Beta Porsche 805 (Formula 1, 1965-1968) 0.95

PROLOGUE: (brief history of the 805)

<--- Porsche 804 (Not 805)
Imagine it's December 29th, 1962, and you're at the South African Grand Prix, the final race of the 1962 season and the race is coming to a close with only 12 laps to spare. The win is almost guaranteed for driver Graham Hill in his Lotus and the standings seem to be pretty stale with Porsche 10 seconds behind him. However, in this reality ace driver and automotive designer Dan Gurney takes the wheel in place of Carel springing the valiant Porsche 804 to life, carving through the competition and into 3rd.

Thanks to Dan's ritualistic pre-race tuning (which he was known to do), he not only prevented the fuel system from failing (as it did in real life) but also improved the overall handling of the car allowing him to make a podium position. Although this small success didn't win Porsche the season, it did win Porsche the people as it launched the brand into an era of popularity that the brand had never seen before. This popularity prompted Volkswagen to merge with Porsche, and in 1963 Porsche brokered a deal with its sister company becoming Volkswagen-Porsche automotive manufacturer, and Porsche-Volkswagen the racing team.

This allowed Porsche a nearly limitless budget, and in no time Porsche began developing a new Grand Prix auto, using state-of-the-art aerodynamic design and implementing downforce technology years before the competition. In the following months, the VW/Porsche community had grown exponentially worldwide, increasing VW sales and leading to the creation of the Wolfsburg Auto Union (WAU) and the premature success of the racing brand EMPI. EMPI and Porsche-VW would strike a sponsorship deal in October of 1964 providing the parts needed to complete the new auto and the publicity EMPI needed to thrive.

By December, the manufacturer comes out with the magnificent Porsche 805 just in time for the 1965 season. With its state-of-the-art aerodynamic design and incredibly reliable engine, this car would go on to win not only the 1965 season, but also the 1966, and 1967 Formula 1 season for Porsche. However, due to the increasingly demanding rules and regulations by the FIA, the 805 was only able to get 3rd position for the 1968 season and made to be replaced by an unknown successor marking the end of the 805's reign.


About the 805: (performance, design, other notes)
The engine is a 183ci flat-8 that pushes out a hearty 395 horsepower at 9300 rpm. Its naturally balanced, lower revving engine is key to its unmatched reliability and allowed the 805 to outpace the competition, it also sports a much more efficient cooling system seen as the massive vents on the front of the car. These vents not only aid in the engine's reliability factor but also behaves as a primitive (yet effective) front downforce effect which is the result of Ferdinand Porsches' Pre-War aerodynamic research for the Auto Union while he was a part of the [REDACTED] Party.



This slight downforce gave the 805 the edge it needed to win 3 consecutive years back-to-back, and considering the primitive nature of this effect, it simply went unnoticed by anyone until 1968 when the FIA saw this as an unfair advantage banned this effect for "the sake of fair competition" only for it to return in 71 on the Lotus 56. When comparing the 805 to the 804 on the surface it seems almost the same, however, underneath a different story plays out. The 805's massive power increase from 190 to 395hp means that Porsche had to downshift the gears in order to improve reliability going from a Porsche 6-speed to an EMPI 5-on-the-fly transmission improving overall weight. Another thing that went unnoticed by the FIA or even Porsche was the cooling fan installed on top of the engine which not only helped to cool the engine but also had an error in the mold which could be considered a "happy little accident". The mold with which the magnesium block is made makes it so that some of the excess compressed air from the cooling fan is sent directly to the intake which allows the engine to be lighter and still make the quota demanded by the FIA at the time. Luckily for Porsche, this error went unnoticed until the mid-80s (the engine still met the parameters of the time for compressed engines and the FIA didn't take away the titles).
DESIGN



As I said before, the design of this car was the result of decades of research and German engineering prowess. At first, it seems like the cars is a little over the top or bulky but the way i see it, its exactly where i would see a German manufacturer in Formula 1 had they raced in the 60s, innovating and advancing faster than anyone else. The downforce effects are subtle but still noticeable as the fenders and the comparably more massive front intake than the 804.



The interior is only slightly changed from the original 804 dashboard with only a few extra indicators of the union between Volkswagen and Porsche. The steering wheel, Tachometer, and Speedometer work, and just for realism's sake I made it so the cooling fan on the back spins. On the side, I attempted to recreate a variety of period-correct sponsor logos.


OTHER NOTES:
-Handling is pretty good but it is very difficult to drive with a keyboard (RECCOMEND CONTROLLER OR STEERING SETUP)
-There is a small graphical error with the tachometer in which the numbers 1 through 5 are invisible until the car is moving.
-The engine is hand-built in automation so don't expect any fancy physics.
-WHAT IS EMPI?: EMPI is a VW/Porsche aftermarket parts dealership and race sponsor founded in 1951 only gaining popularity with a small community of vintage VW and Porsche enjoyers. They are most commonly seen taking part in the Baja 1000 with the class 11 EMPI race team and in communities such as the California BUG-IN and the Octo Show.






This car was months in the making and although it's automation, I pride myself in making the car as enjoyable and satisfying to drive as possible with the best design automation has to offer (which isn't much). The main reason I made this is that although i see many Formula 1 car mods, almost none of them are from the mid-60s, and those that are, aren't fun to drive at all. I know it's not perfect but it's all we got.
This is the 3rd car in my Formula 1 series, go check out the Lotus 42, and Gurney Eagle MK1 on my mod postings. Other than that please enjoy the fruits of my labor.