F1 cars are a bit slower than a Veyron maybe in the very top speed, but it's much faster accelerating up till 200mph. (and that's just setup retricted) But the cornering speed can be 4 time faster, they can pull 5G in turns and the way they change direction is pretty unreal.

This argument is getting silly, It's all personal preference.

An F1 car is as close to the optimum balance of speed and handling possible under the current racing and physics laws and regulations, thats what makes them so special, they are the height of efficiency.

But they will never beat old fashioned tire smoke, burnt oil and noise.

Quote from BlueFlame :

I don't give two shits about a Veyron, I'm not some 12yo kid, the fact is, a Veyron is faster than a Formula 1 car, almost as fast in a straight line even with the F1's wings taken off. The reason the F1 car can carry speed through corners it's simple, it's light and it has downforce. You can throw a Mini into corners and carry what little speed it has through the corners so I really don't see what makes an F1 car so uber-special. If a dragster only needs a 1/4mile I doubt a oh so amazing F1 car needs 10 miles to do so. that's 40times more than a Dragster, and if you take horsepower into considerations 5000bhp - 1/4 to 300mph and 800bhp - 10miles to 300mph, you can see your logic is flawed.

Top fuels are really impressive in a drag, but then it also can't corner at all.

The reason the topfuel car can accelerate it's simple, it's light and it has 5000bhp. so I really don't see what makes an topfuel car so uber-special.

Doesn't that pretty much evens out?

Quote from 5haz :

An F1 car is as close to the optimum balance of speed and handling possible under the current racing and physics laws and regulations, thats what makes them so special, they are the height of efficiency.

But they will never beat old fashioned tire smoke, burnt oil and noise.

But they are inefficient, they eat tyres and burn more fuel than an Buick GNX

Quote from JJ72 :

Top fuels are really impressive in a drag, but then it also can't corner at all.

Doesn't that pretty much evens out?

I guess so, but drag cars don't use much pansy downforce or inferior fuel! XD

Quote from BlueFlame :

But they are inefficient, they eat tyres and burn more fuel than an Buick GNX

I guess so, but drag cars don't use much pansy downforce or inferior fuel! XD

They are effcient given their power output / capacity.

Top fuel dragster are inefficient, they not only eat tyres and burn as much as than a 747 jet!

If drag cars don't use downforce, why is there a huge wing in the back.

Quote from BlueFlame :

But they are inefficient, they eat tyres and burn more fuel than an Buick GNX

Buick GNX cant do a sub 1:20 lap of Silverstone though, can it? :mischievo

A GNX will also be runing durable, harder compound but lower grip road tyres, the F1 running far softer tyres so inevitably it will eat them.

Top fuel and funny car dragsters are more dependant on aero than you might think, heres what happens when the wings fall off...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1tcfqC1rQs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl8Z02upqUU

Both survived and made a full recovery, just incase you didn't know.

Wikipedia says the rear wing on a top fuel dragster generates 12,000lb of downforce at 325mph, hardly insignificant. Add to that an extra 800-1000lb from the upwards angled exhausts at full engine speed.

I'm aware of the funnycar shapes but I was being exaggeratoryly sarcastic even but a Funnycar is an aerodynamic brick compared to an F1 car. And of course it would produce such downforce because it's going at 300mph WITH a 45DEGREE REAR WING!

Indeed, you can get away with running 45 degrees of rear wing when you have 7000 horsepower.

Why don't you start a drag racing thread and see how much interest you get.

Quote from Storm_Cloud :

Why don't you start a drag racing thread and see how much interest you get.

Why don't you add something of interest?

Quote from 5haz :

Why don't you add something of interest?

Right back at you

Good one, but I already did.

Must've missed it.

The point is that F1 is something that should be experienced live because it is the pinnacle of motorsport. Drag anoraks hijacked things, and whilst they reach higher velocity they are not, by any stretch of the imagination, the pinnacle of anything. Name a drag racer that pervades the national conciousness. There aren't any, but get stopped for speeding and the policeman will occasionally say, "Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss / Nigel Mansell etc" They don't say, "Who do you think you are Gudmund Gudmundsson - Top Fuel European Champion in 1987?"

F1 has the cache and resonance that makes being there special, plus it is a spectacle just to watch a car go round the track. Most people just watch drag racing on Havoc.

Err I never said F1 wasn't the pinnacle of motorsport. I think you're starting on the wrong person.

