I was having a discussion today with a bloke at work about what would be fastest round a race track, a Formula 1 car or a Racing bike.

I reckon the car would be faster and he says the bike. The touble is that we don't have any lap times for them around the same circuit.

Can anyone help? 

Hope this answers the question for you :)

F1 car - 1m23.400s (Mika Hakkinen)

Superbikes - 1m26.135s (Michael Rutter)

Oops - what a dimwit! 

I forgot to mention - they are both around Silverstone International Circuit!

Most of the time it will be the car that is faster around a circuit - a bike simply has no answer to 4 massive sticky tyres and the ground effects/downforce of a formula 1 car. The only place bikes have a clear advantage is accelerating out of slowre corners.

A while back on TV there was a race between Michael Rutter on a British Superbike Honda, against Jenson Button in the BAR Honda. (There was also a powerboat in the water, but that was just pointless!) The bike was awsome off the line, but when the car got to 100mph, Jenson could apply full throttle (!) as there was enough downforce being generated to glue the car down and stop it just overwhelming the back tyres. Once hooked up, it screamed past the bike.

I would have liked to see a MotoGP bike ridden by Rossi againt the car, although I bet it would have been much the same.

Thanks,

It's nice to be right!

 Paulo, Why would it have been the same??????????????

Michael Rutter on a Brit superBike = 180-190 Bhp, so a BAR Honda is the winner eh ?? Why not try Rossi on a 240 Bhp Yamaha over 20 laps  on say , valencia-sachenring-Monza-phillip Island- Vali over Schmi, my money is on Vali.

I agree the Moto GP bike would have been quicker, but if you look at the lap times on the same track for MotoGP and the Superbikes, the MotoGP bikes are only 1-2.5 seconds a lap quicker depending on the track length, so it would still be slower than the F1 car (just!). 

The main problem is the corner speed, and with the F1 car's power, it has almost the same acceleration as the bike, so doesn't loose that much coming out the corners.

Whatever - I enjoy both sports, with the preference for the bikes!!

 the thing on tv was a set up

it was sponsored by honda , and tbh if they had used a proper f1 powerboat instead of a speedboat with a 225hp outboard on the back it would have won (say a 2000 hp lambo engined abu dabi team boat)

 its been proven that bikes cant beat f1 cars round a track but up a quarter mile strip the bike should have beaten the car easily

daddy cool wrote:   up a quarter mile strip the bike should have beaten the car easily

Why?

What is the power to weight ratio of a racing bike? It is about 1500bhp per ton for an F1 car, not to mention that the car will have better traction due to much more rubber on the road, and the fact that it doesn't have the problem of keeping it's front tyres on the ground.

Horsetan wrote: Does anyone remember the Honda NR750? I seem to remember its engine had oval pistons....

Ah yes, Honda's technological Tour De Force - that no-one could afford or really see the point of! Amazing looking bike though, a sure-fire addition to my fantasy garage, parked next to an RC45 I should imagine....... 

Classic question.  Has 2 B cars!

just because......

okay well if it is a high performance bike and car, the car will normally take it.  like the clarkson vid where the 911 (4WD version) beat the Yamaha R1.

the thing is , i have video footage of me on my oops i mean a friend on a tl 1000 , if anyone here can convert vhs footage into digital on a pc then find somewhere to host it  i can prove with the use of a stopwatch that there arent many cars even f1's that could keep up .

 if someone can do the conversion for me you can all see how quick standard 1000cc v twin road bikes are to reach 160mph then imagine something with less weight and more horse power and a larger footprint .

most people havnt experienced a ride on a fast bike so assume they arent all that but i promise you if you have the minerals to ride hard they are downright awesome

Straight line ability of bikes is not at question here - most 600cc+ road bikes would put up a darn good fight to (and indeed romp away from) any given four wheeled machine - road or race. But the cornering ability (and braking) of the F1 cars is just immense. The ability to corner hard and fast enough to generate several G.

that is very true , however you also have to rake into account the person in controll of the car/bike  also which track they are on ! some tracks are definatly not suitable for f1 cars  and some are a totall no no for bikes too .

 i think if we were talking about brands it would be pretty close (only my oppinion of course)

Ah, see I think brands would be a car track because of the amount of corners - the car's traction allowing them to be more aggresive and carry a higher average speed all the way through - espcially coming onto the start/finish straight (can't remember the name!).

Somewhere like Thruxton might go more to the bike - the UK's fastest track apparently. A few tight corners that lead into long (if slightly bent) straights. The bike would fire itself out of the corners up to v-max super quick. Somewhere like Donny might be quite even.

Just my opinion too though - I have no facts to back that up!

I can't wait until the better weather - I have recently bought my Ninja, and sort of did a deal with my missus that I wouldn't ride it until after we get married (which is at the start of March) I have done a couple of hundred miles on it, but now it is tucked up in the garage. Her argument is that if I hedge it now, the plaster cast might not be off before the wedding photo's. Fair point I think!

consider yourself lucky m8 , my missus has said no more bikes full stop

 although i have lost two friends this year so tbh its been the last thing on my mind .  is yours a 6R then ?