Limiting Drivetrain Motors

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by qnetjoe

Just to kill some parallels, in F1 the top speed of the cars is what they seek to limit by the rules and that has stayed rather close in the last 15 years or so. Lap times have been going down due to advancements in suspension and handling. The reason they claim to need to limit top speed is due to safety.

I won't disagree that F1 lap times have been improved primarily by suspension and handling, but it doesn't negate the parallel. If motor availability (engine displacement) is reduced then teams will find other ways to make their robots (cars) just as fast as they were, like multi-speed automatic transmissions (improvements in suspension, brakes, and tires). This fits in nicely with your point - the restriction won't slow down the higher-end teams who can devote resources to making more advanced transmissions (develop suspension, tires, brakes) but it will hurt middle and bottom tier teams who do not have the resources to devote to these efforts.