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[7UpJordan]

In the days of when it is increasingly hard to come up with new innovations in F1 that don't get banned quickly a'la Mass Dampers etc. let's take a trip down memory lane to remember the great innovators and their innovations.

The most innovative team of F1 in history I believe would be the Tyrrell team and "Uncle" Ken Tyrrell and Dr Harvey Postlethwaite. They created so many innovations as a way of getting around the fact they were so under-funded, stuff like the first ever 6-wheeled car (which was scrapped eventually) X-Wings (which were only banned because they looked ugly) and also the High Nose which took Adrian Newey's raised nose concept further up the scale and subsequently allowing Jean Alesi to battle drivers like Senna in 1990 in a car only powered by a Cosworth DFR.

Colin Chapman of Lotus was also a master of innovation, he introduced the concept of Ground Effects on the legendary Lotus 79, a car which Mario Andretti cruised to the 1978 title saying that "the car felt like it was glued to the track". The car was kept on for the start of 1979, only for everyone else to have copied the "skirts" on the Lotus 79 and made them better - especially Williams when they introduced the FW07. When ground effects were banned, Chapman tried to exploit the rules by building the illegal "twin chassis" Lotus 88. It was constantly banned but Chapman never gave up trying to enter his car until the stress of it all claimed his life.

It is sad that these 3 great men and their teams are no longer with us today (Lotus are still making cars but their F1 team collapsed in 1994) but had they still been around, they would probably still be able to cook up brilliant innovations within the rules.

One man though who is still with us today and was at McLaren until 2004 was Gordon Murray, the man who gave us the Brabham "fan car" in an attempt to wipe the floor with the Lotus 79, the "low line" Brabham of 1986 and 1987 which is pretty divided amongst the fans in terms of "love it or loathe it" but this car was the ground work for Murray's all-conquering and all-dominating McLaren MP4-4 from 1988.

In the days of super-computers being used by the designers instead of instinct, will we ever see such great innovations again? Computers can do great things, but they're no match for the human's ability to generate innovative ideas.

[McLaren Fan]

A good thread. I would tend to agree with you on Lotus and Tyrell, with Lotus just shading it as being the most innovative constructors.

I would add the Coopers to the list. They came up with the idea or rear-engined cars, the standard practice in Formula One since the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix.

John Barnard has to get a mention to. He brought carbon fibre to Formula One and, along with Ron Dennis, turned McLaren back into a force to be reckoned with in the sport. He also gave us the very handy semi-automatic gearbox.

It's this reason when I get uptight about people thinking Ferrari are the spirit of Formula One. Yes, they're the oldest marque and there is the kudos, charisma and charm which comes with that, however, Formula One is about technology and innovation and Ferrari have not furthered the boundaries of the sport anything close to how people such as the Coopers, Chapman, Murray, Barnard, Postlethwaite et al. did.

[Irv the Swerve]

Gary Anderson was a great innovator. He used carboard boxes over the tyres when the track was cold in the early 90's and thats how tyre blankets came about!

[7UpJordan]

John Barnard has to get a mention to. He brought carbon fibre to Formula One and, along with Ron Dennis, turned McLaren back into a force to be reckoned with in the sport. He also gave us the very handy semi-automatic gearbox.

The semi-automatic gearbox from 1989 that everybody thought would breakdown, even Nigel Mansell when he went on to win in Brazil in 1989.

Traction control was introduced by Patrick Head on the 1990 Williams FW13B, Newey arrived and began to sprinkle some of his magic. Newey was probably at his best during his Williams years working with Patrick Head, after he moved to McLaren he started his trend of making fast but unreliable cars.

[certom]

i don't remember which was the first team to put the engine behind the driver but i vote for that constructor

[McLaren Fan]

i don't remember which was the first team to put the engine behind the driver but i vote for that constructor

I would add the Coopers to the list. They came up with the idea or rear-engined cars, the standard practice in Formula One since the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix.

[certom]

ah yes coopers did that, i didn't read the post

[texasmr2]

I'm gonna have to go with Cooper as having the greatest impact in modern post war F1 history with their T43 and T51.

[Flyer23]

I would have to say Lotus started the path that the current F1 car is on.

[texasmr2]

Lotus's concept was and is "light weight" and Colin Chapman's input was after the Cooper's intro. The greatest contribution to F1 from Lotus was starting the "modern" aerodynamic downforce era with their wing's and body work.

Aerodynamic's and it's importance existed since the Mercedes/AutoUnion day's back in the '30's and '40's and that's were the mid-engine concept was originally born. We now live in the "modern F1 era".

I don't remember which was the first team to put the engine behind the driver but I vote for that constructor

Actually the FIRST GP mid-engine race car was an AutoUnion

[madbrad]

Stewart was the first to actively avoid Tobacco sponsors. Does that count as an innovation?

[britishtrident]

Lotus's concept was and is "light weight" and Colin Chapman's input was after the Cooper's intro. The greatest contribution to F1 from Lotus was starting the "modern" aerodynamic downforce era with their wing's and body work.

Aerodynamic's and it's importance existed since the Mercedes/AutoUnion day's back in the '30's and '40's and that's were the mid-engine concept was originally born. We now live in the "modern F1 era".

I don't remember which was the first team to put the engine behind the driver but I vote for that constructor

Actually the FIRST GP mid-engine race car was an AutoUnion

Auto-Union were the first to go mid-engined, Cooper F3 motorcycle engined cars were mid engine because they used a lot of pre ww2 Fiat Topolino parts.

Chapman's real break through was chassis stiffness --- the Lotus 25 monocoque. it was actually heavier the the spaceframe version the Lotus 24.

The Brabham fan car was pretty clever.

[supeindesu]

Williams and their progressive transmition (who never runs because reglament changes).

[7UpJordan]

Stewart was the first to actively avoid Tobacco sponsors. Does that count as an innovation?

Possibly in terms of sponsorship trends, then Williams upped the bar in 2002 when had Niquitin sponsorship (quit smoking product).

Today though most sponsors are Technology firms and big corporate banks.

[stonemonkey]

Williams and their progressive transmition (who never runs because reglament changes).

Anyone got any idea if that has any impact on fuel consumption?