Vintage Racecar recently published a letter from John Wright who is a nine of racing anecdotes. John told how one of Jim Hall’s Chaparrals was suffering an aerodynamic problem that was resolved by drilling holes in the bodywork. Naturally Jim was not going to give away any secrets, and so said that it was done to cool the front (Firestone) tires. Pretty soon everyone was drilling holes.
This is known as the Purple Pole Principle, originally proposed by former McLaren and Brabham team manager, Alistair Caldwell. PPP states that if a car wins a race and has a purple pole in the cockpit, come the next races, everyone will have a purple pole in the cockpit.
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