Someone took video from an FIA-GT race and an F1 race, both shot at the same camera position, and overlapped them to show how incredibly fast an F1 car is compared to other race cars:
http://www…x5dhhpSHCw
As I normally do…I just clicked on the link before I read the post…and I said…wait that car is going to hit that much slower moving car…but it just passed right through.
Of course then I went back and re-read the post…wow…what a speed difference.
Think how fast F1 cars would be if they still allowed turbocharging, active suspensions, elaborate traction control,etc.
Do these cars not have speedometers?
It looks like a kiddie ride.
Why would the drivers care how fast they are going? All they know is that if someone is passing them, the are moving too slowly. The only time they need to know speed is on pit row. They can use a tachometer for that.
That was one of 2 six-wheeled racers. The other had 4 drive wheels. They’ve come up with some odd ones over the years, like the one with a giant fan, claimed to be for a radiator, that sucked the car down toward the track to artificially generate downforce.
Seems to me that when they’re in the pit their speed would be zero, otherwise it would make life difficult for the pit crew.
How does a tachometer tell you speed? Learn something every day…
“Seems to me that when they’re in the pit their speed would be zero…”
Pit row includes the road into, through and out of the pit area. A speed limit there is a safety rule.
“How does a tachometer tell you speed?”
If you use a specific gear on pit row, then it is easy to figure out what the speed is knowing the RPMs. But the driver knows ahead of time what RPM level is equal to the max speed. He or another team member figured that out already.
In F1 it’s really a moot point as the driver engages a pit road speed limiter on the car when he enters the pits, he could floor the accelerator but it’ll just bang off the pre-set speed limiter until the driver disengages it.
Other than obeying the speed limit, why would the driver care about his speed? Given that the driver has to come to a full stop, what would be some representative speed limits and distances over which they would apply?
I think the question you are trying to ask is why do they have speed limits - and the answer is to improve safety. Thre are a lot of people in the pits, and the speed these cars can achieve is so high that people can not react fast enough to get out of the way.
Plus, sometimes the pits get pretty crowded with cars, so it helps there as well.
Thanks, shadowfax.
That’s fantastic, and very impressive.
I kept re-watching, thinking to myself “GT cars are fast.”
The F1 cars seem to be an order of magnitude faster. What a great way to represent their amazing speed.
Oh wow! Wouldn?t mind owning one of those!
…and the cops claim I speed. Look at those suckers go!! A very long time ago…I went to Alberta. This was 13 years ago. There in edmonton max I believe they had a film about Mario Andretti and Jacques Villeneueve (or maybe it was his father) and formula 1 racing. It was an amazing film from what I can remember (forgive my poor memory…this was over a decade ago) and they had a large part where you did a lap ride along with an F1 car. Those tracks seem really wide when you are in a normal car. Let me tell you when you go 150 mph…they dont seem that wide anymore.