Author Topic: Cars that were sooo good that they were banned from racing (Read 1211 times)

Bluefish · « **Reply #15 on:** October 03, 2006, 08:16:06 AM »

Back in the '60s, Indy banned the turbine car, and
CanAm banned the Chapparals with active ground effects.

john9001 · « **Reply #16 on:** October 03, 2006, 08:30:12 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Bluefish
Back in the '60s, Indy banned the turbine car, and
CanAm banned the Chapparals with active ground effects.

the turbine was not baned back then , indy piston engines had a maximum displacement, there was no way to equate piston displacement with a turbine, so the race org. started to restrict the air intake of the turbine.

after 2-3 years the power was reduced to where there was no advantage so the builder went back to piston engines.

as for the chapparals, see my last post about cost.

mora · « **Reply #17 on:** October 03, 2006, 08:30:29 AM »

Group B in rallying was terminated after 1986 season. The Audi Quattro among others was a group B car.

Maverick · « **Reply #18 on:** October 03, 2006, 08:46:37 AM »

Two come to mind, at least in the US racing arena. The Trabant and the Yugo.

Airscrew · « **Reply #19 on:** October 03, 2006, 08:48:47 AM »

didnt NASCAR ban or attempt to ban the new Ford Thunderbird back in the 80's when Bill Elliot starting racing them? something about its new shape out performed aerodynamically or something? NASCAR maybe made the race team change the body shape?

Captain Virgil Hilts · « **Reply #20 on:** October 03, 2006, 09:22:36 AM »

The Chapparals were banned because others could not duplicate Jim Hall's innovations and remain safe. The car with two fans and ground effects shrouds brought on cheap copies that had failures. The car that had an adjustable wing brought on copies that had catastrophic wing failures.

The Ford Thunderbird was allowed IN because Ford didn't have anything that WAS legal. Take a 1984 Monte Carlo SS (fit the rules), and park it between a 1984 Thunderbird and a 1984 Camaro, then see which two cars are the same approximate size and which one is a good bit larger. That was the end of NASCAR having bodies that lookied like real cars. After that we got what we have now, amorphous blobs that cannot be recognized outside of having the name brand on the front air dam.

The Chrysler Hemi ran NASCAR for years. The Ford SOHC was never allowed, the Chrysler (Chrysler built some prototype SOHC and DOHC Hemi based engines) answer was never fully developed, and the Ford Shotgun Hemi was allowed briefly. The Chevy 427 "mystery engine" wasn't banned, Chevy withdrew it because it wasn't ready, it was replaced with the Mark IV Rat motor.

One big reason the Mercedes Ilmore Indy engine was banned was because Roger Penske used Chevy money and development time and data to develop it, he basically stole from GM and gave it to Mercedes. That's why the great Roger had to leave Pontiac so suddenly and go to Ford. Smokey Yunick told the head of GM racing that the next time he (the head of GM racing) wanted to deal with Penske to let him know, and Smokey would send him a case of Vaseline.

SFRT - Frenchy · « **Reply #21 on:** October 03, 2006, 10:17:07 AM »

First year she was racing, wasn't rumors floating around about unfair advantages?

Charon · « **Reply #22 on:** October 03, 2006, 10:40:21 AM »

Quote

Ilmor engined Mercedes Benz in 1994, mainly because they exploited a loop hole in the engine rules. IIRC it entered only one race and dominated it; the Indy 500.

I was at that race

It was dominant. So was my hangover, and later my sunburn, as I recall.

Charon

1K3 · « **Reply #23 on:** October 03, 2006, 11:02:37 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by SFRT - Frenchy
First year she was racing, wasn't rumors floating around about unfair advantages?

All i know is that the CTS was track tested @ Nurburgring

nuchpatrick · « **Reply #24 on:** October 03, 2006, 11:30:06 AM »

Frenchy,

The first release of the CTS-V race car at Sebring. Had its 6speed gearbox changed, to one out of a production car.

It used to have a dog-gear tranny. But Speed GT officals said it had to go after its first race at Sebring.

