Car versus motorcycle (not a crash)

[FilthyLuka]

well, ive been arguing with my older sibling as to what would win in different types of races, motorcycle or the equivalent car... well, we did agree that cars = suck and bikes = good (newtons fourth law), but i thought the bike would be quicker round corners... WRONG, well, i found some supporting evidence... on youtube ofcourse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrGZ6...elated&search=

Above is a ducati 999 versus a Lamborghini gallardo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sj9M...elated&search=

And here is a zx something erather (600 i think) versus a porche versus a jet plane

well, the bike was doing pretty good untill the porche built up some steam... any more videos? come on people!

[Jantar]

In almost all of these Bike Vs Car arguments, the car will win. But then they are not comparing like with like. You can buy a Ducati straight off the showroom floor, and it is a pretty good sports bike. The Lambo is at the very top of the sports car range, and you can't just bowl up to your local Lamborghini dealer, put down a 25% depsoit and take it away that same day.

If you want to compare like with like, then try comparing the Ducati 999 with a something along the lines of Subaru Impreza.

Better yet is to take an average touring bike like an ST1300 and compare it with a Toyota Camry.

[swbarnett]

The trouble with these comparisons is that the people running them are car mad (the first if from either "Top Gear" or "5th Gear" from the UK and I know they don't like bikes). They always rig it in favour of the car. I was one on Top Gear once that pit a bike vs car on the track at the same time. For one thing I don't think the motorcyclist was very good, for another he was forever slowing down to avoid getting bowled over in the corners. Also, the car was the fastest production car in existence (built to order and akin to a formula one car) and the bike was only a stock standard 600.

[xwhatsit]

The trouble with these comparisons is that the people running them are car mad (the first if from either "Top Gear" or "5th Gear" from the UK and I know they don't like bikes). They always rig it in favour of the car. I was one on Top Gear once that pit a bike vs car on the track at the same time. For one thing I don't think the motorcyclist was very good, for another he was forever slowing down to avoid getting bowled over in the corners. Also, the car was the fastest production car in existence (built to order and akin to a formula one car) and the bike was only a stock standard 600.

Meh there's no way, all other things being equal, that a bike can beat a car around a race track, much less on the road. I thought we knew this by now. Bikes have far, far smaller patch of rubber proportionally for their weight and power. The main thing bikes have going for them is power-to-weight -- which manifests itself in acceleration -- until the poor aerodynamics of bikes catch up with them, which means they drop off in top speed.

Of course, your average car is a Toyota Corolla or similar commuter, whereas a good chunk of the bikes out there are sports bikes. Level of performance for dollar, though, would be firmly in the motorcycle's favour.

Bikes are far more fun, too.

This has been debated so many times here, I'm sorry for those of us rooting for bikes, but they just can't cut it.

[moko]

If you want to compare like with like, then try comparing the Ducati 999 with a something along the lines of Subaru Impreza.

Well I've blown off a few Impreza's on my 600 Fazer so a 999 shouldn't have any problem.I used to stick behind them up to about 120(that's m.p.h. not k.p.h.)then indicate to overtake as a wind up,9 times out of 10 they'd give up there and then,experienced Scooby drivers here won't even attempt it against a bike because they know the score.Big thing here at least as well is there's so much traffic on the road that on a bike you can filter and cut through traffic like no car can even think about so in "real-life" traffic,not an empty track,any half-decent bike will stuff any car no matter how powerful,only a matter of time before you'll hit traffic and a Ferrari,Porsche or whatever can only go as quick as the car in front and certainly can't fit through the gaps that a bike can.

[Jantar]

Well I've blown off a few Impreza's on my 600 Fazer so a 999 shouldn't have any ...

And that is exactly the point. In any real life situation, comparing like for like, the bike will win. On the race track the event is almost always in the car's favour, but even then if the vehicle types are truely similar the bike will often win just through its superior acceleration.

[sAsLEX]

And that is exactly the point. In any real life situation, comparing like for like, the bike will win. On the race track the event is almost always in the car's favour, but even then if the vehicle types are truely similar the bike will often win just through its superior acceleration.

and add in a corner? with some gravel? and a touch of ice?


you can add variables to shift it in either ones favour.