Well to be honest F1 isn't motorsport anymore, its just a big market for corporations to make ridiculous amounts of money, the love of racing has essentially been completely drained out of it by now. The rot set in after 1994, however before then F1 certainly was the pinnacle of motorsport

Having said that, which I agree with, do try and get to Santa Pod (or similar) for a Top Fuel day. They do NOT accelerate at all. 0 mph on the line, then suddenly 1000mph. It is very impressive, but not quite as impressive overall as a field of F1 cars doing what they do.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Having said that, which I agree with, do try and get to Santa Pod (or similar) for a Top Fuel day. They do NOT accelerate at all. 0 mph on the line, then suddenly 1000mph. It is very impressive, but not quite as impressive overall as a field of F1 cars doing what they do.

That doesn't make a lick of sense, but having seen it myself I think I know what you're saying

Exactly. If you watch them, there appears to be NO acceleration phase. Just stopped... and gone!

I just read the comments DC made about the new Abu Dhabi track in an Autosport article...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/79773

...he mentioned these new Tecpro barriers, so I looked them up and they seem pretty amazing. They have been used before but never really mentioned as far as I know. Compared to the red and white barriers in LFS they definately do a better job. There is a video of a crash test here...

http://www.tecpro.us/f1/english/advantages.php

Quote from Storm_Cloud :

Must've missed it.

The point is that F1 is something that should be experienced live because it is the pinnacle of motorsport. Drag anoraks hijacked things, and whilst they reach higher velocity they are not, by any stretch of the imagination, the pinnacle of anything. Name a drag racer that pervades the national conciousness. There aren't any, but get stopped for speeding and the policeman will occasionally say, "Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss / Nigel Mansell etc" They don't say, "Who do you think you are Gudmund Gudmundsson - Top Fuel European Champion in 1987?"

F1 has the cache and resonance that makes being there special, plus it is a spectacle just to watch a car go round the track. Most people just watch drag racing on Havoc.

So you're saying that just because Drag racing isn't so popular it means it's not the pinnacle of anything? Some of the technology in Top Fuel drag racing isn't beyond even Formula 1 obviously because the regulations allow, but there isn't a simulation, nor will there ever be, that simulates a Top Fuel drag car, any such game would be infinitely appreciable. Most F1 games as a comparison, just simulate a car that can fly round corners without braking for the most part, and braking extremely late but all technology will never amount to something like this.

http://coppermine.luchtzak.be/ ... userpics/10237/AN-225.jpg

But enough of the threadjack from my, my original point was in regards to the racing, you see more on TV, so why should I pay £100 to watch Formula one, when all I get is fatties eating burgers, dicks wearing F1 franchise and old people sitting on deck chairs when I can watch it at home without any of the hassle anyway.

Because you miss out on a lot. I watch F1 mostly at home, but when I have the money, the time and a convenient race to go to, then I do so without a second though. Spa was awesome, but Silverstone is still pretty damn awesome.

Besides, if you take a portable TV then you can watch it AND watch it. Or find a big TV at the circuit and get the commentary via the circuit radio (or national radio if you're lucky).

Quote from tristancliffe :

Because you miss out on a lot. I watch F1 mostly at home, but when I have the money, the time and a convenient race to go to, then I do so without a second though. Spa was awesome, but Silverstone is still pretty damn awesome.

Besides, if you take a portable TV then you can watch it AND watch it. Or find a big TV at the circuit and get the commentary via the circuit radio (or national radio if you're lucky).

I just miss my Grand Prix biscuits and tea

Bring some and get a kangaroo TV (although kinda expensive) so you can see the live timing and get the team radio etc.

Quote :

Because you miss out on a lot. I watch F1 mostly at home, but when I have the money, the time and a convenient race to go to, then I do so without a second though. Spa was awesome, but Silverstone is still pretty damn awesome.

Besides, if you take a portable TV then you can watch it AND watch it. Or find a big TV at the circuit and get the commentary via the circuit radio (or national radio if you're lucky).

I'll never forget Mansell casting his eyes directly at my general direction as he went past at a little over 180mph. Seeing F1 live is an awesome spectacle, but on that day I was very close to the track (on the right after Bridge before it was tamed with the Abbey complex).

I get more out of watching the race from Luffield where I can see the big screen in addition to the cars, but from there you don't get close enough to see the drivers eyes.

I'm told that Vale is also a very good place to watch but i've not tried it.

Back in the day when F1 was proper you could pop along to test days. Far cheaper than race day, adn you get too see the cars without having to wait 7 years to exit the car park

Quote from Intrepid :

Back in the day when F1 was proper you could pop along to test days. Far cheaper than race day, adn you get too see the cars without having to wait 7 years to exit the car park

Ahh the car park barbeque I'm told Silverstone got much better with the road improvements the council has made over the last few years... So it's a shame they moved it to Donington which has 1 single lane access road... I gather they're going to do park & ride