Should F1 learn from Gordon Murray's T.50?

[JordanMugen]

Gordon Murray's T.50 hypercar (to all intents and purposes a racing car, but one that comes with a 50,000 mile warranty and some level of road legality) features his philosophy of:

- Fan-extraction underbody downforce
- Active aerodynamics
- A naturally aspirated high-revving 3.9L V12 engine
- A H-pattern manual transmission
- A cable-operated throttle
[ source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT8PMXCMrsM ]

Should Formula One's regulators learn from Murray's ideas, or is Gordon Murray just an old bloke stuck in the past?

[wesley123]

Learn what, exactly?

[Just_a_fan]

You mean should F1 go back and allow the old Brabham fan car concept be reused?

[RZS10]

Is the question "Should F1 teams iterate upon their 1992 car concepts"?

[randomdude]

Fan extraction would be great, but only after shortening the wheelbase.
Then the cars can approach the tight bends like jetsprint boats

[jjn9128]

Yes/No/Maybe.

I don't think NA is ever going to return in F1 and a 3.9li V12 is just pipe dream. Even Indycar is going to some variation on a hybrid. The future, at least until the Formula E exclusive electric licence runs out, looks like 2 stroke with some sort of bio fuel. Which could be very interesting or it could be just as dire as the current power unit.

Proper manual gearboxes would be interesting... it's something Frank Dernie talks about a lot, i.e. many of the overtakes in the past mostly being a result of driver error missing a gear change. Over-revs or carelessness meant lesser/inexperienced drivers would break their cars too. You could also have a foot-cam of some heel-and-toe action teams won't go for it though, certainly not with the limit per-season.

Cable throttle again is something which could lead to driver error, but just isn't feasible with the hybrid systems. Having a linear pedal-torque map makes the cars/power easier to drive. Not easy, but easier.

Active aero and fans could be an interesting development. Especially as the purpose of the fan is to suck away the boundary layer, it should increase energy in the wake.

The Gordon Murray add lightness approach should be at the forefront of the rule makers minds, but they keep adding weight to already tubby cars.

So while I agree with the opinion F1 probably should go more manual and simpler in it's execution, it wont. I'd love Red Bull to get tired of F1 and start their own championship along that principal, but they wont.

[Big Tea]

Most of the concepts are no longer allowed in F1 because they were too effective.

[Ringleheim]

Eventually Formula One will realize that is has more or less zero relevance to the automotive industry, and that is 100% about entertainment.

It exists to spend money, consume resources and be wasteful, all in the name of fun.

When F1 figures this out, we will have high revving V12 engines once again. I really believe this. Or at least hope this.

The change will come, most likely, when F1 is dying and facing extinction. As long as the sport is healthy, they will stubbornly try to do it their way.

I've been a fan since the mid '80s; F1 has never been more "sick" than right now.

[PlatinumZealot]

Gordon Murray's T.50 hypercar (to all intents and purposes a racing car, but one that comes with a 50,000 mile warranty and some level of road legality) features his philosophy of:

- Fan-extraction underbody downforce
- Active aerodynamics
- A naturally aspirated high-revving 3.9L V12 engine
- A H-pattern manual transmission
- A cable-operated throttle
[ source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT8PMXCMrsM ]

Should Formula One's regulators learn from Murray's ideas, or is Gordon Murray just an old bloke stuck in the past?

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/im ... bqsslo.jpg

To make things even more interesting Gordon himself said the car is more of a "GT" car than an all out track car.

One the cable throttle... I am sure Gordon said he initially planned for a cable, he didnt push it enough and Cosworth made it Drive by wire.. But it was good because the car got the capability to use different throttle maps?

[Jolle]

Eventually Formula One will realize that is has more or less zero relevance to the automotive industry, and that is 100% about entertainment.

It exists to spend money, consume resources and be wasteful, all in the name of fun.

When F1 figures this out, we will have high revving V12 engines once again. I really believe this. Or at least hope this.

