Quote:
Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks
I don't think this is true. The vast majority of road cars do not use hydraulic suspension unlike previous generation Grand Prix cars, manufacturers who championed it like Citroen and Austin have abandoned it. There is only McLaren but even they substitute rudimentary steel suspension in base model McLarens.
Meanwhile every road car is styled to reduce aerodynamic drag, especially those like the Tatra T87 and in the modern day Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Mercedes EQS.
The FIA removed hydraulic suspension elements or front-rear interconnects and so on expressly because it was hard for them to determine the function and to police the legality of it.
Meanwhile aerodynamic surfaces are simple,it's just your pressure distribution and flow field (sharp edges shed vortices, it's all very simple). Easy. Change the shape a little bit and your pressure distribution changes a little bit. Too easy.
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But in reality, it is NOT simple.
History during the 80's is littered with false assumptions made in trying to copy the Lotus 79, particularly by McLaren and Tyrrell, and some others.
And in the present era no one has come close to Newey's design, just as it was the case with blown diffusers.
Which is in part what led to the change that enabled Mercedes to lead the next set of regulations.
Then we had a new set of regulations that went back to the underbody downforce they had wanted to escape and what happened?
We have the most single constructor dominance in any season since 1988 but we're getting it three and maybe four years in a row!
If it was simple Mercedes would have it mastered and so would everyone else.
But that is not the case.