Your ideal / fantasy motor racing formula - what would it look like?

Admiral Byng

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May 3, 2009
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Just a flight of fancy here, for a bit of fun.

Assume money is not a problem (fantasy), but you wanted to create a new motor racing formula or category that best fits your tastes. What would it look like, what sort of rules would you come up with?

To start with mine. I like driver skill in overtaking, and race strategy in equal measure. I like technological development but it does tend to lead to boring racing if one team completely dominates all the time through having some innovation nobody else has. I know this is meant to reward innovation and all that, but over time it does tend to favour the teams with the biggest budgets in a sort of feedback loop that entrenches certain teams at the top and makes it really hard for new teams to compete. On the other hand completely identical formula racing can be boring too.

So I would like to go somewhere in between the two. I've been thinking about it off an on. Coming up with a way of separating the engineering development from the racing. I'd split them into separate sides of the formula. So my first rule is engineering development teams can't race their own cars, likewise the racing teams can't do any development but need to buy their cars and parts from engineering teams. This would hopefully lead to new advancements finding their way quickly through the field - it would be in the interests of the engineering teams to sell as many of their parts to as many teams as possible.

I would made the cars themselves based on a identical central chassis, with teams having a choice of engines, tyres, front wing and rear wing to assemble their package. Front and rear wing would be of fixed configuration, so some strategy is involved in picking the right one for the right track.

I think I would cap the amount of money each team can spend on the car. Perhaps by introducing a credit system. Teams buy a licence for the year and get a certain number of "Formula Byng Credit Notes" which they spend over the season. Obviously the amount has to last the whole season, so they have to be a bit careful managing the purchase of new engines and new wings and the like.

For tyres, I'd like a choice of several suppliers. Tyres would not be supplied directly to individual teams, but bought in bulk by the league and then distributed to the teams. Teams would have the option at the start of the season of sticking to one make of tyres for a fixed price, or buying tyres at each race through an auction system. I'd make teams use 2 different tyres during a race, but I'd allow each manufacturer to count as a different type. For example an ABC medium compound would count as different to a XYZ medium compound. So if a particular race track favoured a medium tyre the best strategy would be to have a set of mediums from each supplier, but that would have to be at an auction. But if you decided to chose one brand of tyre you'd go the medium and then have to choose between a harder or softer for your second stint. Teams might take the second option to have more money to spend on other parts of the car. So the field ends up with lots of cars on different tyre strategies.

I'd like the car to be open wheelers, somewhere around a Formula 2 spec, maybe a bit higher. The idea is that there would be a multitude of strategies on the starting grid for each race to make it interesting. Also that the cars would be good enough to attract some good talent to drive them.
 
Aug 10, 2011
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Carlton
It's hard to go through the effort you have.

I'll just begin by taking the current F1 series. Remove the wings, no mandatory stops or use of multiple compound of tyres. Remove any means of "unnatural advantages" like what Hamilton got with vsc at Russia. I'd also implement a rule where one can lose out "unnaturally" with double stacking during a safety car period, like what Bottas was subject to in Monaco.
 
Oct 7, 2001
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Collingwood
You build cars with tanks smaller than the races require.
Then the tactical battle begins. If you have a car that’s good on tyre degradation then you fuel big at the start.
If you chew tyres you fuel low and make it a sprint until your tyre change.
Good fun.

Aren‘t F1 races “distance” races already? Regs say race must be 300kms, except for Mononco.
 
As this is all about dreaming...

Id like to see a combined event where an all electric component and an all ICE component was in play.
1/2 race distance on ICE, 1/2 on battery.

Put the cat amongst the birdies.
 
Oct 7, 2001
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Collingwood
Hadn't thought of that. I thought it got phased out of F1 for safety reasons.
Not according to Toto.
Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said: "We discussed many topics. Refuelling was banned because of cost and because the pit stops were taking too long. But we want to re-explore it and see if we can make pit stops for fuel and tyres happen in the same time it takes to change the tyres now - two to three seconds.

"We have agreed to explore this avenue and the cost involved because it could be spectacular. If it's too expensive, we won't do it."
 

Klyntonius

Norm Smith Medallist
Jan 9, 2004
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For me, my dream series would just be current MotoGP opening up engine regs to allow for different engine configurations (I want V5s and triples dammit!!) and multiple tyre suppliers.
 
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