Sorry as always if this is a repost
http://m.wimp.com/speed-testing-2-types-of-race-cars/
Sorry as always if this is a repost
http://m.wimp.com/speed-testing-2-types-of-race-cars/
I think someone turned it into a .gif for one of the many .gif threads, but here it is embedded for easier viewing.
Thanks for that! Much better.
How do F1 speeds compare to IRL cars?
gearheadmb wrote: How do F1 speeds compare to IRL cars?
The cars are a similar weight. F1 is 702kg or 1,548lb's where Indy cars are 1,545lb's on speedways or 1,575lb's but they have significantly less power. Mercedes are rumored to already be at the 1,000hp level already where Indy car 'only' has 750ish hp. So the F1 car will accelerate a lot faster, but I don't know about aero grip for peak corner. My assumption is that with a far far more open rule set it's not going to be close and that even the best set up Indy car will be way off the pace of a Manor or Sauber. There is not relevant modern data on lap times at the same track that I know of to compare.
So for example, The track record at COTA is 1:34.999 by Lewis in Q3 this year. The LMP1 cars run in the 1:48 range. The IMSA DP cars are in the 1:58 range. The LM-GTE cars run in the 2:03 range. Finally the Moto GP guys are in the 2:02 range.
So there is almost a 30 second a lap difference.
There has been a lot of testing by indycar at COTA but I couldn't find any lap times from that testing.
Adrian_Thompson wrote:gearheadmb wrote: How do F1 speeds compare to IRL cars?The cars are a similar weight. F1 is 702kg or 1,548lb's where Indy cars are 1,545lb's on speedways or 1,575lb's but they have significantly less power. Mercedes are rumored to already be at the 1,000hp level already where Indy car 'only' has 750ish hp. So the F1 car will accelerate a lot faster, but I don't know about aero grip for peak corner. My assumption is that with a far far more open rule set it's not going to be close and that even the best set up Indy car will be way off the pace of a Manor or Sauber. There is not relevant modern data on lap times at the same track that I know of to compare.
Yeah, they never run on the same circuit, so there's no direct comparison.
CART/Champ car used to run at Montreal using the same circuit config as F1, the last time they ran there was in 2006, and were about 5 seconds slower than the F1 cars of the same year (1:20-ish pole time vs 1:15-ish). That's one of the slower years for F1 cars there, this year they were 1:13, and the 2004 cars were 1:12.
Getting out onto very thin ice here, if you compare CART cars of that era with modern IndyCar cars on another road course (say, mid-Ohio) and assume the differences are transitive (they're not), then modern IndyCar is a few percent faster than the CART cars were, suggesting they'd probably do 1:17-ish at Montreal.
It's going to be highly circuit-specific, though. IndyCars are designed to run on ovals, so they are fundamentally a low-downforce, low-drag car with a much higher top speed than an F1 car. Yes, they have different aero packages that they use for road courses and street circuits, but there's only so much you can do with that.
In reply to codrus:
I thought there was some slight differences in the Montreal track layout that made even the 2006 comparison invalid. Not sure, I'll have to search.
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2010/06/11/changing-tracks-circuit-gilles-villeneuve/
Couldn't find any pics, but still looking.
http://racingcircuits.info/north-america/canada/circuit-gilles-villenueve,-montreal.html#.WBD3OS0rJpg
Exactly what we are looking for.
Here's a different perspective. C63 AMG v. Australian V8 Supercar v. F1 car. Look how long the F1 car waits until leaving and how quickly the V8 Supercar catches the Merc.
(Tried to get the video to start at 5:33 in the embed link, but failed. So, jump to the 5:33 mark)
https://www.youtube.com/embed/3RuUp5MT3Uc
-Rob
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