F1 cutaway

[danmas]

I thought this was interesting enough to post here. Hope you all agree.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wn1EFLa2C8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[Moderator]

Certainly!

The latest BritishRacecar article features a March F1 car, circa 1974... it's interesting to compare and see just how much F1 cars have changed in 40 years.  

Do all the new F1 cars place driver's feet so high? There must be blood pressure implications... does placing feet and lower legs so high improve brain function for sustained high-g driving?

[Jim Stabe]

The car is designed for aero performance, the driver gets whatever space is left over. I would think that having the driver in that position would create blood to the brain issues under 5g braking. Cornering forces are side to side so whether the driver is reclining or upright doesn't matter. Jet fighters lay the pilot down so that vertical g's don't drain the blood out of the head as easily but cars don't experience the g's in the vertical axis.