Top Speed?? Any idea how fast these cars go with the proper set-up on a circuit with huge straights?<!-- Signature -->
Highest top speed for an F1 car is 248 mph, by Jack Villenueve, and I think it was in a Williams. However it was on a track, so I believe it could be lot faster on a longer straight. I think the turbo era cars would have topped 300 mph easily as they produced 1,500 Hp in a 1,400 pound car.<!-- Signature -->
My guess on the newest cars with the new limits is 280 mph or at least around there.<!-- Signature -->
i agree with the 280mph! that sounds about right. P.S- i do not like Viper. and no i shouldn't <!-- Signature -->
an F1 car has no definite top speed, they are changing the gear ratios. with the proper gear ratios, an F1 could easily do over 260mph. but again, it has never happened<!-- Signature -->
what the hell are you guys talking about?!?!? f1 cars have a top speed of around 230mph with the regular race gearing for a track like hockenheim. of course with the right gearing it could do 260, but so could a miata with the right gearing. but 300?!?!?! absolutely not
Formula 1 cars don't have a speciefic top speed records. These cars would'nt have enough downforce at the 280mph speed. The front could'nt take that much of downforce, it would rip if it exceeds 250mph. Don't count on open wheeled cars to do the highest top speed records, the closed wheeled cars do much better on road holding while at top speed. <!-- Signature -->
In an attempt to stop my laughing: Are there any engineers/physics gurus that actively post on this board? If so point them to this thread<!-- Signature -->
NSX, I am neither a physicist nor an engineer, but i'm kinda chuckling at these folks too. They're talking about an F1 car like it's a Top Feul Dragster. " I bet that dern thang'll get up 'round 300 miles per hour if ya take off all them there new fangled wangs and stuff...". Who cares?! Top speed is meaningless in F1. In fact, many of the guys with the fastest top speeds are nowhere near the winning cars. Take, for example, Arrows F1. They've been around for a good many years and have never won a race and score points only on the rarest of occasions, but they do, however, manage to get some of the highest top speeds because they have nothing else to brag about. Today's F1 cars were built to turn at 3.5 Gs, brake at 4 Gs, and accelerate like a spider monkey on speed. With all the downforce they produce, even with the lowest settings, they would probably not brake 250 because of the massive amounts of drag imposed by: 1) the tires sticking out in the air like four air-barracades. 2) the underbody and diffuser. This part of the car generates upwards of 40% of the downforce, and you can't adjust it. 3) The wings, even at their lowest setting, generate astronomical amounts of drag at anything above 100 mph. Hence, top speed is a moot point in F1, so get off it! p.s. - It's Jacques Villeneuve, not Jack; he's Canadian. And no, the "turbo era" cars would never have hit 300 mph because only one engine was ever thought to get up to 1,400 hp, the BMW motor in the Brabham, and that was only the qualifying engine with the wastegates blocked off, plus those cars had even more drag and downforce than today's cars because those were also the Ground Effects days.
CorvetteZO6, you have nailed it on the head. The only thing I can ad is just a curioiusity stat or two. F1 cars generate enough down force that at 100+ mph they can drive upside down. Build the right track and you could have the world's first inverted GP! A while back I saw a demonstration comparing the Ferrari 360 Modena to the the Ferrari F2001 Formula One car. To get an idea of the performance of an F1 car, consider that in the time it took that 360 Modena to go from 0-100 mph, the F2001 went from 0-100-0! F1 cars can accelerate from 0-60mph in under 2.5 seconds and from 0-125 mph in under 4 seconds. But time and again you'll hear drivers say that the most amazing aspect of an F1 car is the braking. An F1 car can go from 150-0 in about 2.5 seconds, covering just 260 feet. By comparison, 150-0 in a standard road car would take 7 seconds and cover well over 600 feet. An F1 driver pulls upwards of 6 g's under braking! Now, I believe someone in another thread was suggesting that F1 cars don't belong on SuperCars.net...
