Around this time of year, ahead of Le Mans, Audi has gotten into the habit of renting out the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza for some testing. To simulate the long straights of la Sarthe, the first chicane is bypassed. This means the cars get to the the Biasonno/Curva Grande at well over 200 mph.
It's worth noting that current LMP1 cars produce much more aero downforce than Formula 1 cars and it is only their weight and higher center of gravity which prevents them from being faster than their open wheeled cousins, like prototypes used to be back in the 60's and 70s.
In the second video what is possibly a camouflaged 2015 Audi R8
"it is only their weight and higher center of gravity which prevents them from being faster than their open wheeled cousins"
ReplyDelete"it's really only my bone structure and gender that prevents me from being Heidi Klum"
That R18 is absolutely brutal. I really doubt the CoG is much higher. What are F1 min weight limits? 650kg?. I'm sure if they give these things an 800kg limit they would be as quick. What were they at Silverstone again? 8 seconds down I think. Either way they make open wheel cars look very dated in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteActually they were 13 seconds slower than last years pole, and 7 seconds slower than the last place Marussia.
ReplyDeleteI believe an F1 could easily make the turn at 200+ MPH, but will never know thanks to the chicane.