NOMINATIONS: Best Looking 1970s F1 Car [Open 02/05-08/05]

[Pete05]

You have the wrong 312T4, it doesn't have the right number on it. Scheckter might have won a WC with it, but Gilles brought it to life. It's not quite as pretty as the Lotus 79, yet arguably, it has a presence that just makes it timeless I feel. And let's be honest, it looks way better sideways. It looks dangerous, like a proper F1 should. Look at how wide, how low it is... those finned sidepods, reminding us of 1950s Americana. One of my favorite racecars ever.

Will you just look at that pose
Now if only the current cars could be driven like this, we might actually start enjoying our F1 again. Look at the balance between those small wings & big fat rubber compared to today's cars. Someone needs to send this pic to the FIA & Bernie.

 

[Liquid]

It's not that Bernie Ecclestone doesn't know about this. He was running the Brabham team at this time and plenty of people have nominated Brabhams so far.

 

[Samus]

The question of what is "good-looking" arises. What does that really mean? Is it entirely subjective, or are there some deep-running themes or truths than can supply a partially objective basis that a thing is good-looking?

There might be some reliable axioms to aid us in the judgement of what is good looking about a racing car. One of these might be that "form follows function". To me this implies at least two things:

1) The form of the racing car ought to support and reflect its functionality and little to nothing about the car should be cosmetic or non-functional.

2) The car should function effectively and efficiently. It a car should be unreliable, slow or in some way flawed, that means it is less functional and ipso facto less good-looking. Corollary is the saying that if the car is a winner, it automatically looks better. A racing car is not a static object, it is dynamic.

Now I realize that the thread OP attempts to disconnect performance from appearance, to judge the cars solely on their looks and not their speed or success. But I'm suggesting that can and should never be entirely possible. The car that performs well and looks good at speed in competition must be considered better looking than the otherwise similar car that can't get off the starting grid and complete a competitive lap.

You don't half suck the fun out of things. This isn't a scientific paper, it's a fun poll to find out which cars people like the look of.

 

[Dotini]

You don't half suck the fun out of things. This isn't a scientific paper, it's a fun poll to find out which cars people like the look of.

I guess I'm going to have to get used to it. This community, like some kind of animal house, sets a high store on having fun and doing things its own way, and damn what the experts or people who were there back in the day actually say. The nomination and elevation of the RA300 to the top 3 best-looking cars of the 60's is now something that can't be undone and this community is going to have to live with it for a long, long time. But it's better to have fun and do things your own idiosyncratic way than to be credible, respected and stuffy like the ancien regime motorsports community in the world at large. After all, we are our own world and nobody gives a rat's ass but us. So let's go ahead and put the 6-wheeler, the A2 and the BT44B into the best looking category. It's at least true the livery on the BT44B is grand. A lot of us thought they were cool at the time, but we had a hard time understanding why they didn't work and were quickly abandoned as dead ends.

 

[Samus]

The nomination and elevation of the RA300 to the top 3 best-looking cars of the 60's is now something that can't be undone and this community is going to have to live with it for a long, long time.

Again, it's just a poll. On a forum. It really doesn't matter.

Do you think the F1 anoraks society are going to come around to the forum and declare it a laughing stock or something? "Hey fellas, I've just been on GTPlanet, they reckon the RA300 was a good looker! Can you believe it, we should spread the word on how silly they are."

 

[Dotini]

It must be admitted I'm doing ny best to stir up the discussion and differing opinion @Liquid said he was interested in at the beginning.

 

[Furinkazen]

It must be admitted I'm doing ny best to stir up the discussion and differing opinion @Liquid said he was interested in at the beginning.

Personally I think you're just stirring for the sake of stirring.

 

[Dotini]

Personally I think you're just stirring for the sake of stirring.

You don't like to be stirred up, entertained, aroused or amused? Prefer to be left in restful peace?

 

[ButtKick]

Took a lot of time to choose my nominations this time.

