Quote:
Originally Posted by Deschodt
On another note, there was an event at Sears Pt this w/e where they brought a F1 car. I've seen older F1s in person but never one of the current KERS/MGUK breed. It was a Hamilton spec Mercedes, not entirely sure what year - drive by Esteban Guttierrez from what I could see.. Either him or his clone, he looked familiar.
I was not impressed by the sound - barely better than Indycar - but I was shocked at the cornering speed. For reference in my vantage spot I'd seen 50-60s GT cars slowly pass by, then more modern cars like Audi R8 Le mans prototypes on rails... Impressive. Then the F1 came and *obliterated* that feeling of speed. All the while looking super controlled...
I think these cars are their worst enemies. They look planted, they don't make enough noise, it looks easy. It's almost like watching the VW electric prototype conquer Pikes peak. It looks kinda fast but without the cue from the sound it's hard to tell how fast.
Without the perspective of having just seen really fast Le mans prototypes before in the same spot and seeing how the F1 absolutely monstered them, I might have missed out on that car's amazing qualities... I used to think they should bring back screaming engines just for fun - but they really should do it for the spectacle... These things are amazing !
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I was there - great event. That's Nico's 2016 car, W07/04. Worst-sounding of the current era. It sounds like a beating yak. They've improved, but nothing like the old cars (the historic F1's they ran sounded great). When I talked to a mechanic he mentioned that the new cars are much bigger.
But - they are amazing machines. Esteban set a new record - 1:15 on a longer track than the previous 1:20 Indy car record. The 2016 car is materially slower than the 2019 cars, so there's another few seconds if they wanted to improve.
I was 3' away from the car in the garage (anyone could walk in), and right above it in the pits. It's so cool that Merc flew the car in for the event. It was next to Alberto Keller's 1939 W154 which sounded amazing - and the smells reminded me of old 0.49 cox engines.
I took a bunch of photos and videos. At T2 I took a video of Race Group 2 (1955-59) and the W07 - the difference is staggering.
https://www.sonomaspeedfestival.com