<!-- QUOTE --><center><hr width="90%"></center><blockquote><i>Quote from tqaguy</i> <b>CorvetteZO6, you have nailed it on the head. The only thing I can ad is just a curioiusity stat or two. F1 cars generate enough down force that at 100+ mph they can drive upside down. Build the right track and you could have the world's first inverted GP! A while back I saw a demonstration comparing the Ferrari 360 Modena to the the Ferrari F2001 Formula One car. To get an idea of the performance of an F1 car, consider that in the time it took that 360 Modena to go from 0-100 mph, the F2001 went from 0-100-0! F1 cars can accelerate from 0-60mph in under 2.5 seconds and from 0-125 mph in under 4 seconds. But time and again you'll hear drivers say that the most amazing aspect of an F1 car is the braking. An F1 car can go from 150-0 in about 2.5 seconds, covering just 260 feet. By comparison, 150-0 in a standard road car would take 7 seconds and cover well over 600 feet. An F1 driver pulls upwards of 6 g's under braking! Now, I believe someone in another thread was suggesting that F1 cars don't belong on SuperCars.net... </b></blockquote><center><hr width="90%"></center><!-- END QUOTE --> Z06 beat this on the road?nnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh
Z06- actually the purpose of ground effects and diffusers are to create downforce without drag. What the general purpose of both of those types of aerodynamic devices is instead of creating positive pressure on the top side of a surface (i.e. a wing or spoiler) they want to create negative pressure underneath, much like a vacuum. The fact is that properly constructed, ground effects and underbody aerodynamic devices would be a much more efficient method of creating downforce than wings. This is one reason why almost every major sanctioning body has outlawed ground effects: the coefficient of drag would decrease, which would allow the cars to have higher top speed, thereby increasing risks. Ferrari has implemented underbody aerodynamic devices with the Modena. They have constructed "channels" underneath the automobile, and when the air enters beneath the front of the car, it is at a certain pressure, and as it travels back towards to rear where the channels are, the extra volume creates a lower pressure (P1V1=P2V2, from the gas laws in chemistry/physics, which says that as volume increases, pressure decreases) thereby increasing downforce. Interestingly enough, Ferrari has also created the ability for these channels to change in volume, allowing the amount of downforce to be tailored to the driving situation by the onboard computer. These channels are a direct descendent from the diffusers we see on F1 cars.
These are F1 cars, not Fighterjet1's. I believe the topspeed record is Accually D.C., and I believe it was right around 225mph, on a pretty short straight, and I believe it was at Spa, not circling an oval 4,000 times in a row. God Bless DaleMerica, shouldn't everyone who just posted be watching nascar. What do you call a man with 4 legs and 2 tails? who cares #3. hahahaha <!-- Signature -->
D.C. most definitely does not hold the top speed record. If in fact he did hold the record, then it was broken earlier in the year by Juan Pablo Montoya at either Monza or Hockenheim where he hit 228mph. But since it wasn't mentioned that that was a record, i'm doubting it was. Either way it doesn't matter because it's F1 and top speed is a moot point...like i said in my rant earlier.
the top speed of the current f1 cars is restricted to 230 mph and the engines for this year have been reduced to 3.0 litre from last years 3.5 litre by restrictions. But if you removed the exhaust and de-restricted the engine back to 3.5 litre the car would push 300 mph.
<!-- QUOTE --><center><hr width="90%"></center><blockquote><i>Quote from plumber60</i> <b>the top speed of the current f1 cars is restricted to 230 mph and the engines for this year have been reduced to 3.0 litre from last years 3.5 litre by restrictions. But if you removed the exhaust and de-restricted the engine back to 3.5 litre the car would push 300 mph.</b></blockquote><center><hr width="90%"></center><!-- END QUOTE --> sorry dude, but 1994 was the last year of the 3.5 litre engine, and nowhere in the FIA regulations does it say "F1 cars aren't allowed to exceed 230 MPH"
i believe the cars could hit 300 mph with the proper gear setting and downforce setting! first of all i'm sure it could hit 300 if you lay the front and back wings to get barely any downforce but just enough to keep the car stable at the high speeds! also the open wheels do slow the car down but the incredible aerodynamics of the body is enough to allow the car to go that fast and finding a long enough straight to test the top speed isn't going to be much of a problem becuase the car accelerates very quickly and brakes quickly too so it won't need a super long straight to do it!
i dont believe the car would be able to hit 300mph. It would require a very low downforce setting and it probably wouldnt be very stable at those speeds. And the car would need more hp and nos prolly...lol. Even tho that if an f1 used nos it would most likely blow up into pieces. an f1 car isnt designed to go such speeds and probably wont be able to do that in a long time..
in an interview with '60 Minutes' Michael Schumacher said that if they had to, the Ferrari F2002 could be set up to do 500 km/h (311 mph), I would assume the MP4-17 could likewise be set up to do a similar speed.
The brilliant aerodynamic design of F-1 cars makes up for alldrag nuisances(wheels, cameras, and such). Even with the giant tires sticking out of the car the cd on F1 cars is somewhere around .14, the engineers at Ferrari said that if all drag inducing devices were to be removed the car would break the 300mph mark, but because F-1 isn't all about top speed the massive wings must stay on. And whoever said that if the exhaust pipes were removed the car would make more power is wrong, if that were the case then they wouldn't have them, but the headers are so perfectly designed that if a dime sized piece of stone where to get into them the car would lose atleast 15hp. The engineers have thought of everything trying to give their teams car that extra edge. Acceleration- The renault is the best at this, their launch control is better then everyone else that is why Ferrari is trying to get the programer on their side. In proper conditions the renault could probably do 0-60 in 2 seconds flat, and if the track was extraordinarily hot and the air was some how less then 60 degrees it would most likely pull 60 in under 2 seconds.
I don't know if anyone still cares, but for those of you that do. Although it was in the 2000 season, the highest (recorded) straight line speed for an F1 was 361.8 km/h (221.1 mph), set by David Coultard at the Italian GP.