Driving an F1 car. One word, GRIP!!
Discussion
And thanks to all of you for not making me regret posting. I assure you my intention is only to shine a light on the experience, warts and all. Most threads seem to descend into an argument, and this one hasn't, at least yet...
CABC said:
great post 456. this reaffirms faith in this site!
How much track driving have you done? can you expand on your history, useful to help share the insight. I'm prompted to ask this from my own experience doing track days and then driving a F3000 and most notably a Radical. Grip was phenomenal, especially when aero kicked in. Hard to fully explain the feeling of going faster and realising you can add another 30mph to entry speed just because you're already going faster and the aero is working. My cajones weren't big enough to fully exploit in the short time i had!
when watching F1 I'm always in awe that they're pulling 5G whereas fast road driving is less than 1 and fast track is 1.5G. The level of commitment and reaction time required is unbelievable.
Very little track experience to speak of. Main one was a couple of seasons in Club100 about 15 years ago. That and a couple of Palmer days. As I said, I don't do track days, though I know many here take this seriously. So really, I'm about as green as it gets. I was ready for the acceleration and the brakes, just not the sheer mountains of grip. Unbelieveable!How much track driving have you done? can you expand on your history, useful to help share the insight. I'm prompted to ask this from my own experience doing track days and then driving a F3000 and most notably a Radical. Grip was phenomenal, especially when aero kicked in. Hard to fully explain the feeling of going faster and realising you can add another 30mph to entry speed just because you're already going faster and the aero is working. My cajones weren't big enough to fully exploit in the short time i had!
when watching F1 I'm always in awe that they're pulling 5G whereas fast road driving is less than 1 and fast track is 1.5G. The level of commitment and reaction time required is unbelievable.
Torquey said:
Wow - that an excellent experience. I just assumed it wasn't possible to do this.
I'd be interested to know how the 15k is carved up. Or even how much it costs to run an F1 car for 1 race.
I suspect, and I'm sure Mr 456 will be able to confirm or deny it, that the cars are configured to be perhaps softer and more forgiving (relative term) to a full-on, balls-out race setup, as well as perhaps having limits on engine capability?I'd be interested to know how the 15k is carved up. Or even how much it costs to run an F1 car for 1 race.
Either way, as amazing as the experience would be, I don't think I could do it. The sheer terror involved would be too much for me - hell, I poop myself when I have to drive someone else's car, let alone something like that!
Rawwr said:
I suspect, and I'm sure Mr 456 will be able to confirm or deny it, that the cars are configured to be perhaps softer and more forgiving (relative term) to a full-on, balls-out race setup, as well as perhaps having limits on engine capability?
The company's website suggests no rev or power limitations, which is pretty awesome. I'd be surprised if suspension and downforce were set to quali-spec, though!Tubes63 said:
This is awesome. You way outperformed mr. Hammond! Go Pros usually make things look slower than they feel, and this looked fast. How's your neck??
I expect his wife's was quite sore. She was struggling to support her head on the left handers, and presumably on the right handers as well, but you couldn't see because it was out of shot.What an amazing experience for both the OP and his missus.
Excellent and pleased people have the chance at such experiences.
I used to race Formula Ford, had a number of runs in Formula Renault and had a test session in a Formula 3 machine..... but never got my lucky break in having a chance to drive an F1 car !
Very jealous
The level of grip even on Formula cars below F1 is absolutely fantastic. But on the F1 cars this is at a whole different level, coupled to the response and punch from both the engine and brakes!
I used to race Formula Ford, had a number of runs in Formula Renault and had a test session in a Formula 3 machine..... but never got my lucky break in having a chance to drive an F1 car !
Very jealous
The level of grip even on Formula cars below F1 is absolutely fantastic. But on the F1 cars this is at a whole different level, coupled to the response and punch from both the engine and brakes!
Torquey said:
Wow - that an excellent experience. I just assumed it wasn't possible to do this.
