Old school single seater racing.

[Taxi645]

Is there any high power low downforce single seater class?

I'd really love to see a high power low down force single seater racing class, with roughly the following specs:

• 500-600kg
• about 500hp (engine lasts a whole season)
• High mechanical grip
• Very minimal downforce with very restricted aerodynamic foils (long braking distance, close cornering).
• high slip angle tires (more sideways driving)
  
• Construction as safe as F1
• width roughly max 150cm.

To be honest, I reckon high downforce cars take away a lot of fun and skill from racing. The high downforce makes braking ultra short and overtaking action in corner somewhat limited. What if we had a new single seater class with low downforce (roughly 312B levels), with low weight with reasonable power to have very fast acceleration, but acceptable top speeds and a shortage of traction. Furthermore tires with high slip angles, so we see more driver skill and sideways action. The narrow cars with low downforce will allow much more overtaking, but modern technology would make sure the cars would be safe.

Suitable engine, Porsche V8 from the RS Spyder, which would also give it an appealing name; Formula Porsche (obviously a Zytec or Judd V8 or other engines would be fine as well).

This class would have the following aims:

- Pretty equal, narrow and low downforce cars resulting in lot's of overtaking action.
- More sideways driving due to the low down force and high slip angle tires.
Very fast cars due the very good power to weight ratio, yet top speed remains reasonable because of moderate absolute power.
- Affordable with existing and long lasting engines and no team based aerodynamic testing.
- Safe due to modern technology and safety conscious design.

I often hear people talking about the golden days of motorsport as if the laws of physics have changed and all that is not possible any more, but for those of us that don't see cornering speed as the main criteria for a good race a single seater class like this is much more attractive and technically very possible I would say. Any thoughts?

[John Clucas]

I think a fair number of us would agree with you - and there have been attempts to establish a new formula along similar lines. The trouble is
1)There are already too many formuli and fitting in a new one, however good, means another one gets pushed out
2) A non-aero formula would, in lap time terms, be quite slow, and so would have difficulty establishing credibility.

Don't get me wrong - I really think point 2 SHOULD be wrong, but it isn't.

Let's put it this way, in the "single seater" world I think that karting produces the best racing, followed by the likes of Formula Ford (and other non aero series) with F3, FR and F1 a long long way behind.

But that is not how the world sees it. Rather sad...

[Taxi645]

Forgot about this thread, sorry. Here's a blog entry what such a car might look like (high slip angle tires being optional):

http://formula-porsche.blogspot.com/