But, it hasn't stopped the Mighty CTS-V from winning!!

Roscoroo · « **Reply #25 on:** October 03, 2006, 02:57:38 PM »

i can make a list a mile long from the stuff we've had banned in top fuel.
the majors were...
our 3 valve hemi heads .... they got us the AAFA record which held for 10yrs,
they got banned the next yr .. . but now there legal again and were using them on the fuel Harleys .
other major was the full belly pan w/ ground effects under our Funny car
They screamed we were to low amoung other stuff .

another was when we set the left front wheel ahead 6 inches over the right to trip the timing lites faster . were now only allowed 2 .

then there was the fuel altered with rear suspension ...

there been alot of other stuff to .. assorted torsional chassis, fuel systems, and such.

"if its not in the rules you can get away with it" or at least until they get mad cause your stuff is way faster .

Terror · « **Reply #26 on:** October 03, 2006, 02:58:50 PM »

A "vacuum car" was banned in 1978 after winning the Swedish GP. though the designers claimed the fan was primarily for cooling purposes.

http://www.forix.com/8w/fancar.html

Terror

Bluefish · « **Reply #27 on:** October 03, 2006, 04:30:27 PM »

Regarding the Indy turbines, I've seen articles regarding the restriction on the air intake but also seen at least three websites that say they were outright banned:

http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/chap_bio.htm:

"Lotus did break new ground in 1968 with a turbine powered car. It showed such promise in that race that turbine cars were promptly banned by USAC."

http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/halloffame/1992/Andy_Granatelli_main.htm

"Granatelli went to Indianapolis with the Turbine car with Parnelli Jones as his driver. Jones led 197 laps of the 200-lap race until a gear bearing failed. Afterward, USAC banned the car."

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/frame.php?file=car.php&carnum=2036

"At the end of the season the innovative cars were left obsolete when the sport's governing body (USAC) banned both turbine engines and four wheel drive."

tikky · « **Reply #28 on:** October 03, 2006, 05:12:07 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Excel1
The Aussie touring car championship use to be open to foreign cars until the Nissan Skyline GTR came on the scene about 15 years ago and pissed all over the locally produced Holden and Ford V8s which had dominated the racing up until then. The problem was fixed when the Skyline was banned, but they couldn't just ban the Skyline, that wouldn't look right, and besides another wonder ricer would probably only turn up at some stage and make the locals look bad again... so they banned all foreign cars, which has left the championship a boring two nag race- Holden and Ford.

At Down from down under it earned its name "Godzilla". This car completed the Nurburgring in under 8 mins. That's THE fastest for a mass production car.

Yes that car is so uber that it should be banned:D

tikky · « **Reply #29 on:** October 03, 2006, 05:15:15 PM »

http://www.automotivearticles.com/123/motorsports_legend_nissan_skyline_gtr.shtml
...The car was built for the purpose of racing in the JTC Group A in Japan. It never lost a race - winning 27 races in a row from its debut, causing the series to be dissolved. The same essentially happened in the Australian Group A. It was the heaviest car in the series, yet it dominated through brute force paired with technology. The car was flat out banned from some endurance races in Australia.

The GT-R's history is filled with dominance in motorsports at every step to the point of being the cause of dissolving entire series and being banned from racing. No manufacturer in the world at that time could touch the GT-R. The technology of the R32 GT-R only saw minor improvements through the R33 and R34 generations, yet it is still considered to be "high-tech" today - this is Nissan's mid-eighties technology.

The GT-R is a great paradox. The shape is boxy and not aerodynamic, yet its performance is at supercar level. The GT-R is extremely heavy, yet its engine is only 2.6 liters. The 6 tiny 433ml cylinders are somehow capable of producing in excess of 1000 horsepower. The GT-R's core technology was developed nearly 20 years ago, yet it is still one of the most high-tech cars today. But that incredible power that is produced by this tiny engine is then somehow kept under control - fully delivering the power to the ground with barely any tire-spin. It's bulletproof.