3 ms·

This is strange to me and basically says the engineers are not allowed to compete...

bmj 8y ago
This is similar to the limit imposed on various motorsports. It's not that engineers aren't allowed to compete (they most definitely do, within the limitations imposed by the sport's governing body)--the rules exist to level the playing the field a bit between teams and companies with radically different budgets.
- mirkules 8y ago
  My favorite example of forbidden ingenuity is the "sucker car" (Chapparal 2J) which used a plastic skirt to seal the car to the ground, and pump that sucked the air from underneath the car, producing an insane amount of downforce. It was outlawed of course after blowing away the competition. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaparral_Cars#2J https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaparral_Cars#2J
  - nradov 8y ago
    There is a legitimate safety concern with active aero systems. If they fail in the middle of turn the car is likely to slide off the track, endangering everyone on the track.
    - Noumenon72 8y ago
      The next equipment we should ban: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tMJ8U-2ZMU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tMJ8U-2ZMU
  - Klathmon 8y ago
    I also liked the Mazda Rotary/Wankel engine that really threw the classification systems at LeMans. Because the Rotary engines are something in between a 2-stroke and 4-stroke calculating it's displacement in comparison to 4-stroke engines was difficult.
- mamon 8y ago
  In case of Formula 1 racing rules exists to force more innovation. For example, the trend of the past few years is to limit engine capacity and reduce fuel consumption. So the rules say your engine must go down from 3 liters to 2.4 liters capacity and now it's your job as an engineer to maintain the same horsepower (of roughly 800 hp) at that lower capacity. Actually, changing those rules every year puts teams with lower budget at disadvantage: they are basically limited to buying engines from richer teams, because they wouldn't be able to keep up with all those rule changes on their own.
notatoad 8y ago
The engineers can compete in engineering competitions. A bicycle race is not one of those.

bmj 8y ago

This is similar to the limit imposed on various motorsports. It's not that engineers aren't allowed to compete (they most definitely do, within the limitations imposed by the sport's governing body)--the rules exist to level the playing the field a bit between teams and companies with radically different budgets.

mirkules 8y ago
My favorite example of forbidden ingenuity is the "sucker car" (Chapparal 2J) which used a plastic skirt to seal the car to the ground, and pump that sucked the air from underneath the car, producing an insane amount of downforce. It was outlawed of course after blowing away the competition. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaparral_Cars#2J https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaparral_Cars#2J
- nradov 8y ago
  There is a legitimate safety concern with active aero systems. If they fail in the middle of turn the car is likely to slide off the track, endangering everyone on the track.
  - Noumenon72 8y ago
    The next equipment we should ban: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tMJ8U-2ZMU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tMJ8U-2ZMU
- Klathmon 8y ago
  I also liked the Mazda Rotary/Wankel engine that really threw the classification systems at LeMans. Because the Rotary engines are something in between a 2-stroke and 4-stroke calculating it's displacement in comparison to 4-stroke engines was difficult.
mamon 8y ago
In case of Formula 1 racing rules exists to force more innovation. For example, the trend of the past few years is to limit engine capacity and reduce fuel consumption. So the rules say your engine must go down from 3 liters to 2.4 liters capacity and now it's your job as an engineer to maintain the same horsepower (of roughly 800 hp) at that lower capacity. Actually, changing those rules every year puts teams with lower budget at disadvantage: they are basically limited to buying engines from richer teams, because they wouldn't be able to keep up with all those rule changes on their own.

notatoad 8y ago

The engineers can compete in engineering competitions. A bicycle race is not one of those.