The Birth of the Spoiler

[cosworth151]

This technically isn't about F1. However, since aero is possibly the most controversial area of F1 design, I thought it appropriate to put this here. Pete Brock tells the story of how Richie Ginther came up with the idea for the rear spoiler.

The biggest surprise is that the original reason for it had nothing to do with downforce. They only discovered that after they mounted the wing.

https://classicmotorsports.com/articles/peter-brock-birth-spoiler/?mc_cid=769625afc9&mc_eid=c2e3d09193

[lkjohnson1950]

Thanks Cos, great article. I love stuff about the design and development of famous racing cars. Got to see a real Daytona Coupe in action at PIR once. The owner brought it out for a high speed SCCA slalom, driven by an SCCA National Champion. It was fast, really fast and sounded terrific.

[Jericoke]

Honestly the number of things 'invented' by accident must be longer than the list of things that people tried to create on purpose.

Reminds me how some musicians are known for a song they put together in 15 minutes to fill an album, or some noodling recorded when the engineer forgot to turn the recorder off, instead of songs they put their heart and soul into creating.

Either way, I love these sorts of stories.  There's no guarantee these concepts would 'eventually' show up in F1, and we could easily be cheering for a smattering of teardrop shaped monstrosities on race weekends.  (It would make some fantastic meme artwork when drivers whine about their car's performance though!)

[lkjohnson1950]

teardrop shaped monstrosities?  Yup.