ we havent got the technology to do it yet...

 

[Azdag]

What an awesome idea wow that reminds me of back at the birth of racing it has been done before sorry but not in this time and age of down sizing in the racing industry but will be glad to see this make a come back.

 

[howitzer155mm]

No regs, but there would need to be a budget limit, otherwise you get half billion dollar teams like Mercedes, dominating the entire era.

 

[RobertGracie]

No regs, but there would need to be a budget limit, otherwise you get half billion dollar teams like Mercedes, dominating the entire era.

Would you still have safety regulations so no team could build a bomb on wheels that could end up killing people?

 

[Kristaps Dzelzgalvis]

More fun with no safety, not only money and skill counts, but also bravery
Why bikes can have a crazy race, but cars don't
Imagine the time attack with unlimited class cars @ the TT track

 

[howitzer155mm]

Would you still have safety regulations so no team could build a bomb on wheels that could end up killing people?

Performance regs.

 

[RobertGracie]

Performance regs.

Yeah I agree, that should limit the stupidity like rockets completely out of it!

 

[Fonsecker]

I think it would be better to burn fuel than burning money. This idea of unlimited class is only money burning. We had this kind of classes many times in the history and all ended up in desaster.

In the end we only have one or two manufacturers with enough money that can participate in this "class"...

Racing needs rules, life needs rules...otherwise it will all end in a big desaster...

 

[AceSeptre]

It would be great to see an Unlimited Class, however the problem will always be money and marketability. An unlimited class would be EXTREMELY expensive. Porsche's 919 Tribute was at least loosely based on LMP1 rules and regulations; throw that out and it quickly becomes a money race. Also, I just don't think it translates well to television which is needed to create a financial incentive for teams to even consider spending the cash to develop an unlimited class car. As much as regulation can be stifling to motorsport, it also helps create the bounds in which racing can be incentivized for competitors to want to actually compete.

 

[Troy Barman]

I dont think there is much of a selling point to the series. You'd just be televising a Hot Lap session which would be pretty boring to watch in all honesty. Granted the cars would be amazing but the entertainment factor isnt there.

 

[SS454]

IF the 919 EVO ends up breaking some more track records that F1 cars have qualified on, then I could see a team like Red Bull or Mercedes unlock some restrictions just to reclaim the record. The truth is the 919 EVO isn't all that extensively modified. No fuel flow restriction for more power, and with DRS they could run a big high DF rear wing without the drag penalty. Then the side skirts that make a huge difference. A formula 1 car could do the exact same things and go 6 seconds faster easily.

However, a series will never present itself.
- As mentioned costs would be way too high.
- The cars would quickly become unsafe (risk of tire failures go up dramatically)
- The cars would be too fast for the drivers. G-suits would be required.
- There would be no racing each other. One because it'd be unsafe, and also because there would be too much difference between other cars.

 

[Durge Driven]

Before more series I think Motorsports dark overlord governing body needs
a good shake from the top down

P.S. Look at other top series thrive without them

 

[Maro_Marinov]

They should have unlimited showcase events, where they take cars that compete in exisiting championships and remove the performance restrictions to show how fast they are capable of going. Basically what porsche did with the 919. So you can have everything from F1/GP2, LMP1/2, GT3/GTE, DTM and Super GT and WRC and WRX. At the end of the season a couple of the big manufacturers that do want to showcase their performance technology can come down to an FIA hosted event and see how fast their car can go when it's not being held back.

Yep, that sounds just about perfect. And it's possible if there's will to do it.
But unlimited racing series... That I don't see coming at all.

 

[wombat999]

Never going to happen for many of the reasons already posted.
As for the CanAm series, it was dominated mostly by the Factory McLaren entries, however, when Jim Hall introduced his 'sucker' Chaparral the first 'restrictive' regulation was introduced in a series that initially had none.
The 'other' teams lobbied for this restriction for obvious reasons (money) only to find themselves under attack by Porsche and the 917 Turbo, which eventually resulted in the death of the CanAm.
Unlimited series (or is that Formula Libre?) generally fail through one manufacturer domination and little or no return on investment.
The pale shadow of CanAm that returned with envelope bodied F5000 cars was a farce and it too became a 'one make' series.

 

[RobertGracie]

Never going to happen for many of the reasons already posted.
As for the CanAm series, it was dominated mostly by the Factory McLaren entries, however, when Jim Hall introduced his 'sucker' Chaparral the first 'restrictive' regulation was introduced in a series that initially had none.
The 'other' teams lobbied for this restriction for obvious reasons (money) only to find themselves under attack by Porsche and the 917 Turbo, which eventually resulted in the death of the CanAm.
Unlimited series (or is that Formula Libre?) generally fail through one manufacturer domination and little or no return on investment.
The pale shadow of CanAm that returned with envelope bodied F5000 cars was a farce and it too became a 'one make' series.

From what I recall of CanAm, 1967 to 1971 McLaren Dominated then Porsche won it in 1972 with the 917/10 and a year later it blew the doors off everyone with the 1580bhp Porsche 917/30 Spyder and then the rule makers got in and limited it to 3mpg(US) the Porsche couldnt do that and they were forced out

 

[Turk]

Safety isn't really a major concern anymore. I can't remember the last time a driver had some serious injury after an impact that might happen by unreliable aero/suspension. If anything bad happened it was due to tyres or pieces coming off...

That's because of limits and safety regulations though. They knew how to make cars that were strong in the past they just didn't do it because they wanted to win more than they wanted to protect the drivers.

The only way I can see an unlimited series work is if people are taken out of the equation. Unlimited cars would be extremely dangerous for a person to drive. Take that risk out and you can try whatever you want and I'd like to see it. It would become more of a engineering competition and less or a sport.

Sport is generally two or more people competing against each other. If you want a fair competition between people then you kind of need a somewhat level playing ground. So that means limits and regulations to stop people gaining a technological advantage over their competition. F1 treads a fine line where engineering is half the sport and in a way if you remove that engineering aspect you've basically turned the cars into very elaborate gokarts that are all the same and If all we cared about was fair competitive racing we'd all be watching go kart racing.

 

[Isaac Chavira]

You are perfectly describing my view on motorsports. No more silly regulations (with exception of safety rules of course) dumbing everything down. Instead use the full resources of R&D to achieve the fastest driving cars on track. Love this idea!

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[Andrew Whelan]

if you remove that engineering aspect you've basically turned the cars into very elaborate gokarts that are all the same and If all we cared about was fair competitive racing we'd all be watching go kart racing.

To be honest go kart racing is very, very fun to watch. should we make the f1 cars drive like karts, very low downforce and have a 1:1 power to weight power ratio. where it will be driver against driver, but from making all the cars look like indy car let the teams do whatever they want to a certain limit. like, cannot go above a downforce level and can't be wider and longer than a certain dimension, kind of like karting rules. This would make for a lot closer racing, just like grassroots racing