Nine Race Cars So Good They Were Banned

At its very best, motorsport inspires innovation of the highest order. Sometimes, the best race cars push too far ahead, leaving the competition—and rule-makers—in the dust. These nine cars were effectively banned for being too fast, too brilliant for the competition to accept.

The turbine-powered Lotus 56 never won the Indy 500, but it came close enough to be banned after just one appearance in 1968. Its Pratt & Whitney turbine engine and four-wheel-drive helped it qualify on pole and lead most of the race, but a failed fuel pump ended driver Joe Leonard's race just a few laps short of the finish. Four-wheel-drive and turbines were promptly banned before the 56 could shine.

Mark Donohue was a master of creative interpretations of the rulebook, if not outright cheating. His Penske Camaro Z/28–with body panels dipped in acid to reduce weight and a "safety" cage that gave it tons of rigidity–is one of the most infamous in all of motorsport. When Trans-Am organizers realized what he was doing, they banned the so-called "Lightweight," though it didn't stop Donohue from entering it the following year, disguised as a 1968 model. Read the whole sneaky story here.

Sometimes, a race car is just too fast for its own good: The Porsche 917/30 Can-Am is one such car. Porsche turbocharged the flat-12 from its Le Mans-winning 917 to produce a ridiculous 1300 horsepower, embarrassing previously-dominant McLaren in the process. Can-Am's organizers imposed a fuel limit on turbocharged cars for the 1974 season, so Penske and Porsche pulled out.

The straight-six in the E46-generation BMW M3 might be a masterpiece, but it wasn't quite good enough for the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). BMW's solution was to drop in a 500-hp V8, build a small handful of road cars to satisfy homologation requirements, and demolish the competition. When ALMS changed the homologation requirement to 100 road cars in 2002, BMW killed the mighty GTR.

For the 1992 F1 season, Williams was untouchable thanks to its usage of active suspension. The incredibly complex system was programmed to anticipate surface changes on the track, but other teams complained it was too expensive to develop. The technology was banned in 1993.

Thanks to its turbocharged straight-six and genius all-wheel-drive system, the R32 Skyline GT-R was unbeatable in Australian touring car racing. The governing body didn't like that too much, so it banned turbocharging and all-wheel-drive, ending the Skyline GT-R's two-year reign.

Mopar's Aero cars were some of NASCAR's most daring innovators, but their aerodynamics were more advanced than their tires could handle. The Dodge Daytona and Plymouth Superbird could easily hit 200 mph, but NASCAR imposed a power limit on cars with wings for 1971, fearing these cars were too fast for the time. Soon after, the big wings and pointy noses disappeared.

Jim Hall's Chaparrals were some of the most unusual cars to ever see a race, but also some of the most brilliant. The 2J was the pinnacle of Chaparral nuttiness. It used two fans powered by a snowblower engine to suck the car to the ground, creating huge downforce even at low speeds. Mechanical gremlins prevented the car from winning any races, but its downforce system was banned before it could reach its potential.

F1 wizard Gordon Murray reinterpreted the 2J's innovation for one race in the 1978 season with the Brabham BT46B. A huge fan driven off the gearbox sucked the car to the ground and allowed drivers to corner at virtually any speed they wanted. Niki Lauda handily won the Swedish Grand Prix, the BT46B's first race, but Lotus and other teams threw a fit, ending the short reign of the vacuum car in Formula 1.