Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Mallett
So as I believe Mr B is alluding, we need to see a total re write of the rules to make sure there is racing. If that means doing away with over complicated engines/eight speed gearboxes, wings, daft floors that are wings and other gubbins, then it will assist the smaller teams.
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I think I missed this when I posted above. So I agree with you Peter. I think the sport needs to be simpler. To my point above, this should help reduce the mandatory spend. The bare minimum to get on track. That amount is too high due to complex solutions.
Where I am focused is to prevent the story below.
I will get details wrong, but in mid 2000's in the US there was the SCCA D Sports class of racing. This is club racing. Quick cars, but plus or minus, relatively basic prototype race cars and I believe relatively stable and affordable. A gun named Scott Tucker (now in prison) decided he wanted to win that championship. It became prestigious for him. So he dumped a bunch of money into pushing the envelope on what could be done. His discretionary budget was insanely high. He got what he wanted, but he also changed the face of DSR via the solutions he brought to the class. He killed what had been a relatively affordable and popular class of racing.
I think that story is F1 in a nutshell. The goal of what I am talking about is to stop the Scott Tucker's of this world. Which in F1 is the manufactures and their deep pockets. Caps don't prevent them from participating, but it does prevent them from reaching deep into their pockets to force small teams into being noncompetitive. Noncompetitive teams will struggle to find sponsorship in the best of time.
We have to reduce the cost of entry (so they can participate) AND level the playing field so they are not just token entries.
Richard