i think a key thing to remember is the manufacturing/fabrication tech. available when the F1 engines where built. Like I said, the welds on it are from a guy with a welder, no CAD/CAM, no robots, no simulation, just some guys with some machine tools, paper, and a shop.
Another thing, if you ever get the chance to visit the Johnson Space Center you can look at some of the control panels and tech. they used. Man, I wouldn't trust a trip to Home Depot and back using that tech and they said, "screw it we're riding this to the moon".
edit: there's a youtube out there of a project to rebuild part of an F1 engine. I think they conclude that a complete F1 can't be built today because a lot of the hand fitting and "tricks of the trade" were never written and down and modern fabrication techniques can't replicate the shape of certain F1 parts. ...something like that
Another thing, if you ever get the chance to visit the Johnson Space Center you can look at some of the control panels and tech. they used. Man, I wouldn't trust a trip to Home Depot and back using that tech and they said, "screw it we're riding this to the moon".
edit: there's a youtube out there of a project to rebuild part of an F1 engine. I think they conclude that a complete F1 can't be built today because a lot of the hand fitting and "tricks of the trade" were never written and down and modern fabrication techniques can't replicate the shape of certain F1 parts. ...something like that