If you put an F-1 car against an Indy car, which do you think will win?

Question

When I was in junior high, I loved to watch Indy car racing. Then when we were moved to Japan (dad was in the Navy), I discovered Formula 1. I became hooked instantaneouly. After a few years of watching Formula 1, I always wondered if they could put an Indy car vs. a Formula 1 car. I already have my opinion on this. What's yours?

Answer 1

My answer changes if you compare the cars at different times and built to different specs.

Basically the cars should be really closely matched with the F1 car having an edge on an F1 track and a CART/Champ Car/IRL car would have an edge on the much faster road courses or at ovals.

The current Champ Cars and IRL car are way down on power and speed compared to the CART Champ cars from the late 90's that were low pressure turbo v'8s making 900hp and routinely reaching top speeds around 245 mph (395 km/h) at ovals with the ability to reach 260 or higher in straight line or pure top speed contests. Since then the cars have been detuned for safety, cost and other factors. The turbo cars could beat any F1 car from then until now, but not by much.

F1 cars' specs fluctuate up and down but the current ones could beat the current IRL/Champ Cars. The v-10 f-1 cars from a few tears ago were faster than the current ones and some of the 1980's F-1 cars that were turbo with almost no boost restriction were some of the fastest.

Keep in mind that no IRL/Champ Car/CART car ever cost more than about 25% of what an F1 car cost.

Answer 2

Quite a bit of misinformation here... so just the facts: both are VERY fast purpose built racing machines, and the way either maximize their speed is through specific setup.

And F1 car that is running at Monza will have little resemblance to the same car when running in Montreal. Likewise, an Indy car setup for Las Vegas Speedway will not have much in common with a car set to run at Sears Point, even though they are the same car.

Indy Cars tend to have higher speeds because they usually run on circuits where higher speeds are possible... but the maximum speeds they run are well within the range of what an F1 car could do with a similar setup.

Real world data is hard to come by since there are no circuits where both of these cars run. The closest direct comparision would be F1 and CHAMP cars, but it's been quite some time since Cart and Indy seperated, and the cars are fairly different by now... though on that front, CHAMP beat the Laguna Seca lap record that Toyota set in 2006 while running demo laps at the Monterey Historics (though either of those are somewhat questionable, both being demo laps seeking the lap record, it's hard to say the cars were strictly legal, and when compared to earlier marks set, these were both run fairly soon after the track was resurfaced).

As a generalization, F1 cars would most likely have the edge, due to the fact that these cars are designed in a "cost is no object" way. Indy cars are spec cars, aimed for high performance, but with the goal of keeping costs very controlled. As such, the F1 car would have a wider range of setup options which would be more likely to maximize it's performance in a given situation. Though the Indy car would probably run closer than many might like to admit.

Answer 3

A few years back the Indy cars ran in Canada in Montreal and (if my memory serves) the fastest Indy was 6 seconds a lap slower than the slowest F1 car had been on the same track earlier in the same year. Anyone else remember this? Do I have my facts straight?
Note: By Indy cars I mean Cart as they were often referred to before the IRL came into being, that doesn't really change my point about the vehicles being run on the same track (at diffrent times) with F1 cars being considerably faster.

Answer 4

On any road course the F1 car would be quicker around the track. Buy on an oval the Indy car wold be faster around. I remember reading a few years ago that F1's are areo limited to about 211-218 mph for certain tracks like the old hockenheim and monza. But on oval Indy/ Champ Cars have top speed of up to 220-230 mph. The Penske Reynard/ Honda back in 1999 set a record of the fastest speed on a race track for something like 241 mph at Fontana (Oval). Which is still the banchmark.

Answer 5

On a regular F1 track, the Indy car is no match. It would be even better if the F1 is shod with slicks.

In an oval, tweak the aerodynamics for counterclockwise driving, then again the Formula 1 wins. F1 scores in aerodynamics, engine power, acceleration, maneuverability.

The Honda F1 racer had clocked 400 kmph on a straight line. The F1 0-100-0 kmph performance is yet to be surpassed by anything on 4 wheels.

Answer 6

Under the current rules an F1 car would kick the Indy car's butt. An F1 car accelerates, brakes, and turns much quicker than any other road racing vehicle. If I remember correctly, Toyota sent an F1 car to Laguna Seca a year or so ago, and set a new track record.

Answer 7

Depends on the track, they have different aerodynamic design so on an F1 track the F1 car would win, on an Indy track the Indy car would win. Indy cars are not so good at the corners to be found on a F1 track.

Answer 8

I feel the F1 car would be faster on a circuit, but the Indy car would be faster on an oval. The F1 car could be tweaked for an oval, but the longer wheelbase of an Indy car makes it inherently more stable on the straightaways regardless of any tweaking.

Answer 9

There is not a single attribute an Indycar is better at than an F1 car. It is as simple as that, an F1 car outbrakes, out corners, out accelerates and is capable of a higher top speed if it ran in absolute minumum downforce mode (like it would on an oval).

In 2005 F1 cars lapped 8.5 seconds a lap faster than Inday cars. In fact GP2 cars lap closer to F1 cars than Indycars.

Answer 10

F1 is a dream for every racing driver and every constructer or car maker in the world.. so definitly the answer is F1 will win.. because all the technology and knowledge they have, they put in a single car..