How would F1 cars over the years compare?

[james_tigerwoods]

As per the title - how would F1 cars down the generations compare to the modern ones - which would be the better cars?

Would the Turbo era cars be better than the current ones - how would the Active-Suspension cars fare?

And how would the likes of Jim Clark in his youth have managed with a modern F1 car? (When he wasn't off boozing that is )

[acf8181]

Assuming you mean if you put them head to head as they were in their day (rather than if some banned technologies had been further developed since) then overall lap time will more or less just get quicker and quicker.

I reckon that possibly if you ran a turbo car on a long run way head to head with a current one you'll get a higher top speed from the older car.....but you can't measure it on a track as such as the current car would come out the corner considerably quicker

[dtmpower]

In qualifying trim the early 80's turbo cars were producing about 1000hp-1400hp ! not sure what it was in race trim however.

Edited by dtmpower on Wednesday 16th September 16:05

[Project 644]

Go to wikipedia and search for the Pomeroy index.

Otherwise it is pointless conjecture.

[FourWheelDrift]

dtmpower said:

In qualifying trim the early 80's turbo cars were producing about 1400hp ! not sure what it was in race trim however.

They will be a lot slower in races than modern F1s even with half the power due to all the advances in aero, brakes, suspension, gearboxes. Everything.

To give you an idea on one circuit that has hardly changed, Monaco.

Monaco 1987 - 3.328 km (2.068 miles)
Monaco 2009 - 3.34 km (2.08 miles) - slightly longer.

1987 pole position (warm & dry) - Nigel Mansell - 1m23.0s (0.9s faster than Senna's 1998 dry pole time)
2009 pole position (warm & dry) - Jenson Button - 1m14.9s

Frankly embarrassed by the latest cars. BTW others given examples - 1984 pole was a 1m22.6, 1983 pole was 1m24.8s

[timbob]

It's a shame that nearly all the tracks have changed now - there's no one track that's stayed completely unaltered for us to compare times to.

Silverstone however stayed remarkably constant for a while, and has only ever got longer or more twisty (i.e. slower) as the alterations have been made over the years.

1950 - 4.65km - Pole time 1:50.8

1960 - 4.71km - Pole time 1:34.6

1971 - ???km - Fastest lap 1:19.9

1981 - 4.71km - Pole time 1:11.0

1990 - 4.78km - Pole time 1:07

(Change to modern layout)

1991 - 5.23km - Pole time 1:20.9

2000 - 5.14km (tighter chicanes?) Pole time 1:25.7

2009 - 5.14km - Pole time (with race fuel for 1st stint) 1:19.5

I haven't plotted it, but the decrease in time from the 1950s to 1990s looks like it'll make a lovely exponential curve of decreasing times.

The modern cars are just crazy fast - even with race fuel on board, they're six seconds a lap faster than the 2000 cars.

I'm pretty sure that regardless of crazy headline power figures and the like, a modern car would wipe the floor with any of the 80s turbo cars, purely to chassis and suspension developments.

Just as I finish writing, I remember Monaco, which hasn't changed at all since the 80s (apart from making the harbour chicane and swimming pool complexes tighter), and the 2009 pole time is a massive 8 seconds faster than the turbo cars in 1986.

[disco1]

Are there any tracks that have pretty much been unchanged over the years? Can you compare lap times?

I think the fastest cars ever (total package of speed, handling..etc..) were the ones from a few years back, can't remember the specific year though.

[130R]

The cars were quickest around 2004 when Herr Schumacher was winning everything. Quicker overall and in a straight line that is, probably slower around corners than today's cars.

[williamp]

How mas Monza changed in recent times?

[FourWheelDrift]

williamp said:

How mas Monza changed in recent times?

First chicane (Rettifilo) has been changed from a single chicane (left/right) in the 70s to a double chicane (left/right then left/right) in the 80s & 90s to a single chicane again (turning right/left) in 2000. Lesmo corners have been re-profiled, 2nd Lesmo is slower than it was. And of course the kerbs have gone up and down at regular intervals over the years depending on how well the Ferraris can cope with them.

[luke111s]

Lap records at a few circuits from F1.com:

Monaco Lap Record: 1:14.439 - M Schumacher (2004
Silverstone Lap Record: 1:18.739 - M Schumacher (2004)
Nurburgring Lap Record: 1:29.468 - M. Schumacher (2004)
Spa Lap Record: 1:45.108 - K Raikkonen (2004)
Monza Lap Record: 1:21.046 - R Barrichello (2004)
Brazil Lap Record: 1:11.473 - JP Montoya (2004)
Suzuka Lap Record: 1:31.540 - K. Raikkonen (2005)