I’ve always wondered how fast an F1 car would go if they actually did ovals though – eg tiny wings, etc

Iirc BAR ran a side project to set a max straight line speed for a legal F1 car, but were ‘only’ aiming for around 250mph. I’d reckon an indy car could crack that without as much tweaking, and a le mans car wouldn’t be too far off.

Such a tired, boring argument

but you keep getting involved 😉

Hey I am just not a huge fan of the current F1 set up, takes all sorts doesn’t it 😀

I’ve always wondered how fast an F1 car would go if they actually did ovals though – eg tiny wings, etc

Around a “road circuit” Eg Silverstone or Spa an F1 car would eat an Indy car for breakfast. An F1 car has a big power to weight ratio advantage over an Indy car and this would make all the difference.

On an oval track its more about the fact the Indy car is optimised to run in a high speed configuration constantly turning left. You could modify an F1 car to run on an oval but it would be close between it and an Indy Car

Le Man’s cars are too heavy to be competitive against either.

I know about the BAR F1 salt lake thing – but that’s just straight lining and they had some funny set up – eg no rear wing but a ‘rudder’ instead.

dead annoying. damn noisy, loads of roads are closed, and the council has spent millions on the thing. We leave the city when it’s on.

Interesting story about Honda coming back in to F1 as an engine supplier.

1.6 V8 …1.6 though?????????????? 😯

Next years engines are turbo’d too, containment of the turbo vane is going to be an issue if they go wrong though

How about a 6 cylinder 250 😆

Yeah but 1.6 V6 with grunty turbos, KERS AND Thermal ERS. Still 750BHP even before the KERS and ERS kick in!

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2013/01/24/f1s-v6-engines-2014-numbers/

Its so cute 😀

Hopefully it’ll be great, I can’t wait to see how the Hamilton/Mercedes partnership plays out as well as the potential Alonso/Vettel fight to the death.

I think just behind/with the front-runners there’s lots of potential for fun: Button, Kimi, Massa, Hamilton and maybe Di Resta all battling it out – it could be great.

I’d like I see Button do well – I’m a bit of a fan (although maybe a bit misplaced) but I’d like to see some more aggression to go with what I think is a quite intelligent driving style.

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/chris-hoy-to-take-part-in-australian-grand-prix-1-2831296

Back in the day (80’s turbo era) Honda produced 1.5 litre turbocharged V6’s capable of producing around 1200-1300hp in qualifying trim.

Engine displacement is not really a limiting factor in power output if you have some kind of forced induction

The BMW turbo era cars had so much power in qualifying trim they didn’t have a dyno that would read that high. 3 laps and they would be wrecked (info from Prosts book)

there’s going to be some seriously clever gubbins – using energy recovery to spin up turbos mid corner off throttle so that there’s no lag, etc.

Could lead to some interesting new drivers excuses… 😆

If the anti lag is like the old WRC stuff it will sound like WW3 😆

Not sure I want my turbo spinning up mid corner 😉

Back in the day (80’s turbo era) Honda produced 1.5 litre turbocharged V6’s capable of producing around 1200-1300hp in qualifying trim.

Don’t forget the super sticky qualifying tyres to go with! 🙂

Great days . Read an article once that speculated that had they been allowed to continue developing the turbo engines the cars would have soon become undrivable for having to much power.

Great days . Read an article once that speculated that had they been allowed to continue developing the turbo engines the cars would have soon become undrivable for having to much power.

However with todays driver aids (if they were allowed in regs.) would be able to handle it, think motogp style traction control etc, ‘crack the throttle fully open and let the electronics sort it out’.

However, they’d be going sooo fast when it did go wrong the gravell traps would have to be several miles deep. 😉

Let’s speculate then – engines producing, say 1500-1800 BHP

Cars would then run huge wings since the engines would be able to drag them along and they’d go round corners so fast that drivers would have to wear g-suits. Crashes would be huge so the regs would have insisted on massively strong tubs but that doesn’t sort out the decelleration so some sort of pre-emptive airbags would be needed.

Far out stuff.. 🙂

Article below I thought you guys might like

About Jens Munser is the king of Formula One helmet design/paint jobs

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324178904578339542840296174.html

Let’s speculate then

Ejector seats 😆

Then you get to re introducing the ground effect stuff for even more grip 😉

Ejector seats

Not a bad idea 😉

Unless you’re upside down 😯

Let’s speculate then – engines producing, say 1500-1800 BHP

No more Monaco 😥

Interesting helmet painting article, ta for posting that. Can’t wait for Melbourne…

Let’s speculate then – engines producing, say 1500-1800 BHP

Should have added, the article reckoned they’d become undrivable within a couple of years (from the peak of the turbo era) so early 90’s…. When the cars and circuits were still pretty sh1t from a crash safety perspective

But people say ‘undriveable’ but really they’d have just been forced to come up with ways of making them driveable, be it some sort of limited slip or mechanical (in those days) throttle/torque dampener

I think they were referring to the G’s that could be achieved.
Granted they could wear suits like fighter pilots…..

But more power wouldn’t have lead to more Gs in itself – braking pulls more Gs than accelleration afterall – or were you suggesting undriveable based on aero?

There is plenty of room for innovation if they let them do what ever they like with aero.

Completely active aero could easily double downforce. At that point pilots drivers would need G-suits

ah yes, the dreams of an F1 without limits (except of course for driver safety).

I read somewhere that a gas-turbine type engine would have come to the fore , except for regs imposed.

Blimey Lewis- at least wait until the race!

it will be a pattern we will see often i fear this year.

McLaren and Ferrari seem to be struggling….

it will be a pattern we will see often i fear this year.

No as I said earlier in this thread- Lewis’s driving style really suits ‘dancing around’- he seems to become passionate- drives the bollocks off a car when hes not being a ‘Button’ (i.e. smooth/to finish etc). yes he he had some good drives last year but he was (probably) told to drive smoother/conservative and not be rash.

Be rash!

Even if it means binning it- hes entertaining to watch when hes on it.

if anyone else is up and doesn’t have sky, eplsite.com is a useful link…