Newsgroup: it.sport.formula1.moderato
Titolo: [History] [Eng] FOCA-FISA 80-82

Hi All!
During the 1980 season the relationship between FOCA and FISA had
deteriorated dramatically. The races of that season were run against a
backdrop of political maneuverings and heated debate. Jean Marie
Balestre had decided to push through the ban on sliding skirts effective
from the start of the 1981 season on safety grounds. This move
effectively by-passed the regulation requiring a two-year advance
notification of any rule changes. (This infuriated the FOCA teams to
such an extent that there was talk of a breakaway series to be run under
skirted regulations!) Balestre had also interfered as best he could in
the deals between FOCA and the race promoters.
The ban on skirts was universally perceived by the FOCA teams as a move
to favour the turbo powered Grandees. They believed that no turbo team
was able to produce an effective ground effect chassis. While this was
true of Ferrari Renault was horrified at the prospect of losing skirts.
This was because they had devised a quite effective ground effect
chassis. With hindsight it is obvious that all this posturing would be
futile, it would only be a matter of time before someone installed a
turbo engine in an effective ground effect chassis. The FOCA teams
believed skirts to be a trade off against a turbo engine and Ferrari
believed that the reverse to be true. Ban skirts, Ferrari reasoned and
our flat 12 engine may be suddenly granted a new lease of life!
In 1980 while the debate over skirted regulations raged the upcoming ban
of skirts drew closer the idea of controlling lap speeds via the
introduction of treaded tires was proposed by FOCA. FISA said that they
would get the technical commission to undertake a study into the
viability of the idea. This was a clever smoke screen on FISA_s part to
ensure that the upcoming French Grand Prix was not boycotted by the FOCA
teams. When Michelin decided that it could in no way support the
mandatory performance reduction via treaded tires FISA took the
opportunity to reject the whole FOCA compromise package.
The first race of 1981 at Kyalami was run under skirted regulations and
was boycotted by the Grandees. The race won by Reutemann (Williams) but
he was later excluded. The next Grand Prix was to be at Long Beach.
Renault saw America as a important market for expansion and could not
afford to let participation in the Long Beach Grand Prix slip them by.
With this in mind they campaigned for a speedy resolution to the affair.
FOCA and FISA met under Enzo Ferrari's Hospitality at Marenello. Here
the "Concorde Agreement" was drawn. To be succinct; it acknowledged the
right of FISA to devise the rules and FOCA_s right to commercial control
of the sport.
Every one turned up to Long Beach. They all apparently appeared to be
conforming to the new rule that required 6 cm of ground clearance above
the bottom of the car. How ever Brabham had devised a hydro pneumatic
suspension lowering system that allowed the cars to be lowered on their
suspension on the track to decease the ride height, regaining lost down
force but still have 6 cm of clearance in the pits for inspection. Of
course there was nothing illegal about this system. What was illegal was
the fact that the Brabham's skirts were touching the ground. The skirts
cleverly angled inward so that they wore on the outside rather than on
the bottom. "If they were not worn on the bottom how could they be
touching the ground?" Gordon Murray would state. Soon all the
teams were employing the device. FISA threw it's collective arms into
the air and surrendered. They allowed the cars to be lowered and running
illegally on the track but as long as they jacked the cars up for
inspection they would be legal.
The Brabham suspension rouse came when the FOCA aligned teams were
supposed to be presenting a united front. Supposed was the correct term.
Colin Chapman was about to unveil his last foray into the realms of
technical ingenuity in F1 in the build up to the Grand Prix at Long
Beach. The Lotus 88 was as unique as it was ingenious. In 1979 after the
failure of the extremely aerodynamically complex Lotus 80 Chapman began
to devise plans for a new concept in F1 design. He believed the path to
follow was to separate the aerodynamic and suspension loads exerted on
the chassis. The result was the twin chassis Lotus 88. The aerodynamic
loads were absorbed by the outer chassis which was linked to the bottom
uprights by a coil spring damper arrangement.
The driver was sat in the central monocoque with conventional rocker arm
suspension that absorbed the dynamic loading of cornering, braking and
accelerating. The advantages to this was that the aerodynamic behavior
of the car was stabilized and the driver no long had to be battered
through the employment of the required ultra stiff suspension.
After the Lotus 88 was unveiled in London it was flown out straight out
to Long Beach. It was passed by scutineering and was allowed to
practice. The other FOCA aligned teams were up in arms. Due to the fuss
the race stewards excluded the type 88 at the end of the first day.
