Why was the 1978 Brabham BT46B banned?

Question

Why was the 1978 Brabham BT46B banned?

Answer 1

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Cos it SUCKED!!!

I certainly wasn't a FAN!!!

ETC ETC

See Julian for correct answer.

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Answer 2

Trick question - it wasn't ever banned.  It raced in one race and won it.  It never raced again as Bernie Ecclestone, then the head of Brabham, realized he would start a new tech race if he didn't withdraw it.

I always found the argument that the fans were there to cool the engine rather disingenuous, since the car would actually suck itself down toward the ground when running.  Really, just a retake on the chapparal fan car of the can am era.

Answer 3

As Julian said, the car was the first introduction of 'fan assisted' aerodynamics and was quickly banned because of its great performance advantage.

As you may know, F1 cars use wings to generate downforce, and underbody aerodynamics. In this era ground-affect was being introduced, meaning intense sculpturing of the underside of the car to produce a lot of downforce.

As an F1 car increases speed, air travels faster over the aerodynamic surfaces, generating greater downforce. The faster you travel, the more downforce and therefore more grip you achieve. So through fast bends there is a lot of grip. But through slow corners, grip decreases as air is flowing at less speed over the aerodynamic surfaces. This can be seen especially in modern F1, were the cars can struggle round tight hairpin bends as they have no aerodynamic grip.

With fan assisted aerodynamics found on Gordon Murray's BT46B Brabham, a large fan sucks air from under the car, greating great pressure loss. So, it is as if the car is travelling at high speed, as air is flowing over the aerodynamic surfaces at speed but now even when the car is negotiating slow corners. This low speed downforce gave a great advantage and therefore was subsequently banned.

However, its technology can be found on many modern supercars. Examples are Gordon Murray's later McLaren F1 (not the LM racing version as it is not race legal) and the Ferrari Enzo.

Answer 4

Yes the fan car, a huge fan was attached to the back to massivley increase downforce, it was Brabhams answer to the so called ground effects cars of that era like the lotus 79.

It was introduced, famously coverd under a dustbin lid at the 1978 Sweedish GP, where Nicki Lauda won on the cars debut. It was banned after the race, though thankfully the result stood.

Among complaints from other drivers was that the fan blew up dust and debris into their faces!