[scunnyman]

A question for anyone who knows.

If a formula one car was on the hard shoulder of a Motorway(freeway) getting ready to go, and a road car came past doing 80 mph at the precise second the F1 car set off, how long would the F1 car take to catch up with the road car?

[matt90]

Depends on the F1 car’s acceleration.

[andae23]

Short answer: about five seconds.

Long answer: on Wikipedia, I found the acceleration to 100, 200 and 300 km/h, which I plotted in a graph with Excel (red is the 80mph car, blue is the F1 car). I added a trendline, which returns a third degree polynomial. This can be integrated, which gives the distance travelled and can be plotted in a graph along with the distance travelled by the car. The intersection between the two graphs is the point at which the F1 car overtakes the car: 4.7 seconds, with 170 metres travelled.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77889303@N07/9036324580/

I’d say it also depends on driver: for instance, Mark Webber will overtake the car after 6 seconds :P

[Carlitox]

A wonderful example of Maths and Physics applied to F1. As an engineering student, the link between science and F1 is what inspired me to follow this career in Uni. Brilliant @andae23!!

Ps.: Grosjean would crash into the road car LOL.

[Michael]

@andae23 That’s awesome! It took me a couple of minutes to figure it out. Incidentally 4.7 seconds is the exact time it takes me to put on and take off my tin foil hat…

On a sidenote, 0-300 km/h in 8.6 seconds???? Are they serious?

P.S. Maldonado would definitely t-bone that car off the road:-)

[kimrogue]

@andae23 thanks for the analysis. 4.7 seconds is mighty impressive. Hope Wikipedia data is accurate.

@freelittlebirds If I were in that road car, I would be scared of Maldonado, but Grosjean in an F1 car coming from behind would scare me s***less. Just ask Ricciardo.

[Matthijs]

I would really be scared if the F1-car was driven by Cecotto Jr…

[—]

@freelittlebirds That’s 8.6 seconds to travel 300 metres, not 8.6 seconds to hit 300 km/h.

[Michael]

@Nicholas Sunderland
Actually it is 0 to 300 kmh (186mph) in 8.6 seconds

I hear you man, it’s really unbelievable. It’s for the 2006 F1 with 1,250hp.

There is a * next to the 300kmh which stands for:
Figures are heavily dependent on aerodynamic setup and gearing.

I guess the car is set up for maximum acceleration, not race setup

[Matthijs]

@freelittlebirds The 2006-spec F1-cars did not have 1250hp, more around 800-850.

[Michael]

@Matthijs
You are correct – they had a power-to-weight ratio of 1,250 hp/t (0.93 kW/kg). Not quite the same:-)

[Matthijs]

@freelittlebirds In that case, the V10’s would have around 750-800hp. The V8’s have 650hp(?) without KERS, anyone an idea of how many hp’s the 2014-turbo’s will have? 550? 600?

[Author]

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