[Sanx]

The trouble with these comparisons is that the people running them are car mad (the first if from either "Top Gear" or "5th Gear" from the UK and I know they don't like bikes). They always rig it in favour of the car. I was one on Top Gear once that pit a bike vs car on the track at the same time. For one thing I don't think the motorcyclist was very good, for another he was forever slowing down to avoid getting bowled over in the corners. Also, the car was the fastest production car in existence (built to order and akin to a formula one car) and the bike was only a stock standard 600.

You obviously didn't watch the first clip very thoroughly; the bike won the encounter with the Lamborghini. Even after Tiff Needell stopped putting it sideways through corners and concentrated on getting a good time, the journa riding the bike still won (just).

I can't remember many bike vs. car incidents in Top Gear (the modern ones, that is). They did stick a CBR600 up against a supercharged Ariel Atom though. The Ariel won, but that was the point of the exercise; to show how damn fast the Ariel is. Whilst Jeremy Clarkson reserves little but scorn for bikes, Hamster and James May are both bikers.

[Disco Dan]

stick some better brakes on the 999 and it would do even better then!

[Devil]

Tiff and Vicki from 5th Gear are bikers. They're not anti bike at all.
Richard hammond and James May are bikers too, they just get overruled by clarkson.

[avgas]

I found the biggest difference for me riding a bike is 'options'.
I can drive just as fast as i ride. But when in a car i run out of 'options' so i cant go at the same speed most of the time.
Some classic examples - when was the last time you saw the car version of Ghost Rider?
Or how about that stunt scene in the matrix on the Ducati?
The closest thing i have felt to it on 4 wheels on the road is when my mate was doing that mad run between Aucks and Wellington (i was chasing him between auck/ham) while he was driving his mad Z06.
But even then the speeds were atleast 100kph slower.
I guess it comes down to not only the vehicles performance......more the size of the balls.
I swear my balls were bigger before my accident (guess that what happens when your balls hit the tank at 70kph)

[Disco Dan]

I found the biggest difference for me riding a bike is 'options'.
I can drive just as fast as i ride. But when in a car i run out of 'options' so i cant go at the same speed most of the time.
Some classic examples - when was the last time you saw the car version of Ghost Rider?
Or how about that stunt scene in the matrix on the Ducati?
The closest thing i have felt to it on 4 wheels on the road is when my mate was doing that mad run between Aucks and Wellington (i was chasing him between auck/ham) while he was driving his mad Z06.
But even then the speeds were atleast 100kph slower.
I guess it comes down to not only the vehicles performance......more the size of the balls.
I swear my balls were bigger before my accident (guess that what happens when your balls hit the tank at 70kph)

Yeah I can vouch for that, raced some bikes in a mini once... kept up on the twisties.. they lost me on the straights... get to the mway and I was keeping up through all the traffic till we got to auckland and the gridlock began... had the poor girl sideways doing at least 120k round some corners great fun

[swbarnett]

You obviously didn't watch the first clip very thoroughly

I did, I just expected the bike to do better. This is a bit of an eye opener for me. I honestly thought bikes would be faster than cars. I hopped on the wb today and found the qualifying times for the Sepang circuit in 2005 for Formula 1 and the MotoGP. The cars were a full 30seconds quicker than the bikes (1:32 and 2:02). I was wondering about the weather conditions when I read that this was the track record for the MotoGP. So it does seam that even for the state of the art the car is quicker.

[swbarnett]

Tiff and Vicki from 5th Gear are bikers. They're not anti bike at all.
Richard hammond and James May are bikers too, they just get overruled by clarkson.

This certainly explains a lot! Nice to hear it's not all of them.

[Jantar]

I did, I just expected the bike to do better. This is a bit of an eye opener for me. I honestly thought bikes would be faster than cars. I hopped on the wb today and found the qualifying times for the Sepang circuit in 2005 for Formula 1 and the MotoGP. The cars were a full 30seconds quicker than the bikes (1:32 and 2:02). I was wondering about the weather conditions when I read that this was the track record for the MotoGP. So it does seam that even for the state of the art the car is quicker.

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.