77 Which are faster: Racing cars or racing motorbikes ?
Description
This article is from the Motorsport FAQ, by A H Henry bspahh@midge.bath.ac.uk with numerous contributions by others.
77 Which are faster: Racing cars or racing motorbikes ?
At the average road course, F1 bikes (500 cc) are just a little slower
in overall lap times that Formula three cars. F1 cars are much faster
than bikes! For example, at Donington Park last year, the F1 bike pole
was about 1:34 (min:sec); the F3 pole was about 1:30, and the F1 cars
were under that in the wet.
F1 and IndyCars can generate very high downforce which means that
they can go round high speed corners very quickly. GP motorbikes have
good acceleration, but are much slower at cornering and braking because
they have a lot less downforce. One of the main reasons for this is the
rule which stops them from having bodywork which extends behind the
rear wheel.
Road legal superbikes are much closer in performance to the Grand
Prix machines than a Ferrari F40 is to a Formula 1 Ferrari. A magazine
tested a stock Yamaha FZR1000 against a the Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1
with slick tyres and the bike posted a better time by around a second.
Thus, a CBR900RR might be closer to the Ferrari F1 car than the F-40
is.
Similarly, another magazine reported that Mick Doohan tested a RVF750
superbike (essentially the $ 25,000 RC-45/RVF750 you and I could buy +
the three race kits costing $ 30,000 + a good trackside tuning) and ran
times 5 tenths of a second slower than times he set using the RVF750 F1
bike he ran the Suzuka 8hrs with. During the 8hrs he posted times a
scant 2 seconds off the 500cc GP outright lap record. $ 55,000 for a
bike that can run 2.5 seconds of a 500cc pace is quite astonishing.
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