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In 2008 Minardi could buy someone else's car

Max has just proposed another rule changes for 2008 this time. Only 10% of current downforce, wider cars, 1 tire supplier, slicks, V8's, manual clutches but one thing is really interesting:
CAR ACQUISITION

Teams will be free to buy a complete car or any part of a car from another constructor
How constructor’s points are to be allocated will be clearly defined after further discussion

Reason

to enable a team to buy a complete car, or any part of a car, from another constructor. As a result teams will be able to save considerable sums of money on the design and development of their cars.
Discuss!

Comments

  • The Seventies are back boys!!
  • yeah, isn't that the NASCAR specification.
  • And the big wheels turns. The A23/PS04b argument reigns again.
  • I think I'd have to boycott.
  • why not?
  • Bravo Max.

    "We need more emphasis on rules which allow a clever but underfunded team to defeat a less competent but richer rival ... this is essential for independent teams which rely on sponsorship and income from the commercial rights holder".

    No-one can disagree with that, espcially here!

    I have no problem with Minardi buying chassis and running them well. The current situation is unsustainable.
  • But being a constructor is what F1 is all about!

    I agree with everything the FIA are proposing except the sale of chassis. That just creates a 2 division formula.

    Control costs (and restrict the advantages of those with bigger budgets) with the standard parts, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
  • all those one-supplier rules makes future F1 more like a "works"series like GP2, WorldSeries, etc.....
  • Well, I'm less of an oily-rag than many people here, although I am reasonably interested in the tech stuff. Most fans couldn't give a stuff about who designed what. In the current climate there's no way the independents are going to progress. Zillions are spent on wind tunnels and testing and for what? For the rich to get richer - and even they can't afford it!

    Was Tyrrell's first championship any less worthy because it used Matra? It's the racing I care about and the independents having a 'fair go' (an Australian idiom, I believe). Despite everything that's gone on between Stoddie and Max, I think he's still got our best interests at heart.

    Constructor? Of what? On whose terms?

    Race team, that's what I want.
  • I would feel better about it if we still layed the carbon and it was made to our own specs. Similar to how we used March's in the past.
  • I'm not sure that this regualtion is aimed at Minardi as we already have the infrastructure in place to produce a chassis within our budget and have doone so in the past with pretty good results.

    So if the cost cutting works enabling us to spend a greater percentage of our funds on the chassis and development we shouldn't need to buy it in and still be more competative.

    I would say this is aimed at getting new teams to start, see if they can do it and develop into constructors.
  • When flipups, bardgeboards and winglets are banned it will be easier to produce a decent competitive chassis.
  • Race teams are 10 a penny, fly by night, rootless things. F1 constructors are serious entities, with a stake in the sport's future. If this rule came in, Stoddart would close Faenza in a flash, and be running the team out of his scrapyard in Ledbury.

    Also, F1 should be about dreaming you can win. Every entrant should go into each season hoping they can blow all of the others away and win, if they do a better job. That can never be the case if you go into the season with someone else's car from the previous year. And even in the new Division 2 it will come down to money - the rich buy McLarens, the poor get fobbed off with cheapo Saubers.

    The rule is designed to defray costs for bigger teams, not help the smaller ones. It destroys the biggest asset Minardi has - the ability to actually construct an F1 car. That counts for nothing if anyone can come in with a load of cash, buy last years Renault, and blow you away.


    I thought Stoddart and EJ were the ones who used to be against this rule.
  • Nope - not going to buy into it Viges old bean. If it is not BUILT BY MINARDI to a MINARDI design then it is not a MINARDI.

    I would have trouble with that - well trouble with all of F1 if it went that way.

    That is why CART, IRL and to some extent NASCAR all suck.
  • So, what is this? Another ploy to retain the status quo by solving the budget problems of the teams via cutting costs, rather than giving them a bigger slice of the pie? Because pie is good, and those who have it, do not want to share it.

    This can't be a serious proposal. What about GP2, Nissan WorldSeries, CART or any other series for that matter? They could run around in circles around the "pinnacle of motorsport" F1-cars. Sure, cost cutting is needed, but this plan is just plain silly.

    My shadow-plan:

    - Engine life to be prolonged to 6 races for a start. Changing the engine prematurely should cause a penalty in the form of added weight. FIA ECU's, eliminating traction control.

    - Gear change; manual paddle for both up & downshifts.

    - Allow purchasing of parts and technology from other constructors. Basically, same as FIA suggestion.

    - Testing; a stricter limit than the proposed 30,000 km.

    - Aerodynamics: Compromise between the current situation and the FIA suggestion. Limit the possibility to introduce flipups and other clutter to increase downforce. Giving the designers less space to play with will ultimately lead to lower costs, as plowing money to aerodynamic research will produce less and less benefit.
  • A lot of these changes look like an exercise in Kite flying.
    Really the FIA should concentrate on finding aero solutions that make it easier for one car to follow another without being seriuosly affected by the turbulence.
    As for buying another teams chassis, its a recipe for a one make formula. The racing in those formula is not great eiher. The present excitement comes from the variables provided by differing tyres, chassis and engine suppliers.
  • I'm with Emmet and Petrol on this one.

    Build your car and race it.

    The FIA should NOT be concerning themselves with evening the field, apart from ensuring that rules are applied fairly to everyone.

    If Bernie wants to even things up to increase the interest and revenues, then he should look at the distribution of costs and revenues between teams. You still need the incentives for the winners.

    But what about the other changes?

    Single tyre supplier, slicks, no driver aids, etc. ?


    [Edited on 18/6/2005 by Dr_Spin]
  • Slicks? even more money will be spent by the tyre companies relearning the technology. Plus everyone will have to design a new car to suit them, and the development cycle starts again.
    Can't think the manufacturers or tyre companies will be happy with the changes proposed. They want a technology series, where they can demonstrae their expertise and where the tyre companies can show the public the trade off onto road cars.
    These proposals are guaranteed to cause a split in the sport. You cannot control spending in a performance formula.
  • Max doesn't want the manufacturers. He wants 3 or 4 of them to be involved in much the same way as happens in NASCAR - provide the badge and some cash, get your name on television.

    We've got a technology driven formula now, and it is rapidly pricing itself out of existence. The basic thrust of what Max is proposing is not too bad, but they have to watch out that they retain some of the things that make F1 a cut above the rest. The requirement that each team build their own car must be critical, surely?
  • Yes, Quite!
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