The F1 Posted a PATHETIC .86 g on skidpad.

[What.]

The McLaren F1 achieved a skidpad number of .86g...... The Mazda RX-8 achieved a skidpad rating of .91g. Does anyone see a problem here?!? The McLaren F1 is a million dollar car, and the most lateral g's it can pull is .86 g's!!!!! That's pathetic. The McLaren F1 is a pathetic car. It shouldn't be considered an exotic, it has the same traits as a MUSCLECAR........Good straight line performance, poor turning....

I would rather own a Hennessey tuned Viper.

[12CylinderSymphony]

Good for you.

[amanichen]

When you scale it to a g ratio, .86 looks a lot worse than .91.

But when you do some simple math the true meaning is:

For a given turn radius, the RX-8 will have a top speed 2.86% higher than that of a F1 without losing grip.

So if a F1 could take a turn at 100mph then the RX8 could take the same turn at 102.86mph.

*shrug*

I won't even go into how wrong it is to judge a vehicle only by numbers, let alone a single number...

[prescription7]

There's also a ton of factors that I don't need to mention that make a skidpad test by one driver incomparable to a skidpad test with another driver, several years later, at a different location.

[Peloton25]

It doesn't have a rear sway bar - of course it won't do well on a skidpad. Who the hell cares though??

Skidpad ratings have very little merit on how a car will handle in the real world. You're talking about a 600+ hp car circling what is most likely a 300ft diameter circle for a couple of laps to establish this rating. Where will you ever do that in real life? The closest thing to that would be a cloverleaf on ramp - and I guarantee if we strapped you in to the F1 and took you around one of those you'd probably wet your panties.

Quick note - During development of the F1, lead test driver Jonathan Palmer told Gordon Murray he thought the F1 needed a rear sway bar. Gordon disagreed, stating that it would make the F1 twitchy at high speeds. Gordon fitted one anyway, and after just a few laps in the car Palmer came back in and stated the car was nearly undrivable at the limit. Hence the lack of rear bar.

The F1 is designed to understeer at the limit as most cars do. This allows the drive to induce oversteer with a quick stab of the throttle. A good dirver can control it well - and the F1 is a car that fully rewards good drivers.

You would rather have a Hennessey Viper, huh? Obviously you spend to much time reading the bogus reviews of that car in Motor Trend and probably didn't catch the real world story of what a crook John Hennessey has been.

Hennessey's Vipers are fast, but lawsuits say he serves them up too slowly.

Yeah - I'd much rather throw my money at John Hennessey. Give us a break - and take your flame baiting somewhere else.

>8^)
ER

[kfoote]

Here are a few of those factors mentioned above:

Downforce: at 40MPH, not much of a factor, at 140, it's a huge factor
Tires: Tire technology has come a long way in 10 years
Type of pavement on skidpad
Weather conditions
Tire Pressures
Suspension design: The McLaren suspension is designed to work under large downforce loads which compromise low speed handling

By your logic, an SCCA T1 Corvette is better than a Winston Cup Car too

[MclarenF1LM]

I wouldn't be so quick to pass judgment on Hennessey. In my
opinion the stories that were in the article posted by Peloton don't
tell the full storie, let me give you a couple points to ponder: a
customer is more likely to submit a complaint than a compliment,
have you ever heard of a thing called "back order", there's always
two sides to a storie,these days law suits don't mean a thing;
people will sue for anything just to get a million dollars, you can't
please everybody, every company makes a mistake once in a while,
if you try hard enough you can make any company look horrible,
have you compared hennessey's track record to other companies
like Saleen or Lingenfelter.

Ps. I might be wrong about what I have said, I did not do any
in depth research into the matter.

[will69camaro]

From what i have heard from people who have met John Hennessey himself, they say he acts like a prick. I've heard of him putting on 2nd rate parts on his cars and keep the more quality stock parts to himself. I personally would take a TNT Viper over a Hennessey anyday but this is a F1 board... The F1 is a far superior car to a RX7, like someone has already said, comparing the entire cars performance on one single number is not an accurate way to judge the cars performance.

William

[jomo12345]

Haha seems like you guys have shut "what" up.

[What.]

I didn't say anything about one car being better than another. I just said that for 1 MILLION DOLLARS, a car should be able to provide a better skidpad number than what the McLaren F1 produces. I watched videos of the McLaren F1, and it had an unbelievable amount of body roll. It looked as if a Camry was being driven around the track. Murray should not have opted for such a soft suspension.


Does anyone else in here agree with me that .86 g's on the skidpad is dissapointing for the McLaren F1?

Come on people, it's suppose to be the ULTIMATE road car.

[jomo12345]

If you forgot the driver sits in the middle where he barely feels any of the body roll.

[will69camaro]

Also your not mentioning that the McLaren F1 is a road car not a straight race car. An expensive and exotic road car at that. It was meant to go fast but remain comfortable at the same time.

William

[Stratoraptor]

you guys shouldnt bother with this guy. im all to familiar with this member named "What." he likes to post controversial topics on how Porsche is a pititful manufacturer, race car drivers arent atheletes, the new C6 Corvette is crap, etc. he thinks of himself as a non-confomist thinker when in reality he just wants to piss people off.

[What.]

Originally Posted by will69camaro

An expensive and exotic road car at that. It was meant to go fast but remain comfortable at the same time.

William

The Enzo isn't a straight race car, and it manages a better skidpad. Matter of fact, most sports cars over $25,000 are able to maintain a skidpad OVER .86 g's.

Come on people, I can't be the only one disappointed in the skidpad numbers of the McLaren F1.

[TcarR]

Unfortunatley for you, you are the only one who finds the figure disappointing.