When was the fastest era in F1?

When was the fastest era in F1? Which cars were the best to race? Is there a previous F1 car that if driven against one from today would win? Every know and again they change the regulations- maybe to slow the cars down? But how fast could the cars be if the regulations were less strict? Also which cars looked the daftest? I think the platypus nose looked a bit odd but also a while back they had those funny side wings on stilts which wrecked the look of the car.

When was the fastest era in F1?
Think there have been a couple, since I started watching. There was a period in the early-mid 1990s, when all sorts of electrionic aids were allowed, such as ABS, traction control, active ride control etc. which allowed cars to be very quick (e.g. the 1992 Williams - I think). Most, if not all these, have been subsequently banned.

Then again, if I recall correctly, most of the existing lap records are from the early 2000s, during the "max downforce" era, when cars had all kinds of weird and wonderful aero surfaces stuck all over them, before the introduction of grooved tyres and after the return of slicks. I suppose one example would be Lewis Hamilton's 2008 McLaren.

Which cars were the best to race?
Entirely subjective and about as useful as "Who was the greatest driver ever?" You would have to ask individual drivers which cars they thought were the best.

On a personal note, I would think the cars from the mid-late 1980s until the late 1990s would probably have been the best to race, before the technical regulations go so ridiculously restrictive...and also before you needed to be a computer wizard, having nearly an entire keyboard's worth of buttons on the steering wheel.

Safety-wise the modern cars have to be the best...or at least the ones in which drivers feel safest.


Is there a previous F1 car that if driven against one from today would win?
Not round a race track, I wouldn't think, but I suspect one of the 1,000hp turbo-charged monsters from around 1986 might beat a modern car in a drag race.

For ultimate lap times, aero is still more important than power (actually helps put the power down).

But how fast could the cars be if the regulations were less strict?
Again, I'd say look at the cars that were around during the mid 1980s. Some of the engines in use put out well in excess of 1,000bhp, with turbo boost (compared to the 750bhp or so of today). Of course, the less efficient aero mean they had to take it easier through the corners.

If you combined the power of the mid-Eighties with the aero of the early-mid Noughties, I daresay you could get ridiculously quick cars. Even more so, if you re-introduced the electronic driver aids used during the Nineties.

That said, while qualifying might be spectacular, the races themselves would probably horrendously dreary. Excessive aerodynamics creates huge amounts of tubulence that can't be countered by power, or electronics, making passing that much more difficult...hence the regs we have today, along with things like DRS and KERS.

Also which cars looked the daftest?
For me, cars looked daftest/ugliest during the aforementioned "max aero" era, when designers would have winglets and fins sprouting all over the cars. The platypus noses do make them look quite ugly, but I think I'm getting used to them now.

Before that, there was a period (during the 70s I think) when cars used to have massive "whale tail" rear spoilers, which looked quite daft. Before that (during the 60s I think) they had ridiculously high rear spoilers, mounted on a couple of skinny struts, which didn't do them any favours, aethetically.

Over a lap even with half the bhp of some of their predecessors todays cars are fast fast fast as they carry so much downforce thru the corners (as DW as already stated).
Daftest car ? Hmmm those 6 wheelers in the 70s were a bit dodgy looking!!

I think the early to mid 90s was honestly. I liked the electronical aids which made the races even faster and more exciting, and I wish so many werent now barred.