quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
I'd like to see someone standing next to it or maybe it parked next to a street-legal car so we could get some perspective on its size. It looks like a short wheelbase and very narrow.

It's small, short, low, everything a purpose built car should be...

Oh wow. It’s a lot smaller than I expected.

That is a very good pic.

It does look like an itty bitty bat mobile!

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Oh wow. It’s a lot smaller than I expected.

That is a very good pic.

The first time I saw it was a picture of him in it with no context. I thought it was fake, either a photoshop or some kind of weird home cooked "kit" car. It turns out it's pretty much the latter, only serious.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Formula 1 enthusiasts, didn’t F1 briefly have a car with a fan that caused aero advantages similar to how this car uses it to cling to the road? I vaguely remember F1 banning such a device on one of the cars that competed in F1.

I believe that was a Brabham, and Bernie was part of team running it. As I recall from teh lore he/they pulled it from competition after one, maybe two, races, recognizing it was going to be banned, probably retroactively, and was generally bad for the sport.

Yes it was Brabham, the BT46B, their response to the ground effects skirts that Chapman's Lotus 78 sprung on Formula 1. They used it for one race, won the race, then "gentlemanly withdrawn" by its team owner, Ecclestone himself.

Actually the FIA ruled that the fan car technology was approved and legal to use for the remainder of the '78 season but Bernie had just brokered a tentative agreement between the teams to create and head FOCA, the Formula One Constructors Association, basically a union for the team owners to collectively stand up to and negotiate with the FIA. He thought that the other team owners might react quite negatively to the advantage that this newest take on the 'sucker car' concept gave to Brabham and their association's boss, enough so as to potentially fracture and break the owners' still fragile alliance before it even had a chance to take hold. So in the name of 'sportsmanship' (and political intrigue/favoritism), the BT46B was consigned in history to a singular moment of glory.

Watching that electric sucker car run up the Goodwood hill was something else. That was FAST.

Finally watched the record run
The launch was insane, and the overall speed. Probably good that it's [I assume] a single speed, can't imagine having to fumble a gearbox, stick or paddle, at that speed.