Assuming these excellent polls (thank you) continue to include the most recent decades, do you plan to have a super-final to run off the all-time best looking? Would that poll be restricted to previous decadal winners, or would it be thrown wide open?
There will be a final poll amongst all decade winners once this is over.
One possible improvement would be to present photos of the cars without drivers so the voters would be less prejudiced about their favorite driver in the picture.
As I said in the Lotus thread, I try to find period images for a specific reason; having the car as it was during the time period as opposed to any changes to the livery that may have happened over time as a historic racer. Finding a good quality, period image of the car without a driver that accentuates and presents the cars well is difficult. Other times, as with this Ferrari 312, an image may well be of two drivers. There's Lauda and Regazzoni.
Another possible improvement would be more discussion of the criteria for good looking. So far it's only shape and livery. Does "shape" include "size", "scale", "dimensions", "sound" and "driver's helmet"? Does "livery" include the helmet design and colors?
A question exists in my mind about rebuttal, there currently being no debate or aesthetic criticism allowed and all subjective subjective opinion counted as always exactly equal.
As I have said in every nomination thread:
"If possible, please give some justification or reasoning for your nominations.
You can choose based on livery, body shape or a combination of the two.
It's up to you."
The key point bolded. You can nominate a car as a best looker for whatever reason suits you. In that regard, no reason is prohibited but that doesn't mean that other people have to agree with you. That is the nature of a fair debate; people will call you out and tell you if they have a different opinion and you are free to do the same (and have done so). That is where the interesting conversation begins.
Seeing as this is an important topic to you, and I'm interested in it as well, perhaps when all this is done you could start a thread on general aesthetic discussion?
In hindsight, if you had it to start off all over again, would you do anything different? Frankly, there has been little enough discussion about shape and livery, and more than a little about sound, the drivers and occasionally the efficiency & fitness for purpose that I've been so irritatingly prattling about.
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Finally, there has been so much rapid evolution and rule changes with so many wildly different F1 cars that I would be tempted to divide the decades in two and judge by 5 year periods.
Partly, yes. If I had the patience I would have liked to have done this by regulation era but that could take over 6 months because each cycle takes three weeks from nominations to the final. This 1950s-2000s alone is going to take 18 weeks in total.
On the other hand I'm satisfied to do it by decade because the overlapping regulations and different styles means there is diversity in nominations and preferences and this forces people to choose.
