F1 CAR ONLY JUST THRASHES M5, Speed trial throws up weird result

Would you believe that, over distance, an F1 car is only just quicker than an M5? And this is not a BMW stunt either -- as proved by Dutch Formula 1/Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos in his RBR office.

He drove the length of a dead straight 20 mile dike, the Afsluitdijk. The speed trial's previous record was 201mph, which was set by an M5 -- yet Doornbos managed only to drive 0.4mph faster over the length of the run.

Maybe he was too slow on the on-ramp? Judge for yourself -- there's a link to the video below.

The road on the dike sits just 20 feet above sea level, and dams off the Zuiderzee, a salt water inlet of the North Sea, and turns it into the freshwater lake named the IJsselmeer. Opened in 1933, it protects Amsterdam, among other places.


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phantom330 - 8/16/2006 11:01:23 AM

+1 Boost

that's cool......but that steering wheel is from a 7 series if I'm not mistaken.

chewy - 8/16/2006 3:01:22 PM

+1 Boost

F1 cars are built for big downforce, their Cd is like a giant SUV. If set up properly they can go faster.

Sauceboy01 - 8/16/2006 7:29:28 PM

+1 Boost

change the gearing for top speed on the F1 car and this test becomes null..

Allosaur - 8/18/2006 12:49:12 PM

+1 Boost

Chewy and Sauceboy01 are on target.

F1 cars are set up for maximum traction for cornering and their gearing is designed for acceleration bursts for the circuits they run on. If the F1 machine was altered to incorporate the exhibition shown in the video, this would not even be a contest.

For instance IndyCars are faster than F1 cars when they run their ovals. They are setup for this. However, Indycars or any other form of racecar could not run with F1 cars on road course circuits. Pure performance per application, F1 cars have no equal.