Car versus motorcycle (not a crash)

[swbarnett]

A F1 car will always out perform any bike on the track. The big gains for the car are in top speed and in cornering speed. The F1 cars will pull up to 5G in a corner, for a bike to get the same cornering performance the angle of lean would have to be over 75 degrees away from the vertical. In other words, it wouldn't only be knee down, it would be off the bike and helmet down as well.

Then just look at the amount of rubber the F1 car can put on the road in relation to its total down force, and compare that with the amount of rubber the bike can put on the road in relation to its down force. Game over and the F1 car wins easily.

I always thought that this would be compensated for by the fact that the bike can take a much flatter line through the corner because of it's width. Obviously not.

[xwhatsit]

That only works for shallow corners; that advantage diminishes the longer the corner is, until it's almost negligible for hairpins and the like.

[Kendog]

I always thought that this would be compensated for by the fact that the bike can take a much flatter line through the corner because of it's width. Obviously not.

The compensation comes when you watch each race.

F1 = follow the leader, occasional passing.
Moto GP = multiple leaders, constant passing

[swbarnett]

F1 = follow the leader, occasional passing.
Moto GP = multiple leaders, constant passing

Yes, this is exactly why I stopped watching Formula 1

[moko]

......... Jeremy Clarkson reserves little but scorn for bikes, Hamster and James May are both bikers.

Clarkson is basically over-compensating.The oldest adolescent on the planet writes columns for a couple of Brit newspapers and in one a few years back he told about how Steve Berry finally persuaded him to take a ride on the pillion of an R6.Basically "Mr Speed" crapped himself,you've seen and heard him doing the "look how fast I can go" bit on Top Gear,he admitted to being bloody petrified and said the reason he dis-likes bikes so much is "they're ridiculously fast,faster than any sane person would want to go"
He recently got into trouble here for calling a car "Gay" and had all the Politically Correct numpties after his blood.however as a regular on Britain's favourite satirical quiz show commneted,"A man who wears tight jeans,a leather jacket,perms his hair and is called Jeremy sounds gayer than any car.

[90s]

A F1 car will always out perform any bike on the track. The big gains for the car are in top speed and in cornering speed. The F1 cars will pull up to 5G in a corner, for a bike to get the same cornering performance the angle of lean would have to be over 75 degrees away from the vertical. In other words, it wouldn't only be knee down, it would be off the bike and helmet down as well.

Then just look at the amount of rubber the F1 car can put on the road in relation to its total down force, and compare that with the amount of rubber the bike can put on the road in relation to its down force. Game over and the F1 car wins easily.

Totally. I some of you may remember the 6-wheeled tyrell formula one car of the 70s. Like the other 6-wheeled f1 cars it had awesome grip - more rubber = better cornering speeds. Something bikes don't have. In addition f1 cars have venturi tunnels, and at some times in their history, active ground effects. Grip is increased at the cars are actually sucked to the ground. On the other hand, motorbikes flick the front wheel up, reducing grip and increasing drag (which is aweful on bikes).

There are many threads on this topic. One has the topgear clip of an actual 1on1 between an R1 and a Porche at the track. In this and the lambo clip the distance between the two is amazingly small (lambo looses; porker wins - although the R1 could have easily shut out the porker on the hairpin where it squeezes by before the line).

It comes down to this - in the lambo, the porker or even the f1 any competent driver can get near the best times.
On a bike you have to be really, really good to get near the times of great riders. And the penalty for mistake is high.

But for "10 times less than the cost of the lambo" you can own a state-of-the-art machine that will give you more fun than any car ever could.

[rocketman1]

I dont see the need to compare the two.
A bike is a way of life, it is like a part of you
You dont become one with the vehicle when driving a car.
For $8,000 my 1200 Suzuki will show 99% of cars where to go, especially
in the common speed zone ie 50-140kmh
You would need a very fast & expensive car to stay with it, and even then, you will not get half the fun that riding a bike gives.
My point is $ for $ a bike is many times the fun of a car.

[xwhatsit]

I dont see the need to compare the two.
A bike is a way of life, it is like a part of you
You dont become one with the vehicle when driving a car.
For $8,000 my 1200 Suzuki will show 99% of cars where to go, especially
in the common speed zone ie 50-140kmh
You would need a very fast & expensive car to stay with it, and even then, you will not get half the fun that riding a bike gives.
My point is $ for $ a bike is many times the fun of a car.

*Scratches head* I dunno, you could get a Mini for $8000 ^_^

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

• Car = Maybe faster than bike but still is boring and will always be boring.
• Bike = May not be as fast as an F1 (then again I don't have to spend brizillions of $$$ to go fast), but bike has more excitement, freedom, fun and enjoyment

And it does depend what you are putting the bike up against, how good the driver and rider skills are. where they are racing... track, open road, off road... ???

End of story. full stop.

[jonbuoy]

This will go on for ever, how many times have you actually been overtaken by a car on your bike on the open road? The only times I ever had have been when I 've just been cruising. Its not that I'm a great rider for sure, cars just seem to give up when you give it a bit of stick. Maybe theyre not really trying? I know sometimes they are because of the amount of crap that comes out of there exhaust.

[90s]

Maybe theyre not really trying? I know sometimes they are because of the amount of crap that comes out of there exhaust.

So you are behind the car then?

[The Pastor]

anyone got the lap times between the v8's and the bikes at a local track?

[delusionz]

I'd love to see a car (any car) take on the 500hp turbo gsx-r hayabusa

[90s]

I'd love to see a car (any car) take on the 500hp turbo gsx-r hayabusa

There's some youtube clips of this in the arizona desert that have been posted here before but should be easy to find. If memory serves its against a 911 turbo and some 200mph yank trash like a zr1.

[avgas]

Lada 2100 vs a URAL sidecar
would be awesome