Average F1 car top Speed

[NewyorkKopter]

Hey, I was just wondering how fast does a F1 car top out at? And also wats the fastest a F1 car's ever been. Thanks

[RallyRaider]

F1 cars aren't really about top speed as in a straight line. They need to stop and turn too. If it was all straight-line speed they'd turn into top fuel drag machines.

I seem to recall the fastest ever average speed over the course of a race was in the order of 150+ miles an hour. These days down the short straights left on modern circuits they regularly see 350 kilometres an hour through the speed traps. But that is with heaps of downforce and sticky tyres needed to get around the corner at the end of it.

If a team was to take their car out to a salt pan with minimal wing, oprimised ratios, mappings and tyres then they'd be much faster, but nobody has tried it that I know of. Far to many more important things to do with the R&D dollar.

[kfoote]

Taking an F1 car, running small wings front and rear, and setting up the car for top speed, I would guess you would see speeds of somwhere in the 250-260 MPH range. As RallyRaider mentioned though, the cars aren't set up or designed for an ultimate top speed run.

[NewyorkKopter]

i know they are not for top speed, but i was just wondering how much they get upto on straights. 250-260 mph??? would they seriously be that fast, because wouldnt there be huge amounts of drag?

[kfoote]

Originally Posted by NewyorkKopter

i know they are not for top speed, but i was just wondering how much they get upto on straights. 250-260 mph??? would they seriously be that fast, because wouldnt there be huge amounts of drag?

The top speeds they actually hit are in the 220 range at Monza. Trimming out the wings further, gearing it for top speed, running smaller brake ducts, among other realtively easy adjustments, would probably get it up that high. The F1 cars still run quite a bit of downforce at Monza because of the Lesmos and the Parabolica, two very fast high speed corners.

[King Of Crunk]

this is the reason that i think that F1 is so much better than nascar....no offense to nascar fans but F1 is just insane.....4g's on the skidpad???? geezus

[NewyorkKopter]

yea thats tru, im not really a nascar person. i mean really ure just going round and round on a circular track, no offense

[TheStang00]

Originally Posted by NewyorkKopter

yea thats tru, im not really a nascar person. i mean really ure just going round and round on a circular track, no offense

ignorance is bliss... in F1 your just going round and round on a non circular track... they both have turns and whatnot, now im a fan of both so im not going to down either. but as you all should know, next year things in F1 are gonna be different with the new rules package. also nascars are a different type of racing, they arent ment to be the most technological cars ever, thats what they have rules for.

[drdisque]

ya, nascar's rules force the driver to come out more, I mean, they run 600 hp 3400 lb tube frame cars on tires as narrow as the ones that come on a toyota camry. They were even bias ply until a few years ago. But lets not let this turn into a Nascar is/isn't (good) racing argument, thats been beaten to death. I actually think the F1 cars could hit higher than the 250-260 range, I mean, CART cars were pushing 240 mph LAPS at Michigan and Indy in the mid 90's and the F1 cars are lighter and more powerful.

[King Of Crunk]

toyota camry's have wide ass tires!!!









j/k

[kfoote]

Originally Posted by drdisque

...I actually think the F1 cars could hit higher than the 250-260 range, I mean, CART cars were pushing 240 mph LAPS at Michigan and Indy in the mid 90's and the F1 cars are lighter and more powerful.

A couple of things that you have to rememberabout the fastest CART vs F1 cars:
The most powerful CART car at it's peak had about 950 HP, very close to the top current F1 cars
The superspeedway cars they run were much lower drag than a current F1 car could be made to be without major modifications
the CART cars had WAY more torque, though granted, that doesn't mean much at Michigan.
The CART cars were quite a bit heavier
F1 tires have a tire with a softer sidewall than the CART cars do. This is a function of the 13 vs 15" wheel requirements.
The variance in min to max speeds for the CART cars in qualifying trim at Michigan was only about 5 MPH over the course of the lap. The fastest qualifying lap IIRC was 242 MPH, but top speed was only 245.
Aerodynamic drag is a function of the square of the velocity, meaning that the jump from 245 to 260 MPH is not a 6% increase in drag, but a 12.6% increase in drag.

What all this adds up to: Yes, I do think that a 2005 spec F1 car would have a higher top speed than the fastest CART-spec cars if they were set up for it, but it wouldn't be much.

[jcsaleen]

They were running 225-230 of the indy straits last time I was there...

[kfoote]

UPDATE:

Looks like we may find out later this year. During the Monza broadcast, I think they said McLaren would be taking a specially prepped F1 car to Bonneville, and their target speed was 250.

EDIT: It's BAR, not McLaren

[Guido]

Originally Posted by kfoote

UPDATE:

Looks like we may find out later this year. During the Monza broadcast, I think they said McLaren would be taking a specially prepped F1 car to Bonneville, and their target speed was 250.

It's not Mclaren, but BAR that is gonna try to hit the 400km/h mark in Bonneville.

In Spa they are running with the "Bonneville 400" logo's all over the car.



There is a special website about it.

http://www.bonneville400.com/

[NewyorkKopter]

did they do it yet???