F1, Champ, Indy?

Question

Putting aside egos and pissy attitudes, would a race staged where F1 Cars, Champ Cars and Indy Cars compete on the same track, at the same time be a feasible and entertaining event? It works fairly well in other racing venues, might this be a possibility for these three different class of cars?

Yes, they would race on a road course. Prepare the cars the same as they would if they raced their normal race. The difference in the types of cars is what makes the ALMS and those types of racing venues interesting.

They would race against cars in their own class like ALMS does.

Answer 1

It would be interesting, but as you said, it would have to be an ALMS style race with winners from each class.

The F1 cars are too nimble. light and have superior braking for the other classes to compete. The IRL cars are the heaviest and have the least brake technology applied, so they would most likely be slowest. It would not matter one way or the other if the Champ Cars had their Push to Pass.

There would be a ton of passing on the track though.

Answer 2

I tend to agree the F1 cars would rule the day on this one. While it is true that the F1 cars were significantly quicker at Montreal, the comparison is a touch off because most of the time the two series used the track the F1 teams benefitted from "designer" tyres or at the very least a battle between Michelin and Bridgestone that mean the F1 cars had much softer, grippier tyres than the Champ Car guys had.

In 2002, the first year Champ Car went to Montreal, the F1 Pole was set by Juan Montoya in a Michelin-shod Williams with a time of 1m12.836; A couple of months later Christiano da Matta nabbed the Champ Car pole with a time of 1m18.959. Six seconds.

I recall even then the tyres were one of the big discussion points when it came to the differences between the lap times the two series' drivers could achieve.

Of course there was more to it than that. The F1 cars are indeed lighter, have higher-reving and -powered cars, and even then have better aerodynamics (all the years the two were running in Montreal in the same season, the Champ Car guys were STILL running the old Lola Chassis while F1 cars are new each year).

As much as I like to think there are some great drivers over here in IRL and CCWS, they don't have it when it comes to competing with the F1 boys.

RP

Answer 3

Hmm, this would be interesting, but also very dangerous. Out of the three I think IRL cars would have the toughest time. They race very few road courses and tend to be slightly less talented drivers IMO. Champ and F1 are similar, but F1 IMO has the most talented high speed road course drivers in the world.

This race would never happen though. First off, there would be the debate over where to hold the race. Second, Champ car would have to get rid of their Power to Pass. IRL would simply not want to do it because they know they likely wouldn't hang. F1 wouldn't do it because the top players in control of F1 are kinda stuck up and want too much control of everything. It would come down to finding a way to make the cars all equal or else nothing could be done. F1 is too fast for Champ and IRL. Then there is also an issue of car weight that would be next to impossible to settle.

Just for fun, I think the winner of a race like this would be from F1 Ferrari or McLaren and the only real competition the top F1 drivers would have would be from Bourdais in his Champ Car. This would be cool to see though.

Answer 4

The more appropriate question is: what type of track would they race? If they raced an oval, the F1 and Champ cars would be at a disadvantage. If they raced on a road course, would Champ car still be allowed to use their "power to pass" button? It would be interesting to see the different types of open wheel cars on the same track, but the reason they're different series is because they're such different vehicles.

Answer 5

If it's held on a road course the F1 cars would smoke the other cars. More horsepower along with lower weight gives the F1 cars a huge advantage. A couple of years ago Champ Car ran the Montreal, Canada road course where the F1 Canadian Grand Prix was held. I think the F1 cars had lap times about 3 seconds quicker than the Champ Car times. I believe the IRL cars are even heavier than Champ Car cars so I would assume that they would be slower.

Answer 6

I would put the answer to your question as a "maybe."

Of course your question is completely academic. There is no way that Charlie Whiting would allow another class of car to take *anything* at all away from the "spectacle" of F1. Not to mention the rift between the Champ and IRL series.

Answer 7

F1 cars would win hands down. F1 would put the other series to shame, trust me.

Answer 8

Interesting idea. Could be used as a promotional event.

F1 would easily smoke them. Though not sure about ovals.

Answer 9

That already happens with second-hand equipment in the BOSS series, and in "run what you brung" racing in South Africa and Australia.

http://www.euroboss.com/

Answer 10

F1 would smoke the american open wheelers