Closest finish in motorsport?

[RB Will]

Apologies if a repost but the search is not working.
Has there ever been a race closer than this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wPMYNm2b_k
apologies for the crap video but it is all I could find of it.

Winning margin was less than 0.0001 which equates to less than 1 inch.

[Centurion07]

I'd have to say that purely because it comes after 45 minutes of racing and not 4 seconds of acceleration against the clock, that this is closer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLz6sG1qqI0

Rossi vs Elias at Estoril 2006. Winning margin 0.002s.

ETA: not only is it a close race, but that 0.002s also cost Rossi the championship that year.

[BelperJim]

Jerez '97 quali. Does this class as a finish?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVpi5IhzBDY

[mrmr96]

Centurion07 said:

I'd have to say that purely because it comes after 45 minutes of racing and not 4 seconds of acceleration against the clock, that this is closer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLz6sG1qqI0

Rossi vs Elias at Estoril 2006. Winning margin 0.002s.

ETA: not only is it a close race, but that 0.002s also cost Rossi the championship that year.

Ohhh, interesting question. How about smallest winning margin as a % of race time?

I've not worked out how it turns out, but the Audi/Peugeot finish at Le Mans 2011 was very close.
"Lotterer was able to pull away gradually and crossed the finish line just 13.854 seconds ahead of Pagenaud"

13 Secs after 24hours of racing? How does that compare to the others above? (Also, this is only the 4th closest Le Mans finish, but I don't know which the closes was.)

From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_24_Hours_of_Le_M...

[RB Will]

Had thought of that sort of ranking when I started the thread. Guess it would go to one of the F1 or NASCAR races where they finished 0.1 or less apart after 200-500 miles of racing.

[Galileo]

In that case it's probably the 1971 Monza GP at 0.011 seconds. First 5 cars just 0.61 seconds apart.

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

[designndrive62]

mrmr96 said:

Ohhh, interesting question. How about smallest winning margin as a % of race time?

I've not worked out how it turns out, but the Audi/Peugeot finish at Le Mans 2011 was very close.
"Lotterer was able to pull away gradually and crossed the finish line just 13.854 seconds ahead of Pagenaud"

13 Secs after 24hours of racing? How does that compare to the others above? (Also, this is only the 4th closest Le Mans finish, but I don't know which the closes was.)

From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_24_Hours_of_Le_M...

1966 according to wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_24_Hours_of_Le_M...

[mrmr96]

RB Will said:

Had thought of that sort of ranking when I started the thread. Guess it would go to one of the F1 or NASCAR races where they finished 0.1 or less apart after 200-500 miles of racing.

Yeah, I think NASCAR would be a good shout as they tend to stay as a pack for hours don't they.

[37chevy]

mrmr96 said:

Yeah, I think NASCAR would be a good shout as they tend to stay as a pack for hours don't they.

Yeh but most of the time it's only a 2 mile race because of green white chequers!

[Vocal Minority]

BelperJim said:

Jerez '97 quali. Does this class as a finish?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVpi5IhzBDY

Correct me if I am wrong, but was not Damon Hill 4th in the Arrows 0.057 seconds behind?

ETA: I was wrong, it was.058

1 3 Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 1:21.072
2 5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:21.072 +0.000
3 4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Renault 1:21.072 +0.000
4 1 Damon Hill Arrows-Yamaha 1:21.130 +0.058
5 9 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.369 +0.297

[MG CHRIS]

Btcc Tom onslow cole holding of Gorden sheddan at brands by 0.009 seconds.

[jurbie]

British GT at Brands last year. After 2 hour of racing the gap between first and second was 0.022 seconds.

[hornet]

Sure there have been some Indycar finishes that have gone down to thousandths of a second. On the non-oval front, this must be pretty tight?

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

ETA - Top three covered by .003 in NASCAR trucks?

Edited by hornet on Monday 11th March 21:06

[Yamatrix850]

Galileo said:

In that case it's probably the 1971 Monza GP at 0.011 seconds. First 5 cars just 0.61 seconds apart.

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

Slightly off-topic, but it's a shame that current F1 regulations don't allow such a variety of different looking cars today - I reckon you could swap liveries on most of the cars on the grid these days and leave most spectators completely clueless as to which car was which.

[rob999]

jurbie said:

British GT at Brands last year. After 2 hour of racing the gap between first and second was 0.022 seconds.

Fantastic seeing that at Brands...the Aston was really on it.

[designndrive62]

Yamatrix850 said:

Slightly off-topic, but it's a shame that current F1 regulations don't allow such a variety of different looking cars today - I reckon you could swap liveries on most of the cars on the grid these days and leave most spectators completely clueless as to which car was which.

This Brabham is my personal favorite, its an F2 but too good not to post

[ady_GTi]

Perhaps not as close as some of the others but this was the end of the 1992 indy 500 - 0.043s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtiGra-pj5c

Special to me as my dads company (Galmer) Designed Jr's car, still gives me goosebumps watching the last few laps

[webby74]

Maybe not the closest but one of the best battles. Porsche vs Ferrari, Sebring 2007 final lap was epic

[GravelBen]

Have seen an 0.2s (or 0.02, I forget so we'll go with the bigger one) difference at the end of a rally, thats pretty close after 2 days of running against the clock rather than side by side.

[onomatopoeia]

webby74 said:

Maybe not the closest but one of the best battles. Porsche vs Ferrari, Sebring 2007 final lap was epic

Bloody hell, was that really six years ago?