F1 vs Indy Car?

First, let me point out that some people have posted incredibly stupid and misinformed answers to this question.

Let's start by saying that a Formula 1 car is purpose-built for road racing, and an IndyCar is purpose-built for oval racing, so that's not really a fair comparison. A champ car is a better choice than an Indycar (and has slightly better performance characteristics anyway).

With the driver included, an F1 car has a minimum weight requirement of roughly 1320 pounds (600 kg mass, to be exact). A champ car's minimum weight with driver is 1725 pounds. Obviously, here, the F1 car gets the advantage -- less weight to push.

Since the 2006 reduction to V8s, the best F1 engines are estimated to produce somewhere between 750 and 800 horsepower. A champ car engine produces 750 horsepower. Pretty even here, but with the weight factored in, the F1 car has better horsepower-to-weight ratio, which gives it better acceleration.

F1 cars use carbon brake discs and pads, which provide a tremendous amount of braking force. For cost reasons, champ cars use steel braking systems, which don't provide the same level of bite as carbon. So again, the F1 car has the advantage here -- better brakes and less weight to stop gives shorter braking distances and later braking before corner entry.

Top speed in either typical road racing configuration or low-downforce configuration, though, is pretty much a wash. An F1 car has a flat bottom, which means that all of the downforce must be generated by the bodywork. As a result, the body of an F1 car is designed with downforce generation in mind, but with that comes the compromise of drag. A champ car, on the other hand, is a ground-effects car with downforce-generating tunnels on the bottom, which gives better downforce-to-drag ratio. The end result is that the body of a champ car is designed primarily for drag reduction. In all, an F1 car and a champ car end up pretty equal on drag production at a given speed, and since the engine powers are nearly equivalent as well, the top speeds are very similar.

So, the long and short of it is that an F1 car has better performance in general. In terms of top speed in a straight line, there's not much difference, but an F1 car would win a drag race thanks to superior acceleration and would lap faster on a road course because of acceleration and braking, as well as a higher level of downforce generation. However, the difference is not nearly as large as some people would like to believe it is ... especially our severely misinformed friend who claimed that a champ car would lap Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal in around 1:30 to 1:32. In reality, the lap record for a champ car at Gilles Villeneuve is 1:18.959, only about 3.5 seconds off the 2006 F1 pole time over a 2.7-mile lap.

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RE:

F1 vs Indy Car?

Who would win a 1 on 1 race between an Indy car driver and an F1 driver in their respective cars?

F1, hands down. The cars are slightly more powerful and have a lot more downforce.

On a big oval, you'd need to set up the F1 car different than usual but they'd still win.

The difference is the rules. Indy cars have very restrictive rules so that more people can afford to run a team and that many could have a chance to win.

F1 rules are more wide open. It costs a huge amount of money (hundreds of millions a year) to run a team. Very few teams have a chance to win.

EDIT (based on posts below): An F1 car has about 750HP, IRL about 700. The F1 car has much better aerodynamics, including less drag for a given amount of downforce.

The reason the F1 cars post slower top speeds is that they are setup for a lot of downforce for the corners. As I said, on an oval you'd set it up differently, with less downforce. With the same amount of downforce as an IRL car the F1 car would have less drag and go faster, It would beat the IRL car.

A Champ car would be closer (more HP) but I think the F1 car would still win.

Indycar Vs F1

This should be suggestive. The only common track between Indy/ChampCar and Formula 1 is the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Canada. The Champ Cars' lap time revolves around 1:30-1:32, while a F1 car laps that track in around 1 minute 17-18 seconds. A difference of over 10 seconds/lap. The Champ Car would be lapped in less than 10 minutes.

Oval racing... well, F1 cars can be adapted to run on ovals with super-low downforce levels (Monza levels), peaking almost 360kph. Plus F1 cars are now built to endure very harsh punishments on the machinery.

A 1 to 1 race... The F1 car would win, any time, any day, on any track.

Plus the F1 cars have more horsepower, and the engines rev much further (20k rpm against 12k in Champ Cars).

A F1. I'm surprised anyone would compare the 2. If any Indy car driver could drive F1 they would be!!!

F1 cars of course because the handling of the car is much better than the Indy car, the acceleration is much the same, the aerodynamics is incredible in F1 car. I am damn sure that F1 will win.

In a normal circuit with corners an f1 car would easily win due to their huge amount of downforce. In a drag race it would be much closer, but I think an Indy car might just edge it cos I'm sure they have more horsepower then an f1 car. But it would all really depend on who can get the best traction of the line.

Dependes if it is on a road course or oval

Road course F1 hands down

Oval Indy car

F1

more technology and quicker engines

lighter chassis

better brakes

means the cars manage the spped better than the IRL boys