F1 vs. endurance cars

[vikiradTG2007]

What would win, in a race around a normal race track, between a F1 car, a current LMP1 car and the Prototype-C monsters? Opinions...?



(Le Mans... considered WITH the chicanes.)

[fbc]

Provided we're talking a normal track, without enormous straights, the F1 car would romp home.

[Necx0]

F1 would smash them 6 ways until Sunday. If the Group C was running qualifying spec with modern tyre technology I would say it may come in second.

[Adunaphel]

Depends on how long the race would be. If it were less than 3 hours, the F1 cars would win. After the 3 hours the F1 cars would start to fall apart around the time the Endurance cars would make their first fuel stop. I don't think there is a single F1 car out there that can race for more than 3 hours straight. They would just disintegrate after that.

[vikiradTG2007]

Originally Posted by Adunaphel

Depends on how long the race would be. If it were less than 3 hours, the F1 cars would win. After the 3 hours the F1 cars would start to fall apart around the time the Endurance cars would make their first fuel stop. I don't think there is a single F1 car out there that can race for more than 3 hours straight. They would just disintegrate after that.

You never know... Mosley's new regulations enforce hyper-reliability at the moment. F1 cars can run much longer now than they used to.


EDIT(reply to post #6): Gearboxes now have to last for 4 races, so hyper-reliability has been enforced on the drivetrain as a whole. And the other systems are relatively easy to toughen up, and the engines can also be made to last longer by reducing peak revs. The only problem would be pit stops(endurance-style), because there is no onboard starter on F1 cars. But that can be implemented...

[Adunaphel]

That's just the engines, the rest still needs replacement after 3 hours.

[Walsh_e]

Depends as was said on how long the race was, over a Formula One distance an F1 car all the time, although if the race was short the Le Mans cars could presumably get alot more power out of the engine as it wouldn't have to last for 24 hours. If it was a 24 hour race then the Le Mans cars, less pit stops, better reliability, their tyres would last longer plus there going to be more comfortable for the drivers.

[maateuszz89]

There is no F1 car, which is reliable enough to last for 24h. Even if new gearboxes are able to work for 4 races, it will not be enough for endurance race.
4 F1 races - about 6h, so the gearbox will not survive four times more shifts. Not to even mention the rest of the car.

[Spazatao]

Originally Posted by Walsh_e

Depends as was said on how long the race was, over a Formula One distance an F1 car all the time, although if the race was short the Le Mans cars could presumably get alot more power out of the engine as it wouldn't have to last for 24 hours.

That's a good point. But even then the F1 would win... On the other hand, if the race would to be held in the old LeMans without those modern chicanes, I'd not be that sure about the F1's, though.

[THE REAL STIG]

If anything other than F1 would win that race, something would be seriously wrong. F1 is the pinnacle of automotive technology. And hopefully it will stay that way.

[Ironlord]

Originally Posted by THE REAL STIG

If anything other than F1 would win that race, something would be seriously wrong. F1 is the pinnacle of automotive technology. And hopefully it will stay that way.

...or at least it would be if the FIA didn't keep on banning everything new!

I did see somewhere - and if I could remember where I would post it - that if F1 technology had been allowed to develop unchecked from the 1988 turbo cars, the 2004 cars would be capable of round about 340 mph. And they'd have: turbos, traction control, active suspension, ABS brakes, launch control, that second brake pedal that McLaren tried once... and wings the size of what you'd see on a 727. Maybe they'd even have brought back the Brabham BT46B's vacuum cleaner. And who'd say the engines would have stayed at V6s? I'll bet they'd have been 2000 bhp quad-turbo V12s... maybe stick a supercharger or two in there as well to get rid of the turbo lag the way VW do with the TSi.

Thing is, who would have driven these cars?

[vikiradTG2007]

Originally Posted by Ironlord

Thing is, who would have driven these cars?

Nobody. Just robots programmed by the teams, dressed up in Stig overalls. => 22 CyberStigs.

[marcos_eirik]

This will depend on the length of the race and of course the track, as pointed out an F1 car would last 3-4 hours tops, as allthough the engines and gearboxes as supposed to survive four races they are probably picked down and closesly checked and maintained after each race. So realistcially and running continiously I'd doubt and F1 car would last more than 3-4 hours...

On a perfectly smooth racetrack the F1 car would have the edge, but on a bumpy track like Road Atlanta or the Nordschleife an F1 car would be shaken to pieces after a few laps. For an example of what vibrations does to an F1 cars wishbones, have a look at Kimi's 2005 Nurburgiring retirement, and that was just a flatspotted tire, imagine the battering the notorious bumps and cambers of the Nordschleife would do. On these kind of tracks the old ground effects monsters that were the Group-C cars would have the edge, as they were basically made for it, and nothing like them have been made since.