VOTE: Final! Best Looking 1980s F1 Car

[Liquid]

1989 Ferrari 640 vs 1983 Brabham BT52

A tantalising final which sees cars from two representive times of the decade;
one from near the start and one from the end of the 1980s.

Slicks and wings or the Arrow?
Red or navy/white?

Which is the best looking from the 1980s?
You decide.

1989 Ferrari 640

Engine: 3.5L Ferrari V12
Drivers: Nigel Mansell, Gerhard Berger

Note: The Ferrari 640 began the season with a visible rollhoop above the driver and air intakes either side of the driver (first image). From the fourth race onwards, an airbox was installed instead (second image).

1983 Brabham BT52

Engine: 1.5L turbocharged BMW I4
Drivers: Nelson Piquet, Riccardo Patrese

Despite the delay this poll will still close on SUNDAY 12th June​

 

[Roger the Horse]

The Brabham looks more interesting and has a nicer livery.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

The Ferrari looks great with the airbox but the Brabham is the iconic car of the 80s to me (even though it was 10 years before I was born), if all cars were painted white all over you would still instantly know which car the Brabham was.

 

[Wiegert]

I associate most 1989 cars with the early '90s styling trend, as roll hoops were really beginning to make way for reasonably sized air intakes.

As an example of this, the 640 is about as generic as you could get. Not necessarily a bad thing since these were among the prettiest F1 cars of all time. But compared to your Lola LC89s, March CG891s and Minardi M189s, it's nothing short of ordinary and compounded by its spartan and rather slapdash livery. You'd be forgiven for thinking the Dallara F189 was the prime red competitor that year.



As with the BT44, the BT52 represents a moment in its respective decade where exciting design gave birth to a car that personifies that decade.

 

[mustafur]

I love the Pointy front nose on the BT52, and from the top view it kind of resembles a Dart.

The Ferrari 640 on the other hand, looks pretty generic, the livery is the only thing that makes it look good and or different from the rest of the grid.

 

[LumpiestFish]

I really wish it was the other Brabham that won, look much better than the one that won.

 

[trustjab]

Ferrari to me. One of the best in the 80s and 90s imo.

 

[Ryk]

As an Icon of the 80's the Brabham stands high. The Ferrari is nice but has woeful scattergun sponsorship and as has been said, it is very much at the generic end of the spectrum.
1983 was a moment when the designers had to make it work. Blank sheet of paper - and make a car work right out of the box. Gordon Murray managed that and it looks so cool, sleek yet it was a fire breathing monster on the track.

But some people just like the colour red!

 

[Nessy]

But some people just like the colour red!

Yep. that navy blue does absolutely nothing for me. So boring.

I think with the Ferrari, it doesn't even need a livery, as the colour and association with Ferrari in itself, is very powerful indeed. There's simply no mistaking for what it is. The Ferrari can afford to randomly put logos where it wants, and still manage to pull off a great design package.

 

[Bo]

There's simply no mistaking for what it is.

To someone not too clued up on F1, a Life or BMS F190 would look exactly like a Ferrari. There's a line where simplistic becomes dull, and no matter how nice the actual car design is, I think the 640 crosses it.

Voted Brabham purely because it's distinctive.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Of the two here, one seems to represent an era when F1 cars could still look very different from each other, the other represents an era when things started to get a bit samey.

 

[Nessy]

To someone not too clued up on F1, a Life or BMS F190 would look exactly like a Ferrari.

You see, those same people wouldn't mistake a Ferrari for a Life or BMS, that's how powerful the Ferrari and red association is. Very powerful tool. It goes beyond having to look like a livery.

Not many other cars can pull that off.

 

[C-ZETA]

The BT52 is still the sexiest car to come out of F1, without a doubt. It is almost perfect.

 

[Nessy]

I have to say if the Brabham was a different colour, I'd like it a heck of a lot more. The navy just seems to switch my brain off.

Was their any other livery designs done on the BT52 (preferably not involving navy) ?

 

[Ryk]

I have to say if the Brabham was a different colour, I'd like it a heck of a lot more. The navy just seems to switch my brain off.

Was their any other livery designs done on the BT52 (preferably not involving navy) ?

Navy and White (BT52B)
or
White and Navy (BT52)

Could you knock up a "Italian Scarlet" BT52? - Maybe a Fila/Parmalat Ferrari 640 in Navy and White?

 

[Bo]

Was their any other livery designs done on the BT52 (preferably not involving navy) ?

Someone's done Lotus skins for the car:

 

[Nessy]

I would actually love it in red and white. But Parmalat Ferrari? No!

(edit)

Those actually look pretty good (imo). The yellow looks a little dull, but I get the idea. 👍

 

[axletramp]

The Brabham is absolutely stunning. The Ferrari is rather dull and ordinary in comparison.

I've still got an original 80's Scalextric version somewhere, which I loved then and still love now.

 

[Liquid]

Congratulations to the Ferrari 640 which pipped pre-nomination favourite Brabham BT52 by just two votes!

Thanks for voting. 👍

 

[Ryk]

Travesty! You Indigo hating bunch of slack jawed Ferrari drivers!
That Brabham even has a Haynes Manual for it!