BANNED RACE CARS – CHEATS OR JUST TOO INNOVATIVE?

In racing, whether it be horses or cars, everyone wants to win. This drive to be the best also drives innovation, sometimes not always legal and other times frankly bizarre... and, sometimes, it gets them banned.

It's not easy to be a winner. It takes hard work, dedication and enthusiasm to be the best at what you do. It also takes innovation and that old chestnut, 'out-of-the-box' thinking.

The unfortunate reality is that, sometimes, being innovative is against the rules, or it upsets the competition because it's so good. Let's be honest, would you smile and wave as your rival speeds past through the corner? And, what if it's because his car has fans that suck it to the ground? Well, that actually happened.

Other tricks were more sneaky. Take Toyota during the heyday of Group B rallying, for instance. To try and make those insane cars safer, the FIA implemented a rule to reduce intake by 25% by installing restrictor plates. The coats, however, created a restrictor that would move, ever so slightly, when the car was on the go, thus disabling the restrictor. It was so well developed that the cars passed numerous inspections but, eventually the FIA found out and banned Toyota for the next two seasons.

There are plenty of other gems like these, so why not hit play and see what other cars have been banned from racing and why.