[Hun200kmh]

I was looking for pictures of a particular F1 Ferrari with two rear wings and by googling "F1 rear wings" together with words like "funny odd double strange illegal" and maybe a few more, I found some amazing concepts. So I thought it would be interesting to share here - in a era where most of the aerodynamic refinement goes into invisible or barely visible parts of the cars - a few strange experiences made in other eras, when engeniers were still trying their ideas - sometimes quite crazy - with wings.

This is a model of the car I was searching, the Ferrari with two rear wings:





And this is a picture of the rear wing (with built-in double diffuser ) of a March that I had never seen before:

[Ardius]

Ligier JS5 'teapot':


March 711:


Arrows A22 with the top wing for Monaco:


Similar solution for Jordan:


LionF1 Project:


The 1972 Eifelland 'periscope':


Brabham BT46 'fan car':


Tyrrell 1997 'X wings' (plus single piece nose-wing):


Ligier JS21:


McLaren MP4/10 "mid-wing":


Tyrrell P34 (6 wheeler):


Williams 6-wheeler prototype:


Ferrari 6-wheeler prototype:



Ok, I was taking a bit of liberty by putting 6-wheelers and the fan car in there, but I can't not mention them when we talk about "extreme" F1 cars

[Justin]

Never knew about the Ferrari dually.

[Hun200kmh]

Another strange experiment with rear wing(s): The "Boomerang" Tyrrell 012




EDIT: Notice also the huge diffuser ...

[Blitz187]

So looking at these pictures only one questions keeps coming to mind... Did any of those crazy/extreme aero packages work?

[Peter]

Well, I can tell you that the Arrows and Jordan top wing for Monaco was quickly banned before we could see it in action. The Brabham BT46 did work very well, actually winning races, but was banned. The Tyrell P34 possessed large amounts of grip, I don't know if it won anything, and I think it was also banned.

[yeti]

Anything that worked too well got banned basically!!

C.

[Clark]

Blitz187

So looking at these pictures only one questions keeps coming to mind... Did any of those crazy/extreme aero packages work?

The Gordon Murray-designed Brabham 'fan car' won it's first race by 34s at Anderstorp (in Lauda's hands) and the was subsequently banned. Apparantley the FIA didn't believe it was solely for cooling, and following drivers didn't like having debris thrown at them out the back of the car.

I think the P34 may have had limited success aswell.

[ND4SPD]

Wow all of those are pretty damn cool. I can't imagine how comical the LionF1 car would have been though. The boomerang tyrrell, x-wing tyrrell and 6 wheeled williams are my favourite.

[Ardius]

Hun200kmh

Another strange experiment with rear wing(s): The "Boomerang" Tyrrell 012




EDIT: Notice also the huge diffuser ...

Has someone been reading F1 Racing?

Blitz187

So looking at these pictures only one questions keeps coming to mind... Did any of those crazy/extreme aero packages work?

Well, the 6 wheelers proved quite effective, allegedly the Williams was going to be quite competitive before all such configurations were banned.

Mid-wings are still seen today in a fashion with shark-fins, but were one of those "percentage" additions.
Same for X-wings, which were effective but didn't bring huge amounts. They were banned because they could catch the wheel gun cables easily in the pitlane and effected the driver's ability to get out of the car. They were used by a lot of teams though, so they must have brought some decent benefits. There were Ferrari and Sauber X wings too if I remember right.
The Arrows A22 front top wing apparently did bring a fair bit of downforce according to Arrows, but it was banned on the grounds of hampering the driver's vision. Same for the mini wing on the Jordan.

Eifelland's periscope mirror wasn't banned at the time, the team just collapsed. The air intake in front of the driver wasn't very effective either and the car lacked downforce and suffered overheating issues.

[Uodnelome]

Mmm, apologies if this isn't at all what you had in mind -- but an interesting bit of Formula One nonetheless.

In 1982, Ferrari ran two equally-sized wings on each car, one slightly forward of the other, with the rationalization that no amount of wings was specified in the regulations. Apparently there was some earlier tomfoolery with 'water-cooled brakes', which would put the cars of some teams at minimum weight before the race, after which point the water was jettisoned to the tune of 50 kg advantage.

As Clive James observed in the official review of that season, after Gilles Villeneuve finished third "...we all finally found out what that rear wing was for, it was to get him disqualified. Under that special morale-busting official dispensation, which ensures that a driver must first lay his life on the line before being told that his efforts were in vain." There's great footage out there of Gilles Villeneuve powering down the straights of Long Beach in pursuit of Keke Rosberg's DFV-powered ground effect Williams. The whole 1982 Season Review as narrated by Clive James of the United States Grand Prix West is quotable

[CAMikaze]

ND4SPD

Wow all of those are pretty damn cool. I can't imagine how comical the LionF1 car would have been though. The boomerang tyrrell, x-wing tyrrell and 6 wheeled williams are my favourite.

I liked the Tyrell 'Ant-mobile' myself. . I was lucky enough to see it in action via the film Lap of the Gods where they mounted a camera high up on the car and angled down so that we can see how the front 4 wheels did their job in turning the car on the Monaco street course where that particular clip took place.

As for the X-wing racer, was there sponsorship on the car from the people promoting the Star Wars Special Edition Trilogy the weekends that car was running?

Hun200kmh

Another strange experiment with rear wing(s): The "Boomerang" Tyrrell 012




EDIT: Notice also the huge diffuser ...

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... Dunno how many times it came back to the pits right after it left to do a lap of the track...

[Stiggy]

Arrows A2

Ensign N179

Honda RA108 'Dumbo Wings'

BMW Sauber F108 'Horns'


1978 McLaren with second front wing

Ferrari 162C2

Lotus 88

[NapoleonMikey]

Hun200kmh

Another strange experiment with rear wing(s): The "Boomerang" Tyrrell 012




EDIT: Notice also the huge diffuser ...

That actually is one of the coolest F1 cars I've ever seen.

[Prince.M5]

Also this.. The front horns of the BMW Sauber F1.06, Magny Course.



EDIT: Owh, also the BMW Williams FW26

[PeterJB]

Ardius

Is the front wing supposed to be unsymmetrical? Or is it broken on the right hand side?

[boiltheocean]

Ardius

The 1972 Eifelland 'periscope':


McLaren MP4/10 "mid-wing":

I love those! Especially the McLaren.

[Ardius]

PeterJB

Is the front wing supposed to be unsymmetrical? Or is it broken on the right hand side?

Broken:

[Bram Turismo]

InvincibleM5

I know few people were fan of it, but I absolutely loved the FW26. I still think it looked by far the best car of 2004.

[Prince.M5]

Bram Turismo

I know few people were fan of it, but I absolutely loved the FW26. I still think it looked by far the best car of 2004.

Eventhough I'm a BMW fan itself, but I still think it looks weird... BTW, I know it looks unique that time and it also looks other than the other from the rest of the grid. Awesome... but weird