but I don't think there would be any survivors.
About 10 years ago, Rusty Wallace in a test on a closed course ,ran a modern NASCAR minus the restrictor plate and was hitting close to 240 mph, and said they could never do that again.
They are purpose built, and designed to redline instantly...and fall to idle instantly. And they need to cool themselves down after extended straights on the F1 circuits even. Put them on the oval at Indy and they would grenade right quick.
An Indycar motor is designed to do 230mph all day. It is far less stressed than an F1 motor. But even Indycar runs different boost, runs different motor modes on an oval and a street or road course.
that an ideal racing engine is one that blows up on the victory lap. And then there’s drag racing engines, where they just hope to still have at least 6 cylinders running at the end of their 4 seconds. Still, it’s an impressive 4 seconds. I don’t think I’ve ever heard any other noise that was so loud I could feel it compress my rib cage.
in a tight rectangle. What I was getting at, was with the 33 degree banking at a 2.66 mile Talladega tri-oval, would those cars hit 275+ mph? This assumes they could generate enough downforce to not fly off the track.
I had forgotten that CART had tried doing something similar, at the much shorter (1.5mile) Texas motor speedway. The race had to be cancelled because the speeds and g forces were too high on the drivers.
That’s not to say they couldn’t put ina different transmission and get up to 250 or more (though they would have to change the wings to lower drag to get there) and then they might be turning fast enough to cause health issues for the drivers as in the Texas example. Suffice it to say that there are reasons, and probably good ones, they don’t race those cars there.
Trap speeds exceed 235 going into turn 3 at Indy and last years pole sitter averaged 229.
Because if they can’t hit more than that before they have to slow down for a turn then they can’t make maximum use of their available power. So the above post’s 275 isn’t happening without a new tranny.
The drivers say it feels like you are always in a turn. 240 would be about the limit between the motor, gearing, and drag.
The drivers would reach the limits of what’s humanly possible, blacking our, etc. Indycar is loathe to lose another life or have another serious injury: Wickens’ car last year at Pocono got airborne terrifyingly easy.
You’d see extremely light contact causing enough lift to turn the cars into terrifying unguided missiles.
more drag than an F1 car on the straights. And as jclay mentioned, hp is another factor.
And I bet the racing is better tomorrow than any F1 race this season,
Power:weight ratio is hugely different. An Indycar on a road course is 300 lbs heavier- 1334 (f1) vs. 1630 (Indycar).
Robin keeps talking about great passing zones. I'm afraid the slower turns are going to lead to a big accordion effect. Sounds like the tires are going to fall off extremely quickly.
They are hoping for 30,000 fans tomorrow. The place is so massive it will look pretty sparse with 30K, but if it's a good show and it makes money, that's a big win for Indycar.
F1 cars are glorious; but the racing is a procession.
variety of circuits - F1, Indy, NASCAR, etc. It would have been great to see Tony Stewart at Indy later in his career (or Jeff Gordon at all), and I would enjoy watching more Americans drivers and car companies try to conquer F1.
Every 4 years maybe? Get the best drivers in the different circuits to drive in a variety of races that combine everything.
I saw someone mention IROC. That format lost all validity when it essentially became stock car racing on ovals.
Or tried at least. I think IROC lasted about 10 years, but has been gone for about 10 years.
He was close to pulling the trigger this year but pulled back and said he needs to get himself into shape. There's a very real chance he comes back to Indy in 2020.
It’s a lot of fun to watch, from about 2011.
If Mercedes F1 is paying Lewis Hamilton more than Lebron James, they don’t want to risk him being injured in another series.
Alonso got to race the Indy 500 because McLaren was desperate to hold on to him.
In addition to the Indy 500 last year, he's also run sports car races (I believe he's won both LeMans and Daytona).
That Toyota had zero competition with Audi’s exit from WEC.
The way he ran down the other competitor at LeMans was impressive. And his stints at Daytona in the rain we’re also magical, guys flying off the track all around him.
It’s super impressive given how truly little seat-time he has had in the cars. I truly believe you could plop him down in anything on the planet, and he’d be competitive within the span of a couple of hours of seat time.
But I would like to have seen him have to compete against Audi at LeMans.