I have read several times that, apparently, flipups were banned on F1 cars during the early 90s. But, how was this rule enforced? They obviously didn't use today's rule of using a tangent curve, so what did they use? I can't find anything anywhere...
I ask because I was trying to envisage how the cars were kept 'clean' whilst still leaving room for innovation. I thought that perhaps the rules from this era may be worth going back to, for F1 cars in the future...
"Make the suspension adjustable and they will adjust it wrong ......
look what they can do to a carburetor in just a few moments of stupidity with a screwdriver." - Colin Chapman
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” - Leonardo da Vinci
After Senna had his fatal crash there was a bit of a knee jerk reaction half way through the season an lots of aero was cut down/removed front flaps,turning vanes,barge boards and rear diffusers etc
Led to one of the biggest crashes there has ever been involving a F1 car,but hardly any pictures exist
Lotus were the 1st with a modded car an hired silverstone for a private test,there use to be stays from the rear wing endplate to the rear diffuser to support it but what people hadnt realised over the past couple of seasons as diffusers an wings had grown was how these stays also acted as supports for the entire rear wing
Few laps into the test Pedro Lamy was coming down the back straight at Silverstone when due to less support the rear wing started to osscillate an then the complete assembly snapped off from the gearbox,car became airboard an cleared the armco,then hit the RSJ holding the spectator fence and bent it at 90DEG
This ripped the front wing fron the nose box,the nosebox from the chassis and sheared the chassis COMPLETLY around the dash bulkhead
All four corners were ripped off,the gearbox was ripped from the engine and the engine was ripped from the chassis and ruptured the fuel cell an caused quite a fire.The remains of the chassis/firball came to rest on the pedestrian tunnel that heads under the track at that point
Pedro ended up with over 20 fractures in his legs but was VERY VERY lucky to survive
Only bit of fun about the whole episode was the 1st person on the scene was Jonny Herbert who rushed over an held Pedros helmet to stabilise his neck,as he came too pedro was looking down the tunnel an actually thought he could "see the light" an that was it for him,Jonny soon informed him "your in a tunnel you fool"
If this had happened during the GP the loss of life could of been terrible
No film exists of the crash but if i ever get the time to dig them out i have the pictures from when we did the autopsy on the remains to find out what happened
Made Martin Donnelly,s crash look tame (and that was a bad one!)
Just so so lucky it wasnt a race day or the loss of life would of been terrible
