Just How Fast Is a Formula 1 Car?

[cegerer]

This video has been shown on Speedvision, but for those who haven't seen it here it is in mpeg format. It is a 'race' between 2 road-going Mercedes and David Coulthard's McLaren-Mercedes MP4/12. It's pretty incredible:

Mercedes Race!

[carrera]

Thanks for the link.

What a rush, I love the sound of formula 1 cars.
It sure makes me want more hp.

[Bill Douglas]

I haven't seen it, so the story is second hand, but a friend saw on TV. A Puegoet (sp)205GTI set off around a track. 30 seconds later a late model 911 turbo took of after it. About 2 minutes later a formula 1 car took off. At about the time the 911 caught the Puegoet the formula 1 car ripped past.

[pwd72s]

cegerer? Ever watch the flick, "two lane blacktop?" "The girl" character, asked by the "GTO" character how fast that '55 Chevvy is, says: "Oh..I dunno...pretty fast." Yep, she was right. Comparisons between race & street cars? Really, pretty silly. Even the "osolete" 908 Spyder had 3.9 pounds per horsepower. Care to compare that with the latest & greatest 996 twin turbo? A formula 1 car vs. the hottest road car out there? How about a road race in real traffic, real roads? NYC to L.A.? I think a fast road car would whup the F1 car. It all depends on the situation, doesn't it?

[Bill Douglas]

Yep, the F1 car would be fast on a NYC to LA race but the support truck with 16 guys and a load of spare parts would slow down it's race effort.

[cegerer]

Yeah, it's a silly comparison but it does do a good job of showing just how fast the F1 car is. There was another similar comparison on Speedvision a few years ago with a GP motorcycle. I think it was between a TAG Turbo McLaren and the GP bike - anybody remember what the details were on that?

[Zendalar]

F1: Downforce enough to make you ride on the ceiling.

[motion]

There was one between Freddie Spencer on the Honda V4 two-stroke and 2 other motorcycles back in 1985 or so at Laguna Seca. That was excellent.

I've always been curious: How much quicker is a F1 car than a Champ car? I've yet to find an occurance of each car recently at the same track to compare lap times. Does anyone know if this has happened? I know that F1 cars are about 100hp shy of Champ cars, but they weigh 600 pounds less and the technology (braking) is far advanced. I'm guessing they're about 7 seconds a lap quicker on the average 1:30 track.


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Let's Roll!
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-Richard
'84 Carrera Cabriolet
'74 911 Widebody 3.6 Project
My Porsches

[AndrewB]

Oh- that video was great. What a laugh.

Thanks for the link.



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Andrew
75' 911S 3.0L
01' TL1000S

[Jim T]

Originally posted by cegerer:
Yeah, it's a silly comparison but it does do a good job of showing just how fast the F1 car is. There was another similar comparison on Speedvision a few years ago with a GP motorcycle. I think it was between a TAG Turbo McLaren and the GP bike - anybody remember what the details were on that?

I remember seeing that, or something similar.

I think the F1 car was faster than the bike. The bike was simply limited by traction, they said the biggest thing was no downforce on the bike, thus limiting grip.

Some incredible things I remember, though: An F1 car does 0-60 in under 2 seconds. A 500CC GP bike comes close to having MORE power than it can actually use! They said that on many tracks, the GP bike would only be at full throttle only around 5% of the time!

[cegerer]

I'm not sure there has been a modern-day F1 car and Champ car run on the same track. They always put in a chicane or something. This is more for political reasons than anything else. I've heard CART might race at Watkins Glen again so there might be some kind of comparison there.

[Fishcop]

What was the track that the F1s ran on just recently in the US Grand Prix? Perhaps the Champs cars have run the same track recently?

PS the Champs are in my home town today, the Gold Coast, Australia. I'm on my way to see them shortly. I live 8 kilometers from the track and I can hear them from home!



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John Forcier
69 911T

[Blackdimonds]

I would love to see a test between Cart and/or IRL cars and an F1.

I would also like to see all 2002 Porsche models against each other. Or how about some 60's American V8s and 80s Porsches.



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Paul
1981 911SC/RS
2001 Audi A4 1.8T Quattro

[rcwaldo]

Hey there Fishcop. I was down there in Surfers Paradise last year. I worked on Tarso Marques' champ car. The Panasonic Swift.

That was my favorite race event. What a beautiful city! I wish I was there this year.

Chris

[GIBSON]

I just hope there is a CART next year. Honda is out, Ford is out (as of 2002), Toyota is busy with F1, looks like Penske is out, who is left? Most of the big teams are going to run IRL next year along with their CART teams. At Laguna we can't even get CART to commit to a date for next year. It's kind of a mess. IRL gets stronger, CART suffers, FedEx has not signed on a series sponser for next year, things don't look great. Good news for sports car racing though, the ALMS seems healthy, they are asking for long term contracts with their tracks so that should mean good things. I'd hate to see CART go under, I really like the sound of a CART car up close....

Bruce Herrmann

[motion]

Hey Chris,

Do you work for Swift in San Clemente? Is that a full time job - gearboxes? Tell us a little more!

It does seem like Cart is diving fast. As anti-IRL as I am, its hard for me to admit that King Tony might have the last laugh in all of this. Doesn't look good....

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Let's Roll!
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-Richard
'84 Carrera Cabriolet
'74 911 Widebody 3.6 Project
My Porsches

[Fishcop]

Hey Chris, you'd be having a ball today!! Just got back from final practice session, what a blast.

A mate has an apartment on the track, so we've been just sitting on the balcony drinkin' ana watchin'. There's some pretty "brolly dollies" staying in an apartment next to ours in the next building, so we've been perving on them as well.

Weather fantasic 28 celcius, no rain forcast, wish you were here!

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John Forcier
69 911T

[Early_S_Man]

If CART had any sense, they would revive the Group 7 Can-Am cars! And, I doubt if there would be any trouble getting sponsors! They have been running the majority of the Can-Am tracks for several years, now!

Back in the early-'80s there was a similar test session with Nikki Lauda doing the narrating the 'show' for McLaren-Marlboro ... the F1 car was the last of the 3.0 Cosworth-Ford Mclarens, just before the beginning of the TAG-turbo McLarens started their first season, and the Porsche used was a 928S, and Ford XR-4Ti or some variant, the Euro version, not the Merkur joke version! it was slickly-edited, with cameras in/on all the cars, and a helicopter-mounted camera as well ... must have took a few practice runs to get the timing down just right so all of the cars would converge at the finish line!

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa
1992 Dodge Dakota 5.2 4X4 parts hauler

[mm86911]

Big F1 fan here - couldn't stop laughing!!!!

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Mike - Atlanta
'86 911 3.2 Targa

[cegerer]

It looks like CART's glory days are gone for sure. Who would've thought back in the 1990-1996 era that it would come to this? Think about it today: a race with Nigel Mansell, Mario & Michael Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Jacques Villeneuve, Christian Fittipaldi, Bobby Rahal, Al Unser Jr., Zanardi, etc.!! That wasn't anything special - just the usual lineup back then. Tony George has got what he wanted - a return of the Indy 500 as the only important open-wheel race of the year, with a bunch of little-known, poorly attended support races throughout the rest of the calender. I'm with Warren on this one: revive an unlimited CART CanAm series!! -- Curt

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1971 911T - 2.5L Big Bore