Does it really matter where the engine sits relative to the driver? For 45 years now, conventional wisdom has had it that the best racecar designs have the engine behind the driver. Specifically, F1 and IndyCars must be rear-engined. The reasons given for this, repeated over the years, are familiar to anyone with an interest in motorsport: rear-engined cars are smaller, lighter, handle better, with better weight distribution and driver position.
When examined closely, however, none of these contentions holds up. All of them are now merely received wisdom. To the degree they were once true, modern regulations, materials and construction techniques have erased the supposed advantages of this definitive layout.
When Cooper first arrived on the F1 scene of the late 1950s, its cars were indeed smaller and lighter…
