+1. What good would be F1 to end up like IRL?

 

LOL.................... Ferrari is throwing a tantrum , calm down ladies , Ferrari is going no where..... just a little pissing on maxie's back and telling him its raining tactic

The sport currently has spec tires and Spec ECU's , Spec engines eliminate the developemt necessary to compete , freeing up cash for teams and sponsors alike . F1 had spec engines in the 70 's ( cosworth, look it up wikipetey, so you can follow along ) and later tires
( goodyear ) this would make the sport what it was really meant to be , a constructor and drivers Championship ..... not engine supplier championship.

NOTE AMIGO"S : I like the sport the way it is now , but understand where they are going with this, considering current economic conditions.

IN the 70's teams could join build there chassis and had the same engine package as every other team because of the cosworth engine. Now of course toyota and Ferrari will now have a problem with this , they have the biggest budgets and toyota for eg. wants to win a F1 championship in a bad way because of honda . THese manufacturers will not stay in f1 unless, they can win with there respective engine package. NONE would !

OK to the scenario at hand , say Toyota becomes sole engine provider , then F1 would be back to being a constructors series and any economic down turn would not affect the sport as auto manufactures run away., smaller budgets would suffice.....

who benefits from this , the british ! who are mostly constructors , the team owners , as team india and ferrari has the exact engine package and cost ..... My opinion this will not fly in it's current form , but it is inevitable. If and when they do go to a spec engine , i believe it will be from Toyota. Why, most of F1 new markets are Toyota's biggest market and they have the deepest pockets... what about Ferrari ? ahhhhhh the caveat !

 

Wayne - was there really a spec engine back in the DFV days or was it that Lotus, Tyrell, Brahbam, Walker etc. did not build engines. I suspect that Ferrari used their own engines.

 

You are right. There was never a spec engine in F1. Back in the day the Cosy was available to be purchased by independent teams. It was a great and competitive engine in an era that most teams were just independent. In 1972 Ford Cosy powered engines won every single GP. Ferrari always run their own engines and there were others like the French Matra who were the engines in Ligier, the BRM's in the early 70's, Alfa Romeo with flat and V12's and for those of us who are old enough to remember watching F1 in the 70's who can forget the introduction of Turbo engines by Renault!

 

+1

 

How could they even propose a spec engine? Way off.

 

I think the thinking is that with a spec engine, the teams can then differentiate themselves with the KERs propulsion.

 

It would suit me just fine if F1 faded into the background and Sports Car racing re-emerged. The cars are so much more beautiful.

 

Thanks Danny and Bob, I couldn't get to my computer fast enough. Wayne is incorrect again. Never was a spec engine and Ferrari has ALWAYS run Ferrari engines since their start in F1 in 1950.

 

That's what I thought too. I didn't think they ever used spec engines, but rather various engine sizes, ie Ferrari with a V12, but others with 8 cyl and 10 cyl all on the track at same time. Interesting times.

 

If they really want to save the teams money, maybe they can all go race in one of these:




I think the mix of NA and turbo motors back in the day made F1 quite interesting, in a nerdy engineering way. Subbing displacement for forced induction.

Waiting to see how KERS goes.
Be hilarious when F1 goes all electric. Watch teams slam in battery packs during pit stops.
But the monstrous torque would be awesome to watch.

 

THe Cossie was used by the majoritiy of the teams and the DFV - literally meaning "Double Four Valve". This engine, and its derivatives were used for a quarter of a century, and it was the most successful in the history of Formula 1 .

During the 1970s, it was not uncommon for almost the entire field (with the notable exception of Ferrari) to be using one of these engines - this at a time when individuals could buy exactly the same engine off the shelf that was also being used by McLaren et al. Most teams just built a tub around a Cosworth DFV and a Hewland gearbox.

With the exception of matra and ferrari everyone else ran a cossie... while it was never designated a spec engine, with 90% of the field using it, F1 basically became a spec engine, series at some point during the 70"s until the return of renault wiith there turbo in late 70's it was only or mostly Cossies and the 2 cars powered by Ferrari .....the 80's saw the return of Auto manufacturers..

I'm sure if they return to a " Spec " engine , Ferrari will build there engines and everyone else on the spec engine

 

THE EVIL EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

Well Emperor Ecclestone and his minion Darth Mosley have responded to the threat of Ferrari.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/71797

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/71492

Basically Darth Mosley has put it onto the teams to make budget cuts. And in the second article the Emperor Ecclestone does some backing off worthy of a Presidential hopeful.

Toyota urges against knee jerk reactions.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/71277

FIA can't afford to lose Ferrari the same Ferrari can't leave F1. The two are interlinked. Which is why I thought the threat was funny.

Te bottom line:
FIA will modify their stance and Ferrari will come to an a stance that will embarace the spirit of cost cutting.

And they will Max some new costumes and some new hookers so he will be happy.

I think that making the engines last longer is one easy way to cut costs.

Both Ferrari and F1 can't afford to leave each other. I violates the rule never have a customer you can't afford to lose.

And besides, if Ferrari leaves what would Alonso do?


This silly season will be fun.

 

You cannot compare the 70's and the now. You seem to be very young and therefore informed about this era via the internet and wikipedia which I'm afraid cannot tell the whole story about the engines nor the technology back then. You crudely describe in your post an F1 car of that era as a tub with an engine but you are so far away from that reality. For those of us who lived and worked without a cell phone, without internet or email, or even a fax, we remember the flat fan stuck in the back of the Brahbam powered by an Alfa Romeo engine and the commotion that it struck when it first appeared. i remember faintly the announcers talking about it on TV in awe. We remember the 6 wheel Tyrrell and the ground effect skirts of the Lotus. Yes the Ford Cosworth ( yes it was a Ford engine) was a popular and strong engine, in an era that the technology was what it was and engines could rev in a screaming for the era 10-12 grand. The budgets were lower and things were more crude compared to the marvels of technology in this day and age, BUT the teams back then never stopped pushing the envelope and advancing technology through the means and know how of the era just like they do today. The difference is cost. Today engines are still for sale, but no team can afford them unless they have a pretty hefty budget. Even back then the "tubs" as you characterize them were braking the technology rules, albeit at a more affordable cost as the use of the exotic materials that are used today are so expensive.
Will it be ever possible to return to the costs and format of the F1 in the 70's? No way. Can they cut costs? For sure. However changing what F1 has always been since way back when, the fore front of technology and speed, it would be a crime in my opinion.

 

What can i say ?

Danny ,
you seem to be old and forgetful the tyrell had a ford and the majority of the f1 cars of the era had cossies. this domination carried thru until 1984...

Read again and you would see where i said apart from Ferrari and the odd engine , etc, the majority ran Fords thats a fact not my opinion and to not know this while claiming to watching the race's live , is astonishing , as you are implying otherwise ... and to your implied questions , i started to follow the sport in 76 and very much aware of the era .. designs , drivers and riff raff !

i still stand behind my original statement, in regards to the era . F1 at the time was very much or as close as you could get to a spec engine series .. It is quite possibly why
those in charge today and was involved back then believes it could work today in curbing cost .