Garage Banned: Sometimes in Racing, an Idea is So Good It Gets Outlawed

When it comes to motorsports, if you’re not innovating, you’re not winning. Or, to liberally paraphrase NASCAR’s finest rule-bender, the late Smokey Yunick, to compete is to cheat. But when new ideas are too bleeding-edge, they often get banned. Here are a few of our favorites.

Active Suspension

Under The Big Top

Some innovations are not for speed but safety. Four NHRA Top Fuel drag racers, including reigning champion Antron Brown [ablaze, left], have been running cockpit canopies in the 2013 season. The rules state that these cockpits must have a small flap ahead of the canopy in an attempt to equalize the aerodynamics with open-cockpit cars. But if racers think there is a speed advantage to be had, canopies will surely be embraced.

As aerodynamics brought ever-greater degrees of downforce to F1, it was clear to most designers that the cars needed a breakthrough in suspension technology in order to fully exploit the benefits. That breakthrough was the Williams FW14B, which made its debut for the 1992 season. Through a complex hydraulic system, the car could adjust each corner of its suspension to suit each tire’s instantaneous load. On straightaways, it could increase its ground clearance to reduce drag and increase speed. Its ’93 successor, the FW15C, may be the most technologically complex F1 car ever made. Williams captured 20 race wins, two constructors’ titles, and two drivers’ titles over the 1992 and 1993 seasons. For 1994, the FIA banned active suspensions on the grounds that the technology was financially out of reach for the less wealthy teams, thereby constituting an unfair advantage.

Movable Aerodynamic Devices

Wings were becoming popular in the 1960s, but the Chaparral 2E did nothing less than revolutionize automotive aero. It had two movable elements: a giant airfoil on pylons at the rear and a small element in the nose to balance the large force of the rear wing. The wing provided huge downforce for corners, but the driver could reduce its angle of attack for less drag and more speed on straights. The Can-Am series banned movable aerodynamics, citing safety issues, effectively doubling the size of its rulebook in the process. Modern Formula 1 cars’ “drag-reduction system” is a movable flap in the rear wing that reduces downforce and drag on straightaways, but it is governed by strict regulations and no other aero elements may move.

Among the first drag racers to experiment with aerodynamics, Pete Robinson died following a crash in an experimental high-downforce car.

Jumping Jacks

“Sneaky” Pete Robinson, a prominent drag racer in the 1960s, fitted a simple lever to the rear of his slingshot dragster in 1962, allowing him to raise the rear tires off the ground while seated in the cockpit. Robinson would stage, jack up the rear end, and spin his tires up to speed. As soon as the tree went green he would release the lever and the tires would hit the ground spinning. Robinson claimed that more-consistent launches were his only intention with this rudimentary form of launch control. He made but one NHRA-sanctioned pass at Indianapolis Raceway Park before the governing body revised the rulebook on the spot.

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Source: CarAndDriver