Up first is the 1970 Ferrari 312B

The Shadow DN5

The Lotus 79

The Mclaren M14A

 

[-Fred-]

It must be admitted I'm doing ny best to stir up the discussion and differing opinion @Liquid said he was interested in at the beginning.

That's not a problem, but it just feels to me like you're sometimes trying to disregard other people's opinions and try to force your own, ie with the RA300. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder, and as we go along through the decades it'll be much more obvious the liveries are going to become just as important as the shape of the car it's on.

I'm not trying to patronize... I just don't see why it's that big of a deal if someone or a group of people like something you don't. Plus, I could see these threads serving as a bit of an history lesson for the younger folks here.

 

[Ryk]

I quite like to read why people like certain cars. It is very easy to just "Ah it won every race it was entered in" but we are judging outside of - if it was fast, earned pole, got covered in Champagne on such a regular basis it had to book into Alcoholics Anonymous over the winter.
I like those little details -
The Yellow stripe on the Tyrrell P34 was due to Uncle Ken thinking he may go with Renault engines next season. He had a great relationship with Elf (French) and Renault offered him the French Turbocharged engines for free... But he declined after Keith Duckworth (The guy who designed the DFV Cosworth) told him a 1.5 litre turbo would never be as good as the current 3 litre V8 engine...

 

[Liquid]

Ferrari 312T2

Penske PC4

 

[Liquid]

Okay so with two days left here are the spare nominations from people who have already posted:

@FutureF1 - 3
@Ryk - 1
@-Fred- - 3

@Dotini, can you please confirm your four nominations in a post after after this one?

Anyone who hasn't submitted nominations has 4.

Important: The Ferrari 312T nominations will be separated into the distinct T1, T2, T3, T4 cars. There will not be one single 312T nomination. Please reaffirm and make sure that if you have nominated a 312T, that you have clearly marked which T it is.

 

[Dotini]

My Nominations:
Lotus 72
McLaren M23
Lotus 79
Williams FW07

 

[Ryk]

How about a Car made by a F1 world Champion and a Multiple World Motorcycle champion?


The Surtees TS19 home grown at Edenbridge, Kent the Garden of England.

 

[JR98]

For all 4 I love them for their well designed liveries and I love how each car looks overall.

1976 Lotus 77

1976 Ferrari 312T2

1976 McLaren M23

1979 Tyrrell 009

 

[Liquid]

Nominations are closed but there is an urgent play-off needed to decide who goes through for polling. There is a three way tie in which two cars can go through;

Ferrari 312T2
Tyrrell P34
Lotus 72E

Quickly choose two of those three. The first two to get to five go through.

 

[JR98]

Ferrari 312T2 & Lotus 72E

 

[Dotini]

312T2 and 72E

 

[Roo]

P34 & 72E

 

[Liquid]

.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Lotus and Ferrari

 

[RACECAR]

Damn, I missed one of my favorite eras :

Ferrari 312 T2 and Lotus 72

 

[Pete05]

Ferrari & Lotus

 

[Liquid]

Ferrari and Lotus it is. Thanks for playing. A record number of different nominations so far.

Through For Polling

Lotus 79
Brabham BT44B
Ferrari 312T2
Lotus 72E

Unsuccessful Nominations

Tyrrell P34
Penske PC4
McLaren M23
Tyrrell 006
Wolf WR1
Williams FW07
Alfa Romeo 177
Shadow DN5
Arrows A2
McLaren M14
Ferrari 312T4
Tyrrell 007
Brabham BT33
Tyrrell 003
Renault RS01
Brabham BT46
Brabham BT46B
Ligier JS11
Ensign N179
Lotus 49C
Hesketh 308
Brabham BT45
Brabham BT45B
Kojima KE007
Matra MS120D
BRM P160
Renault RS10
Ferrari 312B
Surtees TS19
Lotus 77
Tyrrell 009

Polls will begin tomorrow morning European time. 👍