It's Not Possible - Pro Driver lap time

[Don Plumley]

As a track newbie I've been fortunate to be given a lot of fast rides around Sears Point: Tyson, Dean Thomas (dtfastbear), Tom W (today - wow!), etc. The fast guys are doing sub 2:00, I'm guessing Tom was pushing 1:50 today.

I looked at my lap timer this evening, and found that I got a 2:06:54 -- in traffic. Pretty doggone happy about that. And a couple of 2:teens given a couple of spins on two. But a 2:07 works out to be about 73mph average.

The professional road coarse lap record at Infineon was set by Audi R8 driver Frank Biela. Get this: 1:07.169. That's not a typo, 1 minute 7 seconds. His average speed was 131.793 mph.

I'm a long way off from the controlled violence of Tom's magic Turtle ride. But 1 full minute less??? I simply absolutely cannot comprehend this!

[juanbenae]

i held you at bay as long as i could....

[Don Plumley]

The car was making up for many driver shortcomings - the suspension and grip inspires ill-deserved confidence. Evidenced by two spin outs on T2!

[Tyson Schmidt]

Don, that had to be for the short course.

I can't imagine a 135mph average for the long course.

I suppose it is possible, but I doubt it.

[Don Plumley]

I could be very wrong - more digging says this was the record for the "Infineon Audi R8", not running at Infineon.

Not sure what track IRL uses, they post:

Qualifying Record: Ryan Briscoe, 1:16.491/108.248 mph, 8/27/05
Race Record: Tony Kanaan, 1:18.308/105.736 mph, 8/28/05

I'll keep digging tomorrow. But anyway, my point is the performance gap for every second must get geometrically harder.

[emcon5]

Originally posted by Don Plumley
I could be very wrong - more digging says this was the record for the "Infineon Audi R8", not running at Infineon.

Not sure what track IRL uses, they post:

Qualifying Record: Ryan Briscoe, 1:16.491/108.248 mph, 8/27/05
Race Record: Tony Kanaan, 1:18.308/105.736 mph, 8/28/05

I'll keep digging tomorrow. But anyway, my point is the performance gap for every second must get geometrically harder.

IRL track layout:



I don't know what the record is, but an Lola beat out the Audi R8 sat for the pole the last time ALMS was there, July 2005 The pole time was 1:21.688 or 111.497MPH.

The GT1 Corvette did a 1:28.528, and the GT2 class 911 GT3 RSR turned a 1:34.263. IIRC ALMS runs with turn 7a.

For comparison, the NASA GTI Cup pole back in April was a blinding 2:05.9, and Bob Stefanovich sat on the Super Unlimited pole with a 1:43.1 in his monster turbo 911 (also with 7a. Running t7 instead cuts off about 3 seconds)

2:06 is good for your first time there, Good job.

Tom

[Dleong]

Last year's times were pretty close to the records.

LMP1 established the new record in the Lola (2005)
LMP2 record is 1:23.085 (2003)
GT1 record is 1:28.042 (2004)
GT2 Record is 1:34.244 (2004)

I also believe that the in car telemetry showed an Audi hitting 180Mph just before T11.

[jluetjen]

Comparing the lap times of a novice in a (modified) street car to a pro driver in an all-out race car that was designed from the get-go to get around a circuit as fast as possible isn't really that meaningful. If you compared your time on a course to an F1 car (even a Minardi or a Super Aguri), it would be even more drastic.

What I found to be really an eye opener is to see what a pro can do in the same car as you. That is truely a humbling experience. When I took my Skip Barber course at Lime Rock, our last half day was in the morning before the IMSA GTO teams started practicing for the upcoming race weekend. Jeremy Dale -- a sometimes Skip Barber instructor at that time -- in addition to his IMSA driving duties, took out one of the FF's that we had just been using. Watching him was an incredibily eye-opening experience. He took corners flat that we were braking for, he shifted where we didn't, and didn't where we did. I don't remember the time difference, but it was something like 4 or 5 seconds at least around LRP which normally laps in the 1 minute +/- range.

It's left a huge impression on me to this day about how to keep your speed up.