The change will come, most likely, when F1 is dying and facing extinction. As long as the sport is healthy, they will stubbornly try to do it their way.

I've been a fan since the mid '80s; F1 has never been more "sick" than right now.

The high revving V12 only won one championship in the last 40 years and none during the mid eighties. We had flat bottom high powered turbo V6 engines then with a fuel limit and one team dominating, putting the whole field on a lap more then once.

[JordanMugen]

The high revving V12 only won one championship in the last 40 years and none during the mid eighties.

Surely you have to include flat-12 engines used in the 10 years before that as well in those statistics?

If the displacement limit in 1966 had been increased from 1.5L to 4.0 or 4.5L, then perhaps 12-cylinder engines would have been more optimal than 8-cylinder ones? It would presumably have taken longer for the 1.5L supercharged option to become superior to a larger 4.5L NA option too.

As it was at 3.0L, the 12-cylinders like Hondas, Ferraris and Matras were a bit too heavy (and BRM 16-cylinder even worse), but that didn't stop Honda from building bikes with 250cc inline-six four-stroke engines (which would have been a still tiny 500cc in V12 form!).

This was Honda’s formula for four-stroke racing success: many tiny cylinders, four-valve heads and stratospheric engine speeds. ... The engineer put in charge of revitalizing the 250cc platform was 24-year-old Soichiro Irimajiri. Young Iri-san’s solution was simple: more cylinders! The RC165 he created, powered by an inline-six with six carburetors and 24 valves, was an engineering masterpiece.
https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/honda-rc166-250-6/


Honda RC166 piston

Perhaps Murrary is indeed stuck in the past with a V12 engine obsession, when both Ford GT and Honda NSX engineers instead arrived at the V6 twin-turbo being the optimal supercar engine...

[randomdude]

Perhaps Murrary is indeed stuck in the past with a V12 engine obsession, when both Ford GT and Honda NSX engineers instead arrived at the V6 twin-turbo being the optimal supercar engine...

Too bad, I wanted a 4 banger twin scroll single turbo engine which sounds way better.

[bill shoe]

Gordon Murray's T.50 hypercar (to all intents and purposes a racing car, but one that comes with a 50,000 mile warranty and some level of road legality) features his philosophy of:

- A cable-operated throttle
[ source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT8PMXCMrsM ]

One the cable throttle... I am sure Gordon said he initially planned for a cable, he didnt push it enough and Cosworth made it Drive by wire.. But it was good because the car got the capability to use different throttle maps?

Is it even possible to use modern ESC (Electronic Stability Control, which the car has) without an electronically controllable throttle?

[Jolle]

Gordon Murray's T.50 hypercar (to all intents and purposes a racing car, but one that comes with a 50,000 mile warranty and some level of road legality) features his philosophy of:

- A cable-operated throttle
[ source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT8PMXCMrsM ]

One the cable throttle... I am sure Gordon said he initially planned for a cable, he didnt push it enough and Cosworth made it Drive by wire.. But it was good because the car got the capability to use different throttle maps?

Is it even possible to use modern ESC (Electronic Stability Control, which the car has) without an electronically controllable throttle?

Of course, just cut the injectors or pre time the ignition.

You do need to have an ABS pump on the brakes with some extra trickery

[adrianjordan]

Gordon Murray's T.50 hypercar (to all intents and purposes a racing car, but one that comes with a 50,000 mile warranty and some level of road legality) features his philosophy of:

- Fan-extraction underbody downforce
- Active aerodynamics
- A naturally aspirated high-revving 3.9L V12 engine
- A H-pattern manual transmission
- A cable-operated throttle
[ source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT8PMXCMrsM ]

Should Formula One's regulators learn from Murray's ideas, or is Gordon Murray just an old bloke stuck in the past?

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/im ... bqsslo.jpg

Murray, along with half the posters on here, is stuck in the distant past.

F1 has to move forward, not look back.

I also think fans have rose tinted glasses about the old F1. It wasn't that great.