I'd be interested to know how the 15k is carved up. Or even how much it costs to run an F1 car for 1 race.
event itself costs 3-5k depending on extras, such as more laps.I'd be interested to know how the 15k is carved up. Or even how much it costs to run an F1 car for 1 race.
running even an old F1 car ain't cheap. spoke to the owner of several F1 cars at the Portimao Historic a couple of years ago. He wasn't running all the cars and the two that were running were clearly not racing. He explained that Portimao wasn't worth it (it has very low attendance and is really just an end of season historic shindig and a venue for uk car clubs to meet at after a spanish tour!). top end rebuilds cost 15k+, bottom 60k. Required every 4 and 10 hours of racing if i recall correctly, it certainly wasn't the 20k miles as per your 320D. These were cosworths of the Alan Jones era.
ou sont les biscuits said:
Tubes63 said:
This is awesome. You way outperformed mr. Hammond! Go Pros usually make things look slower than they feel, and this looked fast. How's your neck??
I expect his wife's was quite sore. She was struggling to support her head on the left handers, and presumably on the right handers as well, but you couldn't see because it was out of shot.What an amazing experience for both the OP and his missus.
!This sounds amazing - I look forward to watching the videos tonight.
I drive a Formula Renault and can confirm that yes, although the mechanical differences to a road car like a Caterham or Elise amount to a very long list, grip is the main difference that you feel going between the two. As a measure of this, consider that a Formula Renault has roughly the same power to weight ratio as a Caterham R400 (around 400bhp/tonne). Acceleration will be the closest thing between the two, as it's the least affected by aero, but you're still looking at 0-100mph in 5 seconds compared to 9 seconds (both are manufacturer's quoted times). Lap times (which include the really big differences of cornering and braking) show an even starker difference: I'd guess on a 2 minute lap (e.g. Sivlerstone GP) you'd be looking at adding around 30 seconds for the Caterham in road spec, which is a similar difference as between a hot hatch and a McLaren P1. That's a measly little FR of course; F1 is another kettle of fish entirely (25 seconds quicker than the FR on that lap) and I can't even imagine what 5-6G cornering feels like. I'll probably never get the chance to try, but I shall enjoy watching your video and imagining what it's like!
Regarding the setups, yes, for any single seater used in such a venture they'd almost certainly they'd be using a fairly dullened setup and different tyres to race spec, but I don't think most people would notice the difference if they've never driven a car like that before.
Regarding the costs, it sounds like reasonable value to me. I don't know exactly what F1 cars cost to run, but I know what the engines cost (someone I know looked into doing BOSS once) and can extrapolate the other costs and yes, £5k doesn't surprise me at all.
I drive a Formula Renault and can confirm that yes, although the mechanical differences to a road car like a Caterham or Elise amount to a very long list, grip is the main difference that you feel going between the two. As a measure of this, consider that a Formula Renault has roughly the same power to weight ratio as a Caterham R400 (around 400bhp/tonne). Acceleration will be the closest thing between the two, as it's the least affected by aero, but you're still looking at 0-100mph in 5 seconds compared to 9 seconds (both are manufacturer's quoted times). Lap times (which include the really big differences of cornering and braking) show an even starker difference: I'd guess on a 2 minute lap (e.g. Sivlerstone GP) you'd be looking at adding around 30 seconds for the Caterham in road spec, which is a similar difference as between a hot hatch and a McLaren P1. That's a measly little FR of course; F1 is another kettle of fish entirely (25 seconds quicker than the FR on that lap) and I can't even imagine what 5-6G cornering feels like. I'll probably never get the chance to try, but I shall enjoy watching your video and imagining what it's like!
Regarding the setups, yes, for any single seater used in such a venture they'd almost certainly they'd be using a fairly dullened setup and different tyres to race spec, but I don't think most people would notice the difference if they've never driven a car like that before.
Regarding the costs, it sounds like reasonable value to me. I don't know exactly what F1 cars cost to run, but I know what the engines cost (someone I know looked into doing BOSS once) and can extrapolate the other costs and yes, £5k doesn't surprise me at all.
sc0tt said:
blueg33 said:
Lucky Bugger
Dar I ask how much? I am very tempted
£15kDar I ask how much? I am very tempted
Read the OP
Just curious about your extras
always bugs me when sites list the starting price and you quickly find that the real starting price to make anything worthwhile is a lot more!Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff