Speed Comparison: GT vs. F1

[Keyser Soze]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cNqaPSHv0&feature=player_embedded

[Keyser Soze]

Moto GP vs. F1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uXO2eRW8X0&feature=player_embedded

[Dr. Joe Siphek]

that first link is crazy. the gt cars look like they are just puttin

[Ghost]

Pity the second link's in the wet...but still awesome.

[The Black Knight]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cNqaPSHv0&feature=player_embedded
holy smokes!!! And just when you think a GT car is fast, it looks like a Prius out on the track compared to the Formula 1 cars. There's no doubt, F1 cars are the complete pinnacle of what you can do with a car in terms of performance and perfection.


Pity the second link's in the wet...but still awesome.
I agree, you know the wet had to play a part on the bikes traction for sure.

I wish I could find the old article(or link for that matter, it's been years however) to a website that did a comparison of F1 vs. MotoGP. In the article, obviously in cornering, F1 cars destroy anything and even MotoGP bikes can't come close. But what I found in the article that was rather interesting, was straight line speed. If I remember correctly, they took Michael Shumacher(Ferrari V10) and Nicky Hayden's(RC211V) straight line speeds at Catalunya. What was uncanny were the performance results. Shumacher hit the front straight at roughly 120km/h and Nicky at about 85km/h. However, Shumacher only managed a max front straight speed of 312km/h(193mph), while Nicky attained a front straight speed of 345km/h(214mph). Nicky was 21mph faster down the straight!!!

So not only, was Nicky able to attain a higher speed, he also did it with less track. Because the MotoGP bike would have to break sooner for the upcoming T1 turn, while Shumacher could just dive into it with more speed. I think what I found crazy in the article was the flat out speed of MotoGP bikes. Hayden, hits the front straight at a slower speed, however manages to out accelerate, achieve a higher speed and with a shorter amount of track to do it in.

Regardless of how you look at it. Both Formula 1 and MotoGP are the products of what can be achieved in both 4 and 2 wheel racing.


EDIT:
Also if I remember correctly, Alex Barros still holds the record for fastest speed on a MotoGP bike(990 era). Something ungodly, like 231mph down a front straight.

[Ghost]

So not only, was Nicky able to attain a higher speed, he also did it with less track. Because the MotoGP bike would have to break sooner for the upcoming T1 turn, while Shumacher could just dive into it with more speed. I think what I found crazy in the article was the flat out speed of MotoGP bikes. Hayden, hits the front straight at a slower speed, however manages to out accelerate, achieve a higher speed and with a shorter amount of track to do it in.

Regardless of how you look at it. Both Formula 1 and MotoGP are the products of what can be achieved in both 4 and 2 wheel racing.

Bike contact patches are just way too small (and too few--2 v 4) to ever corner or brake like a car can and F1 has some of the best power:weight ratios, biggest brakes, largest contact patches, and functional aerodynamics possible in any car (though arguably the old turbo 1400HP cars may have had the power/weight edge over the current crop) BUT MotoGP bikes still seem to muscle them on top-end acceleration if it's a long enough straight.

It's definitely crazy, and it's why I love both.

[LambeauXLIV]

BUT MotoGP bikes still seem to muscle them on top-end acceleration if it's a long enough straight.

It's due to the down force generated at those speeds...it seriously hampers the top speed of F1 cars.

[Slo]

Top gear had an episode where richard Hammond drove the renault f1 car... He had to completely adjust his perception of speed, braking way too early, and not holding any speed to what it needed to actually gain traction.

Also he talked about something that we normally wouldn't think about by just watching F1, the reaction times. He admitted that he couldn't mentally keep up fast enough with his own reaction times for braking, turning, shifting, etc.

[Drano]

I remember that episode, it put F1 racers in a whole new perspective for me.

[Ghost]

Top gear had an episode where richard Hammond drove the renault f1 car... He had to completely adjust his perception of speed, braking way too early, and not holding any speed to what it needed to actually gain traction.

Also he talked about something that we normally wouldn't think about by just watching F1, the reaction times. He admitted that he couldn't mentally keep up fast enough with his own reaction times for braking, turning, shifting, etc.


I remember that episode, it put F1 racers in a whole new perspective for me.


Yeah, same. Hammond couldn't go fast enough to heat the tires or brakes, get the downforce to work, shift when he was supposed to, brake later than he was--essentially he was doing everything wrong, so the car was all out of sorts which just kept compounding the errors he was making. All in all, I think it was definitely an understand I'd not had before.

Years of Gran Turismo and riding bikes or driving cars on the track had me thinking "Anyone can do that", but that particular episode convinced me it's not as easy as I thought--but until I'm seated in an F1 car and pointed down a track I'll never be able to confirm or deny...SO...anyone with a spare F1 car I can borrow?

Edit: clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUZJVY-sHo