Chapman appealed and the Type 88 was allowed to race but it was faced
with the possibility of loosing any points gained if the appeal failed.
The car was black flagged on Sunday morning. The stewards had searched
the FISA rules and it was not permitted for a car to run under protest.
This was universally thought to be unfair. The US national motor
sporting authority subsequently stated that the Lotus 88 fell within
conformity. FISA responded by declaring that the judgment only applied
in the US. The type 88 arrived at Lotus to fail scutineering. Chapman
stormed away from Rio leaving the following statement.
"... we have witnessed the changes that have taken place in Grand Prix
racing and unfortunately seen what was fair competition between
sportsmen degenerate into power struggles and political maneuverings
between manipulators attempting to make more money out of the sport than
they put in. If one does not clean up formula it will end in a quagmire
of plagiarism, chicanery and petty rule interpretation forced by the
lobbies manipulated by people for whom sport has no meaning."
Chapman has always been a personal hero of mine and I have to admit he
was a visionary in more ways than one. (Just look at F1 now!) Balestre
was furious and for Chapman's outburst he fined Team Lotus $100,000.
This would have not been so hypocritical in isolation but the Brabham
suspension lowering system was given the go ahead at the same meeting.
The last hurrah for the twin chassis concept was the revised 88B at the
British Grand Prix in 1981. The stewards passed the car but FISA
intervened and threw the car out of the meeting. Chapman was devastated.
To date this remains the last serious foray into the reams of technical
ingenuity in F1. This is not really the designers fault as they have
been suffocated by increasingly strict regulations.
The last scheme of the FOCA teams to steal an advantage came in the
early part of the 1982. FISA had set a rather high minimum weight limit
for the cars. This was perceived as favoring the Grandees with their
turbos over the largely DVF powered FOCA teams. The weight of the car
was measured when the car had it_s full compliment of hydraulic and
cooling fluids. Some of these could be lost during the race so it was
permitted for the level to be topped up for post race scutineering. An
idea came to Chapman as well as some of the other FOCA teams.
It was an ingenious way of running under weight to in order to steal an
advantage. The cars would start the race with a not inconsiderable
amount of water ballast on board. Whilst running this water was sprayed
in the general direction of the brakes in the early stages of the race.
After this the car would be underweight but when it arrived back at the
pits after the race for inspection the "cooling" fluids / ballast could
be topped up to bring the car back to a legal weight.
The FOCA plan came to the test when Piquet's Brabham beat Rosberg_s
Williams in the second round of the 1982 championship at Rio. Prost had
finished a distant third and although the first and second placed FOCA
cars had been passed by the stewards (with their water cooled brakes)
Renault protested. The protest was upheld by FISA and the two cars were
excluded from the result promoting Prost to first place. There was
little FOCA could do as they were now bound by the Concorde agreement.
After this incident the war between FOCA and FISA was petering out. This
was largely due to the adoption of turbo engines by the FOCA teams as
they realized that a good chassis did not necessarily have to house a
DFV it could have a Honda or any other turbo engine. Thus the most
politically turbulent period in F1_s history fizzled out and drew to a
close.
-- 
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 he was later excluded.
Diciamo meglio, anche a questo GP venne tolta la titolazione mondiale, e
quindi non fa parte degli eventi del mondiale 1981.
-- 
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 (o_        Vinci                     registered Linux User #276630
 //\         " Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent "
 V_/_                     Salvor Hardin, Foundation

 lobbies manipulated by people for whom sport has no meaning."
Colin Chapman, già vittima dei "poteri forti" più di 20 anni fa,
scoprirebbe oggi che il mondo della F1 non solo non è cambiato ma 
quel poco di sport che resta è solo una "copertura" per messaggi
pubblicitari organizzati, con una sorta di cartello, dalle industrie
automobilistiche...


 automobilistiche...
D'altra parte è stato lui ad introdurre in un certo senso l'aspetto
commerciale sotto forma di sponsorizzazioni che coprivano tutta la
vettura, arrivando per primo a "vendere" il nome della squadra (alla JPS)


 vettura, arrivando per primo a "vendere" il nome della squadra (alla JPS)
verissimo.
Con la questione delle sponsorizzazioni Chapman ha aperto alla F1
"moderna". Grazie a queste risorse, molte piccole scuderie hanno
potuto sopravvivere nella F1 anni 70. Senza l'avvento dell'era degli
sponsor (e del DFV) è probabile che la F1 sarebbe entrata in forte crisi
che avrebbe potuto portarla al collasso.
