Quote:
Originally Posted by Empty Box
Speaking of Sportscars and F1, was there not a time when the Porsche Group C cars were faster than F1 cars?  |
In terms of comparable lap times, no, but they were no less exciting to watch!
FL in the 1986 British GP at Brands was 1.09.953 by Nigel Mansell in his FW11B, FL in the 1986 Brands 1000Km was 1.18.680 by Bob Wollek in a Porsche 956, just as an example of a twistier circuit , F1 vs Gp.C Porsches.
Going to Monza, (for a faster track where the Group C cars could stretch their legs a little) in '86, FL in the GP was 1.28.099 by Teo Fabi in the Benetton-BMW. FL in the Monza 1000Km the same year was Nannini in the Lancia LC2, 1.36.960 (race won by the works Porsche team, Stuck/Bell).
So its only one year and two tracks but thats about as close as the Porsches got to F1 (i've picked '86 cos it was the last full year that Porsche entered the world championship as a works team in Gp.C). The best Group C cars had about 650-700bhp in that era, whereas the best F1 cars had at least 300bhp more in race trim, with much less weight...
Sports prototypes were nearly as fast as F1 cars in the 3.5 litre era, sometimes the Peugeot 905's would qualify with a time that would put them in the top 10 of the same years F1 race at the same track.
The Porsche 917's and Ferrari 512S/M's were sometimes faster than F1 cars at the same track in 1970/71, esp. where they could really wind them out, s.g. Spa. The book 'Porsche 917 - The undercover story' has a track map of the old Spa with maximum revs and the gear used noted down, the section before Stavelot says 8,800 rpm in 4th gear, equivalent to 218mph...
If current F1 continues to get faster, I think it will start to outgrow some of the circuits on the calendar. Only places like Bahrain would be able to accommodate them, with the huge run off required to cope with brake failure / stuck throttle type shunts. Who wants a season full of Tilkedromes?? Not me.