by Gabrielle DeSantis

Formula 1 is a sport where any advantage is key. Less weight? Great, get it out of the car. More horsepower? Have it fitted by the race this weekend. Teams work long hours to ensure that their cars and drivers are as competitive as possible. The only thing between teams and the pursuit of absolute speed is the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, or FIA. They make the rules. But rules are made to be broken.

Formula 1’s Brabham BT46

The first car on the list isn’t so much of a cheater car, but more a liberal interpretation of the rules. Legendary designer of the Mclaren F1, Gordon Murray saw a gap in the rules and ran with it. As a counter to the winning Lotus cars of the era, the car was introduced for the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix. Boy was it a counter.

The Brabham BT46B had a fan mounted on the back. No, not some helpless spectator, but a real fan. The idea was, the fan would pull air out from under the car and give it more downforce, allowing it to turn more quickly. It worked so well that driver Niki Lauda only drove it once before the FIA closed the gap in the rules, forbidding the car from racing again.

Water-cooled brakes

Moving on to another liberal interpretation of the rules laid down by the FIA, the Brabham BT49D. Rather obviously, the FIA stated that cars had to be full of their necessary fluids before a race. Brabham Formula 1 team realized that the rules didn’t explicitly state how the fluids must be used. So, using water from the radiators, the team set about using some of that water to cool the brakes.

Now, the only reason the brakes needed such aggressive cooling was because the cars were now turbocharged for 1982. The extra power meant the brakes had to do more work slowing the car down. Why fit bigger brakes when you can simply better cool the old ones? A clever trick. Additionally, the extra water used over the course of the race lightened the car over time. Inevitably, the team was caught during weigh-in, though how is not known.

Adding fuel to the fire

This brings us to the most blatant cheat of the bunch. The BAR Honda 007 was a thirsty car. Most Formula 1 cars are. A second tank was installed to get around the massive thirst of the car and eliminate the weight added by extra fuel. Moreover, this tank also held the necessary amount of fuel to help the car meet weight restrictions. As a result, the car was underweight by the end of the race. While all of these cars were eventually caught, their different approaches to the rules pushed innovation in the sport and showed that teams will go to any lengths for champagne and podiums.

RELATED: How Red Bull F1’s Flexi Wing Is Shaking up the Championship

The post Biggest Cheats in Formula 1: They’re Guidelines, Not Rules appeared first on MotorBiscuit.

by Gabrielle DeSantis

Another day, another chess move from Elon Musk and Tesla. While the new Tesla Model S Plaid is about to get delivered to buyers, the Model S Plaid+ is officially dead. But don’t think you can get into the regular Plaid in a timely fashion for the price it was last week. The brand upped the price by $10,000 overnight.

The Tesla Model S Plaid increased in price again

The prices of various Tesla models have been increasing randomly in the past few months. Elon Musk says the price increases are due to the industry-wide lack of materials that will probably worsen before it gets better. Yesterday, there was an update to the price of the Model S. Previously, the tri-motor all-wheel-drive option was $114,490. Now the price starts at $124,490.

However, the price of the Model X Plaid tri-motor all-wheel-drive option remains at $114,690. The Model Y Long Range model did increase another $500 this week. That is the fourth or fifth small increase in the past month for the Model Y alone. The Model 3 has also been following suit and increasing by $500 occasionally.

Some speculate that a lack of available flux capacitors might be the reason for the Plaid+ change, but that has not been confirmed yet.

Elon Musk killed the Model S Plaid+ with a tweet

Tesla had been taking orders for the Plaid+ for a while now but only canceled it this week. It wasn’t expected to get delivered until later this year or even next, but the Model S Plaid+ won’t be getting delivered at all now. Now that the price of the Plaid has increased, what does that mean for those who pre-ordered the Plaid+? Tesla was urging buyers to switch the reservation to the Plaid model.

The issue isn’t the price so much as the range. The Plaid+ was supposed to have a range somewhere around 500 miles. As it stands right now, the Model S Long Range model gets an estimated 412 miles of range. The price is $74,490 for now. The Plaid model has an estimated range of 390 miles.

Is Tesla simply trying to make up for the lack of Plaid+ sales with the price increase? Will it even matter if the Plaid is better than the brand anticipated? Tesla might answer a lot of the answers to these questions at the Plaid delivery event this week.

Where does Tesla go from here?

Right now, the electric vehicle brand has the upper hand. Even if the price increases continue, the demand still outweighs the supply. Will that change once production can increase again and get back on schedule? It is possible.

There are certain owners out there that are not pleased with one or more of these recent updates. Some buyers have been waiting it out and won’t love the ever-increasing prices. Some buyers might not be thrilled about the cancelation of the Plaid+ and don’t like the range of the Plaid.

While the goal for Tesla was initially to make electric vehicles more affordable for the masses, there have been many bumps along that road. Is that goal no longer realistic?

RELATED: Recall Alert: Over 5,000 Tesla Model 3 and Model Y Cars Recalled

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