Yup that's a recent spec McLaren F1 car running turn 11 at Watking Glen. The picture was posted by Nathan Sunseri who was on hand to see the Mobil 1 organized promo event. Lewis Hamilton and Tony Steward swapped a tight F1 for a big NASCAR . It's going to be shown on SpeedTV later tonight.. 2:10 for the NASCAR..really?
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2:10??? something's wrong with that. in my nearly stock 135i on street tires, i ran a 2:30 last month
ReplyDeletemaybe Lewis could not reach the pedals. :)
ReplyDeleteTiming completely anecdotal btw...just what went along with the picture on fb. Iperhaps Lewis was just cruising looking for someone to hit? :) sorry could not resist
ReplyDeleteFastest time in iRacing with the laser scanned WG and Williams FW31 (2010) is a 1:18.7 with the boot (as accurate a F1 car and track simulated to public, track accuracy is down to 1mm). Its ridiculously fast track to race on with a modern F1 car, you enter the esses at 160mph and exit at the top at 180, maxing at 204 100m before the bus stop.
ReplyDelete@AC
ReplyDeleteIt's not a 'NASCAR'. NASCAR is a sanctioning body, not a type of racecar. Drives me nuts when people refer to a racecar as a NASCAR. That's completely wrong.
@UHHUH, you are right but NASCAR car sounds funny :)
ReplyDeleteso fastest Lewis time on the car with a roof was 2:11 and change and that was on an essentially dry track. Tracktards not likely to be impressed... I can run 2:11 laps with the MCoupe, the group 52 trucker guys regularly run sub 2 minutes and that's with used parts!
Lewis was also on rain tires, only got 3 or 4 timed laps in a car he has never driven, and looks like he spent most of them having fun and drifting on corner exit...lol I dont think any of his timed laps are anything close to what could be done.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the qualifying results from Watkins Glen in 2010 qualifying times were around 70-73 seconds for the top Nascar drivers at that race.
ReplyDeleteUse your brain AC, if Hamilton ran 2min 11sec (approx 131 seconds) he was more than likely just having a good time and feeling out the car, not going for the fastest lap possible.
Trust me when I say this...your Mcoupe's engine has nothing on the engines that are utilized in these cars. On a high speed track like the Glen, you would be left for dead on the straights.
Hamilton was probably just having fun, get off his nuts.
Just found the video on youtube and it looks like the track was wet and temperatures were very cold.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsrYLNRn-MY
ReplyDeleteYes, clearly Hammy was just cruising around looking for someone to hit :)
ReplyDeleteHey, all I'm saying was that the lap times were unimpressive, based on what people usually run at teack days. Hell, Axis Adil did 2:11 with his GT 3 in limp mode!
Oh and of course, NASCAR runs the shout course, not the full 11 turn track
ReplyDeleteAhhhhh, I didn't realize that AC. If he was on the short course and he was still running 2:11 (a comparable time to a GT3 in limp mode on the long course?) then that is kind of eh.
ReplyDeleteKind of like Infineon, from what I've found they run the SHORT course and a stock Audi R8 is only a second slower on the FULL course.
The only thing I could think of is that they said Hamilton was on rain tires.
Rain tires + solid rear axle + 850bhp / 650tq = slow lap times.
I think he was just having fun. It's a great opportunity to grease some palms and let his hair down, so to speak. I thought it was great, who knew Lewis could drive a stick? Haha, just kidding!
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