Tour 35 Years of Formula 1 Downforce History

While the exact style of the aerodynamic advantages may have changed over the years, the past-half century of Formula 1 racing has been decided in part by the small advantages teams build into their cars through hours of wind tunnel and simulation time. The resulting modern cars are incredibly intricate, down to tiny winglets underneath the cars that are never meant to be seen by anyone, especially competitors. Decades earlier, the fastest cars got by on simple, massive wings and relatively clean body designs. In both cases, those outside of a racing team rarely get to see the specific tools of the trade that make these cars so fast.

That's what makes the public presentation of a collection like Juan Gonzalez's so valuable. Road & Track Contributing Editor Marshall Pruett recently got to film a collection of ten of his cars up close, with no restrictions against showing the underbody, splitter, and other downforce elements that would have been hidden from the public whenever possible when these cars originally raced.