Thread: F1 History

I noticed that F1 was pretty much established in 1946.

I guess it makes sense that the circuit wouldn't be active during WW II, but I wonder if the technology discovered during the war contributed to the development of the cars?

Originally Posted by Krumar

I noticed that F1 was pretty much established in 1946.

I guess it makes sense that the circuit wouldn't be active during WW II, but I wonder if the technology discovered during the war contributed to the development of the cars?

Formula 1 is a FIA designation for GP racing, which was well established before WWII in the twenties and thirties, mainly dominated by Auto-Union (present day Audi) and Mercedes before the outbreak of WWII.
I can't thing off hand about any developments resulting from technological advantages during the war.
New tracks popped up after the war, with the abundance of surplus air fields, many became race tracks and still exist to this day, Silverstone, being one example, but that's not a technological improvement.
The cars looked pretty much the same when they resumed racing and despite Auto-Union running rear engined cars, the real F1 revolution came in the late fifties with the placement of the engines behind the drivers and then all the aero changes started by Lotus in the late sixties (actually it was derived from Chaparral, who used a huge wing on the back of the 2F in 1967 and even earlier in the fifties Mercedes tested an air brake on the back of their Sports Cars).

Thanks for the information. That's interesting about the airfields.

I wondered about the technology because I've heard that some film terms and technology came from combat situations. I mean things like the term "magazine" and "shooting" and I heard that the camera dolly tracks were derived from a system for moving bombs or torpedoes.

I thought possibly the engines evolved during that time.

I wasn't aware the airfields had been turned into race tracks after the war. WWII history has always interested me because my grandfather served and was always sharing stories of his service in the US Army.

Originally Posted by stewartfan

I wasn't aware the airfields had been turned into race tracks after the war. WWII history has always interested me because my grandfather served and was always sharing stories of his service in the US Army.

I don't know how many airfields where turned into race tracks, but a number of them have both in Europe, Great Britain mainly (can't think of any on the continent, off hand) and in North America, Sebring being one (I believe part of the complex is still an airfield)
Gimli Motorsport Park, where I raced was a bomber training airfield during WWII and the Winnipeg Sports Car Club used one of the runway as part of the race track, I'm sure they are many more, actually it would be interesting to find out how many airfileds through the world have become at some point a race track for motorsport and whether they still exist or not.

It would be interesting to see a list of those.

This reminds me of looking at Google Earth with my brother-in-law. We saw places where he'd been stationed when he was in the armed forces, and he was surprised to see some nearby missile locations noted in the photos.