[enko]

I have to admit I love the sound of a good engine - and aeroplanes, and boats, trains, everything. It's the sound of power. Watching cars race without that sound is a far less emotive experience. One of the commentators on tonight's Bahrain race said that the safety car sounded much better than the race cars, and I wistfully agreed.

That said, I do think some people overdo it a bit and I actually like that FIA is willing to force innovation, even if it's (initially?) unpopular.

[gregpilling]

They have a long history of suppressing innovation though. Chapter 13 of this book is about all the tech that was banned. http://www.amazon.com/Formula-Technology-Peter-G-Wright/dp/0...

It is the most interesting chapter in the book.

[ISL]

Search 'look inside' for the word 'banned' to see what greg's talking about. He's right. That's cool.

What would F1 be like if they relaxed all the rules?

Edit: Just got through the chapter, the author speculates on what would be possible without bans.

[gaadd33]

I haven't read the book but I think CanAm in the 70s was pretty much racing with no engineering restrictions. Hence you had the Porsche 917 putting out 1500hp+ and only weighing 1800 lbs.