Safety Car lap times?

So it doesn't take a genius to figure out the safety car is flying but what kind of lap times is it turning? 

It it would be fun to see what the times are at COTA, I'm sure it's faster than most ever class at SCCA club racing except maybe GT1 or Formula Atlantics.

Got a stopwatch ?

2015 seems like the last time the F1 safety car was deployed at COTA, I tried to find lap times online but couldn't find any other than individual drivers fast laps. You'd have to watch the race replay and try to get lap times that way. It would be interesting to see for sure.

Adam

The French Grand Prix yesterday had an extended safety car session at the beginning of the race. (yea Vettel!)

  They started showing the driver and passenger in the safety car with the commentators noting they were driving the hell out of that car while the F1 cars behind them were basically loafing and zig-zagging all over the place trying to keep enough heat in their tires to go around the corners. 

I was wanting to know lap times but they were never mentioned.

I felt like the fastest car at the one and only Lemons race at Monticello Motor Club was the safety truck, a new at the time Toyota pickup. That thing hauled ass.

I love watching the safety car at Monaco. That big Mercedes is dancing all over the place while the F1 cars are overheating.

The FIA publishes lap times for every car for every race for the current season at least. Looking at yesterday, the leading drivers were turning times around 2:30 under the safety car. The next timed laps after the safety car went in were 1:37s.

Not entirely relevant on overall speed, but I remember when I attended the 1992 Indy 500, we figured the pace car would have finished 23rd, I think.

eastsideTim said:

Not entirely relevant on overall speed, but I remember when I attended the 1992 Indy 500, we figured the pace car would have finished 23rd, I think.

A few years ago, the safety car held the record for having led the most laps at Singapore. Dunno if that's still the case.

Stick with me here: Many years ago I set the D-sports Racer lap record at my local track. The time was about 2 seconds slower than Mike Lewis's GT-1 record in an ex Roush Trans Am car. At the same time I'd set the outright lap record at the then new Spring Moutain Motorsports Ranch, I was into the low 1:09s and right proud, then several weeks later an Indy Lights team did some testing there are reality set in. The Indy Lights driver belted out lap after lap at 56 seconds. 

I pretty much know how an Indy Lights car compares to an F1 car and I know how a DSR compares to an Indy Lights car. Given the safety car is running lap times that are 150% of an F1 car I'd say my old DSR would be hard pressed to set the same times. For me that's pretty impressive as DSR is not a slow car. 

Looking at the lap times for COTA F1 cars are in the 1:37s and the P2 (class formerly known as DSR) record is 2:11 set in a Stohr. I've driven a Stohr chassis once and it was a few seconds faster than our old home engineered car (P2 cars have more downforce than was allowed in DSR) Also note the GT1 lap record is in the 2:10s thereabouts. So both classes are a mere 30+ seconds per lap slower than  F1 cars. 

Going of a pure percentage the safety car would likely be in the range 2:21 - 2:25.

For further comparison the Spec Miata lap record I found set by Jim Drago is 2:40, meaning the safety car with two guys and all that stuff in a big heavy Mercedes (ok it's got a ton of power) is likely 15 seconds faster than a SM. 

Think of it your driving the wheels of a Spec Miata and every other lap an F1 car would come past, meaning you'd only be 30 laps down at the end. But take heart as the safety car would take until lap ten to put you a lap down. 

I wonder if I can get a smoking deal on a used safety car?

Tom1200 said:

 

I wonder if I can get a smoking deal on a used safety car?

I think that there is a scratch & dent sale going on in Detroit - 

Mentioned on the broadcast for the French F1 - the virtual safety car pace is 40% slower than usual race pace. Looking at the lap charts, it's a little faster than actual safety car.

So in the roughly 1 minute difference between a  Miata and an F1 car, an AMG GT R pace car is only 25% towards the F1 side of the difference and is 75% towards the Miata side of the difference.  The AMG GT R is not just some tarted up heavy luxo barge, it's a proper piece of ultra-high-performance machinery...So put into that context, the ~150% of F1 pace safety-car lap times really doesn't seem out of line considering just how MASSIVELY faster the AMG GT R is than a Miata.

This is by no means a slight against the F1 cars, as it's especially important to remember in this is that improving lap times is not a linear function either.  So the first 25% improvement towards your desired lap times (Miata to AMG GT R) is much easier than the second 25% improvement is much easier than the third 25% improvement is much easier than the final 25% improvement to get all the way to F1 lap times.