The supercars that make F1 look slow

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Formula One is in danger of losing some of its status as an ultra-high speed sport, as modern supercars put greater speeds in the hands of mere mortals than F1 cars can achieve.

The ?â?ó?óÔé¼?í?é?¼1,000,000 (?âÔÇÜ£810,000) Bugatti Veyron, built by the Volkswagen Group, raised the bar for production car top speeds to 407 kph (253 mph). Koenigsegg’s new CCX will do 395 kph. But both of these could well be blown away by a the latest attempt to build a ‘road-legal’ F1 car.

The Freestream T1 project, recenty bought out by Caparo, is based on a radically different philosophy than the Veyron. The Veyron employs a 1,001 bhp engine to push its 1,950kg bulk past 400 kph. The T1 will have only a quarter of the Veyron’s weight and 500 bhp.

Modern V8-era Formula One cars are starting to look underpowered in comparison:

CarBugatti VeyronKoenigsegg CCX
Top speed407 kph395 kph
Acceleration0-62 mph (100 kph) 2.4s0-62 mph (100 kph) 3.2s
Weight1,950kg1,180kg
CarCaparo T1 (estimates)Mclaren MP4-21
Top speedTBA340kph*
Acceleration0-60 mph (96kph) 2.5s0-60 mph (96kph) 2.3s
Weight500kg600kg

*In low-drag Monza specification. Trimmed for maximum speed a Formula One car should be able to reach 400kph, as BAR-Honda attempted last year.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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11 comments on “The supercars that make F1 look slow”

  1. Sure the GT cars at Le Mans have been faster in a straight line than F1 cars for years now. What makes F1 special has never been top speed, but cornering speed. And there is still nothing to match that.

  2. Louis Marlowe
    13th May 2007, 14:39

    You cannot compare a Bugatti, no matter how fast, to a Formula 1 car. F1 cars are designed to be as fast as possible in ALL aspects of the track, cars like the Koenigsegg can’t handle tight corners. If you took a Bugatti Veyron and a Ferarri F2007 to the Cote d’Azur (Monte Carlo), you’ll see just how vast the difference in time is.

  3. Okay, but F1 is not designed for top speed, their gear ratios are specific to each individual track (not to mention the drag from all the downforce). Also 0-60mph is not a good comparison, as an f1 car can accelerate faster from 60-120 that 0-60 (I would love to see any road legal car try to replicate that)!

  4. Senna Williams
    12th July 2007, 21:49

    also, a formula 1 car is on groove tires to limit performance (by reducing contact patch).

  5. formula 1 does 0-60 in 1.9 sec

    1. where did u get that time?…it seems a lil fast 1.9 seconds is rediculous. id say more in the 2.4-2.8 range but ok.

      1. The record for formula one 0-60 mph is 1.6s (dig it up on google) But the average time is 2.1s

  6. I would like to see the old V10 F1 statistics from about 2004. Once you see an F1 going around The Becketts complex at Silverstone it is impossible to imagine how anything can do that any faster without falling to pieces. Maybe they should use a Veyron as the Safety Car..!

  7. you can’t compare a road car with a formula 1 car as the fastest F1 cars 2003-2004 seasons could accelerat from a stand still 0-150mph in 6 secs compared with 10.2secs for the buggati veyron

  8. take a check f1 cars were at their peak racing speeds in 2004-05 before those idiots scrapped the V10’s.Antonnio pizzonia reached 369.9kph on the monza straight during practice as against the regulars who ranged around about 360-65kph.Apparently,those cars reached around 345kph on the remaining 3 straights of Monza!That for me was the peakest performance of an f1 car back then.However,the BAR Honda reached 413kph at Bonnevile check this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W82DsPkgV-U .And as for todays f1 cars they are about 2 to 3 seconds slower than 2004 :( so for me f1 is dying!!!!!!

  9. Total nonsense comparison! F1 can be faster that Veyron on a straight if changing downforce and gear ratio… however around a track, Veyron doesnt even stand a chance against a F4…

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