How Fast Would Formula 1 Go at the Indy 500?

The Indianapolis 500 is one of the most prestigious races in the world, where cars reach over 230 speeds per hour and race head to head for 200 laps, but what if you put an F1 car on the grid, could you go? ? Even quicker, we've done some digging to find that standalone cars and Formula 1 cars look pretty similar. Both Open Wheel

formula

cars have a lot of downforce and both are powered by turbocharged V6 engines. However, there are some pretty big differences. The stand-alone car is a spec series, meaning all cars use the same Delara chassis, the same Arrow package for each circuit, and have a choice of two engines, Honda or Chevrolet, a bit like the Corvette of old.

On the other hand, Formula 1 is a Constructors' Championship, the cars are manufactured by the teams with only some components shared between the teams, such as Williams which uses Mercedes and H engines with Ferrari components such as the steering wheel, indicate that the series runs this way to save teams costs and encourage closer racing, meaning there are very limited opportunities to spend more money and gain an advantage over other teams where Formula 1 teams spend hundreds of millions on tunnel testing. wind and cfd to create their own Arrow packages, sometimes with new ones for each race, they have to use the same body floor and wiim packages as all the other cars on the grid. and this brings us to another difference: Indie cars race on both ovals and road circuits and, as you can imagine, the aerodynamic and suspension settings must be very different to accommodate this indicator.

It has three different Arrow packages, Short Oval Speedway and Road configurations, each with different Wings. brakes and suspension settings, the engines are also quite different, they indicate that they are powered by a 2.2 L V6 with twin turbochargers that produces between 5700 horsepower, as the organizers specify the maximum boost pressure for each race, which allows them It allows you to control speeds and keep the race close even though Formula 1 uses a smaller 1.6 L engine with a single turbocharger. Manufacturers have been in a development race for many years spending hundreds of millions creating the most efficient engines on the planet.

These produce more than 1,000 horsepower, 160 of which have been donated by the hybrid system and the same is true. For aerodynamics manufacturers have been racing to produce the most efficient Aero packages for years, sounding every tenth of a second in the corners and maximizing speed on the straights while minimizing drag, while standalone cars use the same system for entire seasons and only change it when a new car is launched in 2020 with specifications to set the

fast

est lap ever seen in Indie with an average speed of 237.55 mph, but F1 cars have much more downforce, more power and bigger tires. wide, so they

would

surely go

fast

er in Indie, well, it's not that clear. since the best comparison we have is at the Circuit of the Americas, where the Indie Car at road speed ran a lap time of 1 minute and 46 in 2019 and Formula 1, just a few months later, ran a 132, for what Formula 1 has a 14c.

Advantage, but that's on a circuit, what about an oval? Despite what many people think, ovals are incredibly difficult to achieve from a setting perspective. Cars need minimal drag to be fast on the straights, but they also have a lot of downforce to carry speed through the straights. corners for minimal resistance. The independent cars use their Speedway configuration. It has a simplified single-element rear spoiler with almost no wing angle. The front wing follows a similar trend with a single element and a simplified plate that allows them to reach up to 240 mph in the Straits. which

would

destroy any F1 car, even in the most common specifications.

F1 cars could, of course, develop lower downforce wings and remove all the smaller downforce-producing elements, but there is another trick that indicates that it is currently illegal in Formula 1: the underfloor air tunnels that are Used to accelerate the air under the car, creating lower pressure and sucking the car into the ground. This produces a lot of force with very little resistance. Currently, F1 regulations state that the underside of the floor must be flat and therefore more downforce would be needed on the deck. keep the car stable in the corners at least for this year in general, Formula 1 hybrid systems simply would not work, it is tuned to work best on a circuit where there are many braking zones that can be used to regenerate power, but in a oval, these respawn opportunities are pretty slim, they could use the time in the pet lane to run the engine and recharge the battery a bit like they do in F1 racing and they could also do something similar when slipstreaming behind another car, however, even with these moments, the car would have around 850 horsepower for most of the run instead of the full 1,000.

The setup also has to be different to excel at just turning left, so Indie Cars use some clever setup parameters that F1 cars don't have. In this, they set the camber of all four tires to lean towards the driver's right, meaning that as the car approaches the corner, all four tires produce the most grip possible and the whole car wants to turn at the left, they even offset the steering to make it easier. They reduce the load on the driver and produce less tire friction in fast turns. Stabilizer bars also play an important role. In fact, they can be adjusted on the driver's steering wheel over a period of time and as the cars burn the fuel, the balance of the car changes.

To the extent that a stiffer rear bar would help the car when it is heavier, it may need to be loosened to get more grip when the car is lighter and the way this works is great, the system spins these blades that have a shape specific to greatly vary the rigidity of the car. The shape means that if the blade is in this orientation it is flexible and if rotated 90° it becomes much stiffer, so drivers can vary this to fine-tune the car. Drivers may also want to change the balance of the car. in the curves they do this with a wake jacker it is a small hydraulic ram that is placed in the right rear suspension if it is extended it changes the cross of the car this is how the weight of the car is divided between the four tires if you extend the rear Ram, this puts more weight on the front left tire which can make the car have more grip at the front or rear depending on what the driver wants at that point in the race as I'm sure you know that F1 It doesn't have any of these. things simply because they are not necessary for circuit racing where the cars have a fairly symmetrical configuration, the oval would also require much longer gear ratios than those normally used by F1 cars, where shorter gear ratios are preferred for a better acceleration;

However, the F1 regulations say that the gear ratios must remain the same throughout the season, but we will ignore that for now, so in terms of straight line speed, the Formula 1 car has the advantage, they have around 150 more horsepower and, provided they develop an Indie-specific Arrow package, it could produce as much downforce as a gauge with similar drag, but it would all come down to cornering, being able to carry momentum without sliding and losing speed. A big advantage of the F1 car is the tires: they are 20% wider at the front. and 10% wider at the rear, so the theoretical grip is greater.

There is one tricky point though: the set-up of the independent cars is designed for ovals and they are understandably very good at matching an F1 car to an independent car in the corners, the whole suspension system. It would need to be redesigned to accommodate the curvature of the left side and the type of adjustment needed to compete on an oval, but this is F1. If there was an independent racer, F1 teams would invest so much time and money that catching up would be difficult. If it were completely possible, it would be a challenge for the teams, but that's something they are used to, so I say Formula 1 could do it.

I don't think it's by much, but I think they would be faster, more power, more downforce and similar drag. It seems completely plausible, but needless to say, Indie Cars are incredibly capable and it's incredible to watch as 33 cars fly around the circuit at over 230 mph. You should watch this video where we explain why an F1 car could never travel 300 M hour, thank you. by watching and I'll see you next time